The Ministry of Economy and Trade presented a set of proposals concerning patent-based entrepreneurship to the patentees on February 18. The patent holders are not very optimistic, but hope to carry out talks with the Ministry over these proposals, Info-Prim Neo reports.
In a communique, the Ministry says that after thoroughly analysing the present situation throughout last week, experts of the Ministry proposed extending the term of selling certain categories of goods at stalls and stands under patent on authorised markets. Also, the Ministry is considering the patentees’ proposal to raise the patent’s cost two-three times and the possibility of including the social insurance and health insurance contributions in its cost.
The president of the Small Business Association (AMB) Eugen Roscovanu told Info-Prim Neo that the patentees are to discuss the two pages with amendments that make reference to 20 articles of the law No.93 on entrepreneurial patent. The proposals will be sent to the patentees’ initiative group that will analyse them and take a position, Eugen Roscovanu said.
Roscovanu says that it is not clear what categories of goods the Ministry refers to. “A large part of the goods mentioned in the Ministry’s proposal are not banned from sale, but the sale of the other goods was prohibited from January 1, 2007 and January 1, 2008,” Eugen Roscovanu.
At the same time, the AMB president considers that the proposal to include the social insurance and medical insurance contributions into the patent’s cost as well as to raise the cost three times will dissatisfy the patentees. According to Eugen Roscovanu, the Ministry of Economy and Trade proposes that the price of patent for the patentees from Chisinau, Balti and Tighina be 600 lei, while for those from district centres – 300 lei and from villages – 150 lei. The cited source said that the patentees backed the amendments in the context in which they demanded that the law No. 208 is implemented from 2015, on condition that the price rises, assortment and space occupied by an entrepreneur are negotiated.
“Patentees’ conditions remain the same: the law No.208 should be applied from 2015, especially because the Ministry’s proposals say nothing about the law and this means that it remains in force,” Eugen Roscovanu said.
Earlier, members of the Small Business Association put up a number of alternative proposals of the patentees. In the petition to the Ministry, the patentees demanded that the Law No.208 be cancelled unconditionally or a moratorium be instituted until 2015 as alternative. A compromise solution, according to the AMB chairman, is to amend article 2 of the law so that the right to open individual companies free of charge is respected in parallel with the right to work under patent. The patentees have staged about 120 protests in all the towns of the countries, seeking the abrogation of the Law No. 208.
In the informative note to the communiqué, the Ministry specifies that the Government of Moldova adopted a number of decisions to facilitate the shift from patents to individual companies such as: the individual companies will be registered free of charge; they will be able to work without cash registers and control equipment for a period of a year of the registration; the fiscal reporting for all the former patentees that opened individual companies will be simplified.
