The seizure of documents, information bearing devices and goods used in the economic process without which it is impossible to continue work will be banned during inspections carried out by state authorities. A mechanism of financial guarantees will be introduced for those who are subject to such sequestration. This is provided in a bill drafted by the Ministry of Justice that was proposed for public consultations, IPN reports.

The bill to amend a number of articles of the Penal Code, Penal Procedure Code, Contravention Code, law on state inspections and law on the Security and Intelligence Service aims to minimize the abuses on the part of the state authorities so as to facilitate business activity in Moldova, Minister of Justice Vladimir Cebotari stated in a press briefing after the weekly meeting of the Democratic Party’s administration.

It is suggested excluding the arrest in the case of economic offenses that are punished with up to five years in jail. The business entities will be able to voluntarily remove the irregularities. “We want to transfer the power to determine the crime index from the Ministry of the Interior and the National Anticorruption Center to institutions empowered to perform inspections in a particular area and to enable the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the relevant acts. Furthermore, we will modify the contravention procedure so that it is simple, de-bureaucratized, swift and involves rapid state intervention,” noted the minister.

Under the proposal, the place and role of the Security and Intelligence Service will be reviewed so that this focuses on acts that constitute threats to the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, constitutional order, democratic development, internal security of the state, society and citizens, Moldova’s statehood, the vitality and stable functioning of the most important sectors of the national economy.