The bill to amend a number of regulations concerning patent-based activity that was proposed by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure does not take into account the interests of micro and small entrepreneurs and lobbies for the interests of chains of large shops, members of the Small Business Association stated in a news conference at IPN.
The Association’s chairman Eugen Roşcovanu said that instead of real support for small enterprises, the bill will bring only headaches and uncertainty to those from the small business and to those who will enter the business sector. “We expected that a program of financial support for small firms will be worked out so that these could keep their employees. It would have been cheaper than paying enormous sums to armies of unemployed persons! The activity of all the business entities should have been liberalized so that they could survive the faced crisis. Instead, we witness a triumph of national bureaucracy,” stated Eugen Roşcovanu.
He also said that the independent activity is mixed up with the independent entrepreneur. Only a good specialist will make a difference between the two notions and the businesspeople will be this way liable to different fines. The patent holders are also dissatisfied with the fact that the import, export and other activities based on patent are banned, including trade until 2022.
According to the chairman of the Small Business Association, the bill at its end says that those who will switch over from patent-based activity to independent activity will be exempted from fines and inspections during a two-year period. The bill is designed to only make the businesspeople switch over to independent activity and to liquidate the patent.
Eugen Roşcovanu stated that those from the small business refuse to pass to the legal-organizational form “Independent Activity” because this is very costly. The given bill is a hidden blow to patent holders and this is not adjusted to the realities in Moldova. It is a copy of a similar bill of Russia.
Eleonora Hergeligiu-Ţurcanu, director of the Small Business Association’s branch in Căușeni and the southern region, said the entrepreneurs are obliged to use cash registers, but this is practically impossible when selling from a stall or at a table, during temperatures of minus 20, plus 40 degrees Celsius. “We ask the Government, Parliament and the Presidential Office of the Republic of Moldova to urgently address the chronic problem of patent holders,” she stated.
Rezina local and district councilor Alexandru Vishnevski, director of the branches in Rezina and Soldăneşti district, noted the impression is that someone simply wastes EU funds based on different bills written without knowing the real situation at the local level. “I think the bill authors openly and directly lobby for the interests of chains of large stores and resolutely want to liquidate this activity based on patent, invoking different reasons,” said Alexandru Vishnevski, adding that this bill, the amendments proposed to the Tax Code and the amendments proposed to the law on entrepreneurship and enterprises haven’t been adjusted to the current realities.
The bill is now at the public consultations stage. The members of the Small Business Association consider the authorities should abandon it.
