The persons who will not observe the pandemic disease prophylaxis, prevention and combating measures, exposing the population to the risk of infection, will be fined up to 25,000 lei. The penalty for legal entities is a fine of up to 75,000 lei. This is provided in a bill that was adopted by Parliament after giving it two readings. Besides amendments to the Contravention Code, there were also adopted changes to the Penal Code by which the punishment for spreading epidemic diseases is made harsher, IPN reports.

Minister of Justice Fadei Nagachevski said in Parliament that the bill was drafted to adjust the legislation and to provide the state institutions with additional instruments for fighting the novel coronavirus that affected 114 states and more than 118,000 people so far. Over 4,000 persons died. In Moldova, the state institutions do not have the legal tools needed to defend public health.

The new article added to the Contravention Code refers to the non-observance of the epidemic disease prophylaxis, prevention and combating measures. This stipulates fines for endangering public health that oscillate between 22,000 and 25,000 lei in the case of private individuals and between 50,000 and 75,000 lei in the case of legal entities. The same fines will be imposed for false or incomplete presentation of data and for refusal to compete the epidemiological questionnaire.

The changes to the Penal Code stipulate fines of up to 50,000 or at most three years in jail if the non-observance of the epidemic disease prophylaxis, prevention and combating measures lead to the spread of the disease. The current punishment is a fine of up to 37,500 lei and at most one year in jail. The same deeds that cause serious or medium-grave bodily injuries or death out of imprudence will be punished with at most seven years in jail, up from five years at present.

The minister noted the Commission for Public Health Emergencies will be empowered to decide when to suspend public events.

The amendments take effect when they are published.

Among the authorities responsible for identifying irregularities are the Ministry of the Interior and the National Public Health Agency and also the Border Police if the offense is discovered at state border crossing points.