Cancellation of patents is not an international requirement, say experts. Info-Prim Neo analysis

The cancellation of entrepreneurial activities under patent is not an international requirement. Our authorities always invoke different European models to justify all kinds of decisions deriving from the economic and social policies that are not always reasonable, the director of the Analytical Centre “Expert-Group” Valeriu Prohnitchi told Info-Prim Neo, when asked to comment on Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev’s assertion that the annulment of patents is an international requirement. In all these actions of the Government, Prohnitchi sees only a source of risk for the present administration that is discrediting itself in a way. If considering the elementary economic policy and thinking logically, not mentioning the political logic, the Government should take other kinds of measures in a pre-electoral year if it wants to win the elections, the cited source said. Valeriu Prohnitchi considers that if some of the patentees violate the legislation, this does not mean that all of them do the same. If the limited liability companies or the joint stock companies embezzle funds, this does not mean that they should be liquidated. Also, we cannot ban the movement of vehicles only because they cause road accidents. The shift from patents to individual enterprises must be gradual and take several years so as the people have time to adjust, Valeriu Prohnitchi considers. The authorities should have carried out an open and frank dialogue with the patent holders before taking such a decision, which is extremely sensible from social viewpoint. Besides, the expert says, the people should have been accustomed to the idea that the economic activities are carried out within a regulated framework. “I can tell you what the economic consequences of such a decision will be. The patentees will remain without the only source of existence. Not all of them have economic abilities, even elementary, to start a business. Many of them do not have available resources to employ a bookkeeper, to purchase a cash machine, to keep records and so on,” Valeriu Prohnitchi said. [The persons that defend patentees’ interests know very well what role the patent plays in the economic activity] MP Dumitru Braghis, president of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD), told Info-Prim Neo that it was not the Tarlev Government that introduced the patents so it should not be against them. Braghis, who is an active supporter of the patentees, considers that the Premier should have studied the relevant experience of other states before suggesting cancelling patents. The PSD leader denied the assertions that the cancellation of patents is an international requirement. He said that the requirement was to regulate the activities carried out under patent and not cancel them. “The problem is that no changes have been implemented in the area since 97-98, when the patents were introduced. The authorities should have reviewed the cost of patent, the nomenclature of goods that can be traded under patent, the organizational-juridical form, the number of workplaces and the number of trading place. The sale of golden objects, furs or TV sets under patent is indeed unsound, Dumitru Braghis said. The cited source also said that steps must be taken to punish those that break the law. “At the Audit Office, the Parliament’s representative said that he knows a person that has five shops in Chisinau and sells furs under patent. I asked him then and ask him now: why didn’t he inform the relevant bodies if he, as representative of the Parliament, knows that this is a violation of the legislation and this illegal activity should be stopped,” the MP said. Referring to the statements made by the Premier, who called the ones that destabilise the patent-related situation in the country as “criminal groups”, Dumitru Braghis said that the ones that defend the interests of patentees know very well that the patent plays an important part in the economic activity. “If we accept such a formulation, the Government and Mister Tarlev should look for “criminal groups” among the people that took to the street to demand justice over minibuses, drugstores, lack of humanitarian aid for overcoming the consequences of the drought and other cases. I think that Mister Tarlev should also think of the over 100 cases lost in the ECHR because someone does not work properly, does not fulfill the duties and the Government is punished for this, the cited source said. [The ones that set up individual companies fall into traps] Eugen Roscovan, chairman of the Small Business Association (AMB), which organised numerous protests of patent holders, thinks that the so-called “criminal groups” to which the Premier refers, are in fact “the packs that stay around the Prime Minister and feed themselves”. He said that the Premier’s statements show incompetence, ill will towards the people, hidden interests when wanting to liquidate about 40,000 workplaces. Roscovan says that the ones that opened individual companies cannot be intimidated because the power is on their side. The patentees are those that are hunted, maltreated and blackmailed. They are hunted by inspection groups from the Fiscal Inspectorate and the Economic Police. As the people do not know what to do they fall into the trap and remain without means of subsistence. “It is a sad experience of those that opened individual enterprises as they have to pay large fines, of 6,000 lei and more, must pay additional sums for the cash machines that do not work at low temperatures and for bookkeeping.” According to Roscovan, this is not the first statement of the kind made by the Premier and “other servants of the leader that try to defend the interests of large businesses”. The AMB chairman also said that the market traders are very united. The power is trying to break up this movement but it is too late because the people will go until the end. Eugen Roscovan says that in fact, the government does not want constructive talks with the patentees. According to him, packages with tens of thousands of signatures have been sent to the Ministry of Economy and Trade and to the Prime Minister. No answer came yet. In addition, Roscovan says, the National Working Group for regulating entrepreneurial activities refused to discuss the Law 208, which bans the use of patents in entrepreneurial activities, with patentees. Also, the National Council for Collective Talks did not want to tackle the impact of this law on the unemployment in Moldova. Eugen Roscovan says that 112 protests have been organised in the country so far. Protests were held in Ungheni and Balti towns on January 23 and 24. Recently, the patent holders from Orhei blocked the national road going through the town. The protests will continue in other districts the next week. The Small Business Association filed an application to the Chisinau City Hall asking it to authorize the picketing of the Parliament’s building from February 5 until May 30. “We will fight until we succeed to solve this problem imposed by the authorities, Eugen Roscovan said. On January 24, the News Agency Info-Prim Neo broadcast a news story citing Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev, who said that the “criminal groups” and “persons interested in destabilising the situation” by exacerbating the patent-related problem should be punished. According to the Premier, the Government received a number of letters in which patentees that legalised their businesses are intimidated by certain “criminal groups” and “persons interested in destabilisation”. Tarlev instructed the Ministry of Interior and the Centre for Combating Corruption and Economic Crime to investigate the cases. The Premier also said that the cancellation of the entrepreneurial activities under patent is an international requirement and the Government wants to legalise this kind of activity so as to ensure full transparency.