Changes to law on entrepreneurial patent does not observe protesters’ claims, says their leader

The changes planned to be operated to the Law on entrepreneurial patent, approved of by the Government on April 16, does not respect the claims of the patent holders, the president of the Small Business Association (SBA), Eugen Roscovan, had told Info-Prim Neo. This organization has supported and organized over 130 protest actions claiming to cancel the law banning to trade on patent basis. The too optimistic statements by deputy premier Igor Dodon imply irresponsibility and the fact that the official does not know the situation in markets, says Eugen Roscovanu. He complains the representatives of the patent holders have no access to the final version of the draft with changes, and do not know the list of merchandize that will be able to be sold on patent basis. The statements of the prime deputy premier Igor Dodon that the large electric appliances were excluded are not consistent, because selling such goods were banned anyway. “It is closed document. We do not know its provisions and it is not known what will remain after approval in the Parliament,” Eugen Roscovanu said. The SBA leader notes the official say nothing about law 208 banning the activity on patent basis. “It’s a chaos. On the one hand they modified the law on entrepreneurial patent, while on the other hand law 208 remains in force. From Igor Dodon’s statements it is not clear if it is allowed or not to issue new trade patents,” Eugen Roscovanu pointed out. He has qualified the statements on increasing the patent tax by two times only, because of the Government’s care for patent holders, which as rule are poor people, as a new attempt to mislead the public opinion. “At the talks, we asked that the social and medical insurance be benevolent.” If we are compelled to pay those contributions, than we’ll demand for decreasing the patent tax. “The modifications approved by the Government, yet, provide for a larger tax and for the obligation to pay those contribution,” Roscovanu underlined. “Because of the clumsy ambition of the prime deputy premier the country’s budget has to suffer,” concluded the SBA president, specifying the 2007 budget was damaged by tens of millions of lei, money that could be collected as taxes for issuing or prolonging trade patents. In 2006, the budget got 63.8 million lei from those sources. Now the tax to get a patent is 190 lei in cities, 90 lei in districts and 50 lei in villages, to be paid once a month. According to the modifications approved of by the Government on April 16, the patent trade will be allowed to be practiced till 2017.