Chisinau market managers seek to suspend patent reform

The managers of marketplaces located in Chisinau have requested to suspend the entrepreneur patent reform that obliges a part of patentees to reorganise their activity starting January 1. They were invited on Friday at the Government to discuss the legislative amendments that regulate the economic patent-based activity. As the managers say, most of patentees are more than 45-year-old, while the obligation to register as individual enterpriser will leave them without job. As they state, the patentees in the marketplaces complain that they would sustain heavy expenses, but they would agree with more expensive patents. On the other hand, vice minister of Economy and Commerce Viorel Melnic told the session that legislative amendments that regulate the economic patent-based activity will make discipline and order in the trade activity. The vice minister explained the managers of markets that a large number of patentees is involved in money laundering. As Melnic says, they buy goods at wholesale centres, with overcharged invoices compared to the real value of the goods and thus the real income of the enterprises that are selling these goods is not reported. At the same time, the fiscal burden of an Individual Enterprise is lower than of the patent-based activity. In turn, head of information and transborder offence Division of the Interior Ministry Viorel Chetrari said that patent holders are used by those who avoid open relations with the budget, so as to conceal smuggled goods introduced in the country. As Chetrari states, the patentees have been involved in 40% of 500 cases of smuggling registered last year. It is not only about the use of these enterprisers by large importers in illicit imports, but also about the goods introduced by patentees avoiding customs clearance and then sold on the internal market without documents of origin and bookkeeping statements. According to data from the State Registration Chamber, only 250 former patentees have been registered as individual enterprises and about 200 – as limited companies. The Ministry of Economy and Commerce along with the Tax Inspectorate have decided to organise for the patentees seminars in the Chisinau markets. The patent reform is being carried out in three stages, as from January 1, 2007, to January 1, 2009. According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, out of about 40,000 patentees, almost 4,400 intended earlier this year to change their form of organisation. The amendments to the legislation aroused dissatisfaction among the patentees who have staged a series of protests in different settlements in the country.