First phase of inventorying legal licences completed

The exaggerated number of certificates, authorizations, permits and other legal licenses is yet another way of obliging businesses to make payments and, in many cases, it also amounts to double taxation. This was the main conclusion formulated upon the completion of the first phase of inventorying the licenses issued by the public authorities for the starting and running of business activities, Info Prim Neo reports. The inventory was started in May by the Ministry of Economy with the help of the the USAID/BIZTAR Project. The Ministry posted on its website a questionnaire which those interested were invited to fill, proposing recommendations for streamlining the licensing procedures. At a meeting of the group responsible for the promotion of regulatory reform – formed on parity principles: public officials, business and civil society representatives – there were presented proposals from 750 Moldovan companies. Most of the business entities complained that obtaining authorizations is very difficult, in particular in the case of the certificates testifying the lack or presence of debts on salaries. Many documents are purely formal and double each other; there are many cases when a certificate exists for the simple reason of testifying the existence of another certificate. In a time of crisis, these elaborated certification procedures complicate business activities even more. It was also highlighted at the meeting that inspections have become more frequent in the last half a year. Dinu Armasu, executive director at the Foreign Investors Association, suggested that a moratorium should be placed on tax liability inspections for the duration of the upcoming election campaigns, except for cases involving criminal proceedings.