Ministry of Agriculture proposes differential licensing costs for wineries

The national legislation disadvantages those who decide to start businesses in vine growing and wine making but have limited capacities. This is one of the conclusions of a study released today by the Moldovan Association of Small-scale Wineries as part of the Competitiveness Enhancement and Enterprise Development Project, Info-Prim Neo reports. The authors of the study consider that the legislation in Moldova doesn't contain any specific regulation for the small-scale wine producers. The rules are the same for the small wineries, the large wine companies, the former sofkhozes or any other enterprise producing wine. Diana Lazar, one of the authors of the study, said the current licensing conditions are practically impossible to meet by the small-scale wineries. “I'm talking first of all about such provisions as the requirement to own special deposits, of at least 500 square meters in area, covered, fenced, and equipped with a computerized recording system”, said the expert. The annual license fee of 20,000 lei is the same both for small-scale and large producers. Attending the presentation of the research, Agriculture Minister Valeriu Cosarciuc said the ministry has already considered changing licensing costs in the field. “The Ministry has already formulated modifications to the legislation introducing three categories of payment for the license. The producers that will process up to 100 tonnes of grapes will pay 500 lei; those processing from 101 to 500 tonnes of grapes will pay 5,000 lei and over 500 tonnes 28,000 lei. Hopefully these proposals are endorsed by the Government and Parliament”, said the minister.