A draft law on the establishment of an entrepreneurs’ ombudsman will be developed by the President’s Office in collaboration with representatives of the business associations and business community. The bill will be submitted for consultations with all interested parties at the beginning of September, the President’s Office announced after public consultations on this subject.
Mihai Bologan, vice president of the Small and Medium Enterprises Alliance, participating in public consultations, welcomes the initiative. According to him, there are many situations when companies face "unpleasant interactions with representatives of state institutions, such as inspections, requests for the issuance of a authorizations and not only". "The representatives of companies do not have a secure channel through which they would defend their interests in relation with the representatives of the state institutions. Thus, the creation of the Office of the Entrepreneurs’ Ombudsman is a necessity”, Mihai Bologan commented for IPN.
According to Mihai Bologan, it’s important how the entrepreneur's ombudsman will be appointed and what his or her powers will be. These issues are yet to be clarified based on proposals from several business associations and not only from them.
From his point of view, all the actions of the state in relation to business must have a predictable character, be correct, be justified, while the legislative initiatives should have at least an impact analysis and should not adversely affect the activity of the business environment.
The entrepreneurs’ lawyer is going to play an important role in ensuring the efficient and constructive communication between the business environment and the state institutions. This person must enjoy the confidence of the business community and have a certain authority as regards the state institutions.
"I believe that we are at the beginning of a useful process for developing relations between the business environment and state institutions and it is very important that this process continue in a transparent manner and with the broad participation of business associations," Mihai Bologan specified.
There is a People's Advocate institution in Moldova. The Ombudsman aims at defending the rights and freedoms of individuals in their relations with public authorities.
