Even if progress is announced in the business sector, the situation is still precarious, namely in the small business sector. According to representatives of the Small Business Association, the harassment of small traders at markets in Căușeni is a pertinent, but also regrettable example. The sellers just want to work legally and to face no obstacles on the part of the authorities.
In a news conference at IPN, president of the Small Business Association Eugen Roșcovanu said in December it will be 15 years of the first protests mounted by patent holders against the attempt to eliminate this democratic method of running a small business. The time limits for excluding patents were extended in time and the last extension was considered recently, with the relevant bill being given a first reading. Any terms and restrictions as to patent-based activity should be excluded and the small traders should be allowed to work.
Eleonora Țurcanu Hergheligiu, who heads the south branch of the Small Business Association, said that she took part in the hearings staged by the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance on November 14. She there reiterated the position stated by an initiative group of small traders from ten districts of Moldova. Among the formulated proposals were to allow any citizen of the country to start a small business based on patent until December 31, 2027 and to enable patent holders to import goods to the value of at most €1,000 for a tax of 7% by eliminating invoices.
Eleonora Țurcanu Hergheligiu, who also holds a patent, noted that accidentally or not, representatives of the police on the day of the hearings carried out searches in Căușeni. They confiscated goods and arrested an entrepreneur. This is a method of intimidation. The authorities say there are about 9,000 patent holders, but the figure is actually much higher. Those who make such assessments should leave their offices and go to markets to see how many small traders are there.
According to the woman, switching over to independent activity from patent-based entrepreneurial activity is detrimental to the traders and the state. The payments made by patent holders to the state budget are now 80 times higher than the transfers made by those who work independently.
The representatives of the Small Business Association said the patent holders are a consolidated economic and social community. This organizational-legal form stimulates the creation of jobs on the own account and enables beginners to test their business at minimum costs. Many state employees use the patent on the weekend to earn legal incomes as a supplement to the small salaries.
