Members of the Small Business Association of Moldova said the activity of small traders based on an entrepreneur’s patent will be stopped in 2017 by a ‘monopolist act’. These ask the authorities to abrogate a provision of Law No. 121 by which retail trade at stands, kiosks, etc., authorized by the public administration, is excluded from January 1, 2017. In a news conference at IPN, these said the government bans small businesses that work based on patent because these create competition to monopolists.
The Association’s president Eugen Roscovanu said the small traders sent numerous letters to the government by which they ask to be allowed to continue work based on the entrepreneur’s paten, but received only formal answers. In Moldova the small business sector is ignored, while in the European countries this sector forms the backbone of the economy. The authorities should create conditions for the small businesses to develop.
According to Eugen Roscovanu, the government does not implement the Association Agreement’s provisions concerning industrial and entrepreneurial trade, which stipulate that the small and medium-sized enterprises, especially the microbusinesses, should be stimulated and supported.
Director of the Association’s branch in Causeni and southern area Eleonora Hergheliu-Turcan said the annulment of patent will stimulate illegal trade. The persons running small businesses created by themselves jobs, pay taxes to the state and secure thus minimum pensions. However, some of the local public authorities increase the price of patent without asking for the opinion of entrepreneurs. When they plan the budgets, they set considerable local taxes for small traders.
Director of the branch in Soroca and northern area Grigore Marciuc said the law regulating the activity of small traders based on patent was adopted in 1998 as an anti-crisis law. The patent-based activity should continue to exist as the economic crisis in the country becomes more acute. The small traders pay taxes for patent each month and even in advance, while the banning of patent-based trade will lead to the bankruptcy of small businesses.
Besides abrogating the aforementioned provision, the members of the Small Business Association request the government to introduce a specific tax for microbusinesses and to impose a ten-year moratorium on any amendment to the legislation that stimulates small enterprises on January 1, 2017. The ten-year term will coincide with the term of the Association Agreement, during which the national legislation is to be fully harmonized with the EU’s. If the demands are not satisfied, the people intend to take to the streets.
