The duty-free regime is to be annulled all over the Republic of Moldova. Such a proposal was put forward by PAS MP Dumitru Alaiba, who heads the Parliament’s commission on economy, budget and finance. When the new provisions take effect, the duty-free stores will be able to work duty-free only until their licenses expire, IPN reports.

“We remember very well that the duty-free regime, primarily in the past, was a source of all kinds of schemes, to say the least. It was a kind of privilege and a kind of practice that didn’t really help loyal competition. We all remember how the government in 2016-2019, the government of Plahotniuc, promoted these principles of full inequity in order to favor his friends from the duty-free sector. For example, this allowed setting up duty-free stores at the entrance to the Transnistrian region. They had that nasty idea of putting up duty-free filling stations. A law was made, but they didn’t manage to implement it,” the MP told a news conference.

According to him, the treatment should be fair and fewer privileges should exist so as not to allow fueling the feeling of injustice. The annulment of the duty-free regime will allow to also supplement the state budget revenues in a period with special economic challenges. “We are sure that these privileges must be annulled, while the resources collected as a result of the implementation of this law should be used to help more business entities,” stated Dumitru Alaiba.

The duty-free stores will disappear when their licenses expire. For instance, in the case of the Chisinau International Airport, this will happen in December. This does not yet mean that retailing outlets will be banned. These will be able to work further but will pay taxes.