In a move to support the business community in Transnistria and to create advantageous conditions for external trade for the Transnistrian business entities, the Moldovan authorities started to review the legislation, IPN reports.

According to the Reintegration Office, the taken measures are aimed at accelerating the socioeconomic development of the Transnistrian communities, promoting interaction between the entrepreneurs from both sides of the Nistru River and restoring the common economic area. In this connection, the Government approved a bill to amend and supplement a number of legal acts by which the fiscal, customs and budgetary policies for 2016 are set out. The bill also amends the annex to the Law on the Combined Nomenclature of Goods.

When the amendments take effect, the customs duties on particular goods used to make finished products by companies operating in the processing industry will be reduced from 5%, 6.5%, 8% and 10% to 1% (18 tariff positions overall). This will facilitate trade between Transnistria and the European Union, will improve the investment climate and will create the preconditions needed for developing production.

Following discussions with Transnistrian business entire and consultations with European partners, it was established that the entrepreneurs from both sides of the Nistru face the same problems as they pay customs duties on the import of raw material that is not made in the countries with which Moldova signed free trade agreements. This raw material is used to manufacture finished products that are afterward exported to the EU.

About 1,800 business entities from Transnistria have so far registered with the State Registration Chamber of Moldova and benefit from the concessions provided by the national legislation and the commercial-economic instruments to which Moldova is a party.