The MPs of the ACUM bloc, group of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” (PPPDA), said the new law on small and medium-sized enterprises is not obeyed even if it was adopted over three years ago. In a news conference, PPPDA MP Alexandru Slusari presented a legislative proposal to institute a moratorium on state inspections at SMEs so as to enable the business entities to overcome the impasse they face, IPN reports.
In July 2016, Parliament adopted a new law on SMEs, which allows for the provision of tax concessions for developing the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and introduces a minimum quota of government procurement contracts. Regrettably, the state exercises only state control at these enterprises, collecting fines and penalties often without legal reasons, says the informative note to the proposal. According to the PPPDA, over 350 million lei in fines and penalties is to be collected into the state budget in 2020 at a time when the SMEs hardly manage to survive.
The PPPDA MPs noted that a moratorium should be instituted on state inspections at SMEs for at least a budgetary year – January 1 – December 31, 2020 – so as to foster the socioeconomic rehabilitation of Moldova. The period could be later extended until June 30, 2021.
“The proposed moratorium refers to planned and unplanned inspections carried out by state bodies, including the fiscal ones. As regards customs control, the moratorium is imposed only on subsequent inspections conducted in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Customs Code,” says the informative note to the bill.
According to the PPPDA, the SMEs in 2018 numbered 55,700 and represented 98.7% of all the enterprises. The number of salary earners who worked at these enterprises in 2018 was almost 328,000 and constituted 61.2% of all the workers of enterprises. The sales revenues of SMEs in the period represented 40.4% of the total sales revenues in the economy.
