EBA Lobby & Advocacy Activities – October 2016

 Participation in the Prime Minister’s Economic Council

1. Meeting of the Economic Council of Prime Minister's working group on Protection of Personal Data.

New amendments to Law 133/2011 on protection of personal data have been discussed during a technical meeting between representatives of the business community and the Centre for Protection of Personal Data. EBA insisted on holding back the examination of the draft law in the Parliament and requested explicit actions on behalf on the PM Economic Council in this regard, as the new draft law contains excessive and abusive provisions exceeding the legal framework that will affect substantially all entities/operators processing personal data content. Proposals to improve the draft law, included in the EBA Position Paper will be discussed in another meeting of the Working Group with a larger number of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Justice.

2. Meeting of the Economic Council of Prime Minister's working group on Labour Migration and Legal Status of Foreigners in Republic of Moldova.

Several recommendations included in the EBA Position Paper aiming at improving the regulatory framework in the area of labour migration and the legal status of foreigners have been examined in a technical meeting under the PM Economic Council, between business representatives and those of National Bureau for Migration, Ministry of Labour and National Employment Agency. EBA stressed the need of easing the registration procedures in relation to both, migration and labour, in order to match the realities and the demands of the labour market, especially in the area of high-skilled labour, which will result in improving the investment climate as a whole.

3. Meeting of the Economic Council of Prime Minister's 2nd working group on trade facilitation presided by EBA, on the subject of import of GMO food and feed into Republic of Moldova.

The meeting included representatives of the Ministry of Environment together with the EU high-level advisor for this ministry, and representatives of the Ministry of Health, of the Customs Service, the Economic Council, the Academy of Sciences and other stakeholders. The discussion was focused on the procedures of import into Republic of Moldova of food and feed containing GMOs, in the context of the draft law nr. 307 developed in this regard. The EU directive and regulation legislation has been considered. A big importance was given on how to avoid abuse in the case of import, thus securing these products with EU recognized certification and other regulation drafted in this respect.

4. Meeting of the Economic Council of Prime Minister's 2nd working group on trade facilitation presided by EBA, on the subject of import of second-hand items into Republic of Moldova.

As stakeholders were present representatives of the National Centre for Public Health, of the Ministry of Economy, of the Ministry of Health, of the Customs Service, advisors of the prime minister, as well as representatives of the companies specialized in trading second-hand items. The discussion was focused on the problems related to import and trade of second-hand items, specifically on their safety, including visual expertise per lot carried by the National Centre for Public Health for certificate issuing, the lack of transparency in determining the import tax rate, the approval procedure of certificates issued in EU countries, and the legal framework that regulates the import of second-hand items.

5. Meeting of the Economic Council of Prime Minister concerning patent holders.

For more details: http://eba.md/eng/news/eba-a-participat-in-cadrul-edinei-consiliului-economic-al-prim-ministrului-cu-deinatorii-de-patente

EBA Environmental Committee Meeting

New sessions of the EBA Environmental Committee gathered representatives of producers and importers of packaging in Moldova to discuss about the impact of the secondary legislation regulating the area of packaging waste, in order to provide policy recommendations on coherent implementation of extended producer responsibility principle. All recommendations were included in the EBA Position Paper on the Packaging Waste Regulation that has been submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Economy.

EBA – International Institutions Dialogue

EBA continues to work for maintaining an active and substantive dialogue with relevant international institutions interested in improving the business environment in Moldova. In this regard, a meeting with EBA members took place in order to collect and discuss with representatives of the EU Delegation in Moldova the key business issues that companies are currently facing, which will be further integrated in the latest review of the EBA Key Business Climate Issues Affecting the Private Sector Development in Moldova for Q3/Q4 of 2016. This Policy Paper will be submitted to the European Commission, European Parliament and other international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.

Coalition for Development – a new initiative to strengthen the public-private dialogue (PPD)

EBA is happy to participate in the consolidation of the Coalition for Development – a new initiative launched by the USAID Competitiveness Enhancement Project aiming to bring together the most active business associations from Moldova from various sectors – IT, textiles, fruit producers, tourism etc., in order to work together on tackling the issues that impede the development of our country, including in the area of business environment. Being one of the pioneers of this initiative, EBA is happy to share its experience and bring substantive contribution to strengthening the partnership inside the Coalition, and between the Coalition and other stakeholders, including public authorities.