4 April 2019 – In 2019, the Government Decision 938 was approved, by which all importers of commodities from the Republic of Moldova had to register in the TRACES information system. This allowed for importing quality products and ensured traceability of imported commodities, including from the EU. At the same time, the document also contained provisions, the implementation of which generated the enforcement of irrelevant procedures by the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) inspectors, alongside unjustified costs for the economic operators. The issue came to the attention of the experts of the Economic Council, which made a series of recommendations.

Thus, it was proposed that the economic operator timely notifies the commodities in the TRACES system and not within at least 24 hours prior to arriving at the customs.   Another recommendation was to divide the fees that ANSA charges for each type of control, performed at the border. It was also proposed to reduce the number of supporting documents for the commodities, which need to be provided at the border. It is recommended to provide them in one of international languages and not only in the state language.  Another proposed amendment concerned changes in the sampling procedure by ANSA inspectors.

The recommendation was that this process be accompanied by a written document submitted by the inspector, which contains information on the sampling for testing, including sample quantity, performed by the inspector during the the physical control. Thus, possible abuses by ANSA in the process of physical control with sampling are avoided. These recommendations were included in the amendments made to the Government Decision 938 of April 2019.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is  supported  by  the  European  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the World Bank Group project “Investment Climate Reform”, funded by the Sweden.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.