A legislative initiative has been registered in parliament to conduct an independent external audit at the Competition Council (CC).
The bill was initiated by the deputies of the Action and Solidarity Party. According to the draft, the parliamentary commission on economy, budget and finance will select an independent auditor, determine the timing of the audit and present the related costs. The explanatory note to the bill notes that the audit is necessary due to the fact that the CC ignores the current situation on the oil products market, where there are suspicions of the existence of anti-competitive agreements between large operators. “In just two months of 2021, retail prices for petroleum products increased 5 times. In part, this increase can be attributed to higher prices for petroleum products in international markets and higher excise taxes. However, the rise in prices was disproportionate and too high. For example, in Romania during the same period, the increase in fuel prices was twice lower, ”the explanatory note says. At the same time, retail prices for petroleum products in Moldova did not change in proportion to the change in oil prices on international markets in spring and summer 2020. For example, in April 2020, when the import price of gasoline in Moldova decreased by 64% compared to January 2020, the retail price for the same period decreased by only 14%. This trend continues. The deputies also pointed out that last year, despite the pandemic, oil importers applied a double commercial surcharge compared to previous years (in April 2020, farmers paid 2.4 lei more for each liter of diesel fuel compared to the price that would paid as usual). At the request of the presidency to clarify the situation with prices for petroleum products, the CC said that "for 1 year and 11 months it has been monitoring the dynamics of changes in prices for petroleum products in order to identify the existence of signs of coordination of actions," however the results of this investigation and even preliminary conclusions are still not known. The authors of the initiative note that the lack of reaction of the middle class in the fight against anti-competitive tendencies is also manifested in other economic key areas: in the market of dairy products, cereals, metals, etc. In these conditions, the deputies consider it necessary to conduct an external independent audit of the effectiveness of the CC, which has difficulties in protecting, maintaining and stimulating competition to promote the legitimate interests of consumers. It is also noted that such an audit was one of the requirements of the European Union in order to allocate the second tranche of macro-financial assistance in 2020. “The approval by the parliament of the bill on audit in the CC for the EU will mean Moldova's commitment to improve the competitive environment,” the deputies note. // 25.02.2021 - InfoMarket.
