Moldovan Parliament held public hearings on the draft State Duty Act.
The Commission on Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunity held public hearings on Monday on the draft Law on State Duty, which is being finalized for approval by Parliament in the second reading. Lawyers, judges, notaries and representatives of civil society expressed their opinions about the document. The draft law has been developed to adjust the regulatory framework and to create a budgetary balance between the provision of a quality public service and the obligation of the citizen who uses this service. One of the provisions of the draft stipulates the introduction of the concept of "stamp duty" - the amount to be charged to the court account of individuals and legal entities for all cases of civil and administrative proceedings as well as for appeals against protocol and decisions of establishing subjects. For stamp duty there will be no exemption from payment, extension of the term or installments of payment, but it will not be levied on public authorities and public institutions for actions whose object are public revenues. The amount of the stamp duty is proposed to be set at 200 lei. This tax is expected to prevent improper filing of lawsuits. It was also proposed to remove the upper limit of 25,000 lei for individuals and 50,000 lei for legal entities for applications to summon people for property disputes, applications to contest a writ of execution or other document through which recovery takes place. At the same time, the state duty for some appeals will increase, so that people facing a dispute which could be more easily and quickly settled out of court would be more motivated to take this step. The authors also proposed to establish several fees to counteract improper postponement of court hearings and non-appearance of participants in the judicial process. The Draft Law on State Duty was adopted in the first reading in late December 2022. // 30.01.2023 - InfoMarket
