In Moldova, it is planned to increase the turnover of companies that are obliged to notify the Competition Council of economic concentration.
Relevant amendments to the Law on Competition were proposed for public consultations. According to the draft, economic concentration operations will be subject to evaluation and brought to the attention of the Competition Council before their implementation, when the total turnover for the previous year exceeds 50 million lei, and there are at least 2 enterprises involved in operations, the total turnover of which in Moldova for the previous year exceeded 20 million each separately. Currently, these limits are 25 million lei and, accordingly, 10 million lei. These changes will remove the obligation to notify micro-enterprises of economic concentration, the annual turnover of which, according to the legislation, cannot exceed 18 million lei. It also provides for a 2-fold increase - up to 150 thousand lei - of the maximum fee for consideration of a notice of economic concentration, while its main amount will remain at the level of 0.1% of the total turnover realized jointly on the territory of Moldova by enterprises involved in economic concentration. Based on the experience of the EU countries, it is proposed to reduce the market share indicator from 50% to 40% when determining the dominant position of one or more enterprises. The amount of fines for violation of procedural norms and substantive norms of the Law on Competition will also be adjusted. The authors of the initiative propose to supplement and clarify the definitions of the law, including the introduction of the term "total global turnover" - the total value of sales of products sold by the enterprise during the reporting period, including at the global level. This indicator will be used to calculate the amount of fines for violations of the provisions of the Competition Law and the maximum level of fines for procedural violations. Legislative changes were initiated in order to harmonize the anti-competitive legislation of Moldova with the European directives in this area, to increase the independence and effectiveness of the Competition Council. The new law will list all areas within the competence of the Competition Council: competition, state aid, commercial advertising, unfair commercial practices, regulation of rail transport services. The powers and responsibilities of the Competition Council and its employees are clarified, a new article deals with conflicts of interest. The toolkit of the Competition Council for conducting investigations is being expanded. For example, Competition Council specialists will have access to data hosted on all technical devices (including laptops, tablets, mobile phones) and cloud storage companies. The draft law is supposed to consolidate that the government will allocate amounts to finance the Competition Council that will ensure the independence of the Competition Council, pay salaries and incentive payments, and provide technical equipment for the Competition Council. At the same time, financing of the Competition Council will be possible from the income received from the fee for consideration of notices of economic concentration, the provision of paid services and other income provided for by law. Consultations on the project are held until the end of March: https://bit.ly/3lNygmg. //28.03.2023 — InfoMarket.
