In Chisinau were discussed difficulties and prospects for the development of online trading
The Economic Press Club organized a regular meeting yesterday, at which were discussed various aspects of organizing online trade in Moldova and barriers that hinder the development of this sector of the economy. Experts from the Structural Reform Program in Moldova / USAID presented the recommendations formulated in the report on the situation in the field of e-commerce and the cashless economy. As noted by the expert Iurie Cicibaba, in Moldova, at the legislative level, it is necessary to clarify the concept of "online store", it is necessary to develop a guide for merchants and customers of online stores and ensure its availability on all online sites, organize special courses to prepare entrepreneurs for e-commerce. The expert emphasized that it is important to adapt the best world experience in the field of electronic commerce, including in the field of consumer protection and the use of payment systems; to promote logistic and export tools that will allow to develop the export potential of Moldovan online stores; revise local fees for online stores, set special banking fees for some commercial transactions, etc. During the discussions, the need to resolve issues related to personal data, electronic signature and remote identification of a person was noted, to create incentives to pay for goods online, for example, through cashback. A separate problem is the payment and approval of payments by banks, which require online stores to provide a deposit (can reach up to 50% of the amount), depriving sellers of working capital, as well as generally strict requirements of banks to organizers of online trading. IDIS Viitorul expert Veaceslav Ionita said that the institute is currently conducting a study that will assess the turnover of online trade, including the informal market. “We need to think about how to bring illegal online shopping into a legal economic field,” he said. Ionita also spoke in favor of strict but uniform regulation of all types of trade, both online and offline. He expressed concern that with the introduction of differentiated regulation of online trade in such goods, there will be a drop in sales from legal authorized sellers and, accordingly, an increase in the illegal segment. Herewith, uniform rules should apply, among other things, to goods and services that are classified as luxury or vices (gambling, tobacco products, etc.). In turn, the vice-chairman of the parliamentary commission for economy, budget and finance, Radu Marian, stressed that at the moment the parliament is considering a bill to impose restrictions on the online trade of tobacco products for heating. The MP noted that there is a high risk of buying such products by minors. Meanwhile, the MP agreed that the rules for trade in excisable goods should be the same for both online and offline trade. Also, Radu Marian confirmed the existence of political will to stimulate economic agents and encourage the population to use electronic payments. He noted that the issue of digitalization of the economy is a priority, and some initiatives to improve the legal framework to stimulate online commerce will be considered in the near future within the framework of the so-called package for digitalization of the economy. They imply the introduction of tax incentives, simplified identification of remote operators and customers, financial education of the population, etc. In turn, as the representative of the State Tax Service Igor Lazar noted, the institution formulated a number of proposals to improve the situation in this area and submitted them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration. //13.10.2021 – InfoMarket.
