The Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance will be restructured, before that a moratorium on its inspections has been introduced.
This was announced during a joint press conference on Monday by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and Economy Minister Sergiu Gaibu, noting that this was due to the fact that numerous abuses and violations were revealed in the agency. The head of government explained that the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance is an extremely important institution, especially in the current crisis situation, when prices are rising and hitting the pockets of citizens, since it is this agency that should protect consumers from abuse and violations, but, unfortunately, in recent years it has been extremely inefficient. Instead of verifying consumer rights and vigorously fighting any abuse, this institution has shown inefficiency and corruption. Natalia Gavrilita explained that the Ministry of Economy has taken many actions in recent months to cleanse the institution of interests and corrupt individuals. A lot of information, cases, materials were collected, which were transferred to the prosecutor's office. The prime minister said the Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance Agency has been used in recent years as a tool to siphon money out of businesses, and she said this information is enough for convictions. “The Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance Agency was run by people close to Vladimir Plahotniuc, and many of the so-called inspectors were members of sports federations, and many violations were committed that must be stopped,” said Natalia Gavrilita. She also noted that the director of the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance, Iurie Eremia, cannot be dismissed now, since the director is on parental leave. At the same time, 4 inspectors were detained by the NAC and placed under preliminary arrest in the isolation ward. Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu explained that due to many violations in the activities of the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Supervision, the sectoral department ordered its reform. This is a key structure that checks the observance of consumer rights by economic agents, the conformity of their goods and services. “But we all know that there are abuses in the field of microfinance. In this aspect, the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance has not yet been prepared and must be restructured, supplemented with employees capable of conducting such assessments of these contracts and services in the field of microfinance, their compliance with current legislation and not allowing any violations of consumer rights. This is one of the examples of why the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance needs to be reformed in order to increase its functionality,” Sergiu Gaibu said. He said that following numerous complaints received from economic agents and discussions with them, an audit was initiated at the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance, which revealed serious inconsistencies and violations in the implementation of the internal control system, state property management and numerous violations during scheduled and unscheduled inspections. The report referred to the inaction of senior officials in the issue of ensuring the functionality of the Dispute Resolution Board. Herewith, the requested audit by the Financial Inspectorate revealed a number of violations in financial management, violations of procedures in the management of the agency. Sergiu Gaibu explained at the same time that there are many complaints and allegations of various violations against the director of the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Supervision Iurie Eremia, but he cannot be dismissed because he is on parental leave. Four inspectors are under preliminary arrest in the NAC detention center. “And in order to stop potential violations, the Ministry of Economy decided to impose a moratorium on control by the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance until the completion of its restructuring and assessment of the compliance of its employees so that they act not in the interests of some groups, but in the interests of consumers who must be protected. A restructuring plan and a corresponding government decision are being prepared,” the Minister of Economy added. // 31.01.2022 — InfoMarket
