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Parliament was very productive during the said period, it examined and adopted several legal acts, some of major importance for the society at large.

Legal acts adopted in the final reading

I. Law on the Notary.

ADEPT comment: As compared to the current law and the draft law developed by the Government, the Law adopted by the Parliament brings such novelty as:

1. state notary institution;
2. abolishing the assistant notary position;
3. licensing of the notary activity;
4. abolishing Notary Union monopoly and its abusive rights;
5. exemptions and discounts for the notary services provided to socially vulnerable strata of the society;
6. establishing a ceiling of the extra charges levied by the notary, according to a methodology approved by the Parliament;
7. abolishing judiciary tax;
8. abolishing Notary Chambers and their rights, etc.

Given the fact that the notary activity has been a controversial subject since the adoption of this law, it would be interesting to follow on how the law shall be enforced and on its impact on the notary in general, and public money in particular. Also it would be interesting how authorities would establish the state notary institution, given the bureaucracy and corruption associated with that position 4-5 years ago.

After adopting the Law on Notary the Parliament amended the Fiscal Code. Under the amendments notary services are no longer considered entrepreneurial activities and only private notary shall be subject to taxation.

II. Law on compensating the difference between the tariffs on energy and natural gas for the residents to the left of Dniester river.

ADEPT comment: The law provides that until the elimination of the consequences of the Transdnistrian conflict for the residents of Cocieri, Pirita, Cosnita, Dorotskaia and Molovata Noua villages, they would receive a compensation for the difference between the tariffs on energy and natural gas approved by the National Agency for Energy Regulation and those approved by the Tiraspol administration in the limits (energy - 60 kwh per month; natural gas - 8 m³ per month).

III. Laws on ratification of international acts.

ADEPT comment: The Parliament ratified the following:

1. Addendum to the Agreement between the Government of Romania and Government of the Republic of Moldova on the long-term loan, signed in 1993 and amended in 2000.

   Under the Addendum, Republic of Moldova debts worth 3 million USD were converted as Romania's payment to Moldovan telecommunication companies relaying Romanian 1 TV Channel.

   By ratifying the Agreement on the eve of the protest rallies demanding the relay of the Romanian TV Channel to be resumed, the Parliament probably intended to thwart the protests. At the same time it may well happen that the relay of the Romanian TV station wouldn't be resumed, for various technical reasons, which are so easy to find.

2. European Agreement on remitting the dead bodies. Under the agreement the formalities for remitting the bodies were greatly simplified for the state members to the Agreement. Currently, besides numerous tiresome formalities transportation of a body into the country costs from 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

3. Convention between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and Government of Canada on avoiding double taxation and preventing fiscal evasions.

IV. Law on modification of legal acts related to Prosecution.

ADEPT comment: Under the law, an Anti-Corruption Department shall be established within the Prosecution of the Republic of Moldova. One of the Departments' main functions would be overseeing how the Center for Fighting Corruption and Economic Crime observes the legal framework.

Legislative acts adopted in the first reading (not final)

I. Draft law on migration.

ADEPT comment: Under the new law a Migration Department shall be established within the Government to oversee the migration flow. In addition the Department shall design a single recording and monitoring system of the refugees stationed on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

II. Draft law on normative acts issued by the Government and other local and central public bodies.

ADEPT comment: The draft law is aimed to ensure a better quality and efficiency of the acts issued by the Government, central and local public administration bodies. Normative act is defined as a legal act providing binding rules to be repeatedly applied to an undetermined number of identical situations.

The elaboration of such a draft was determined by the Law on Legal Acts, providing that the Government should define its own rules of issuing normative acts.

III. Law on modifying Article 4 of the Law on State Tax.

ADEPT comment: Under the draft, central public administration bodies shall be exempted of the obligation to pay the state tax when defending in court state patrimonial interests. There are many controversial opinions on the draft, however experience of many countries proved that the mechanism works. Nevertheless, it does not exclude abuse of power by public administration officers.