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Activity of the Parliament on May 23 – June 5, 2005

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May 23–27, 2005

During the aforesaid period legislators examined several draft laws, some of them of major importance to the public. Among others the drafts on unemployment aid and the draft abolishing sanctions on prostitution proved to be the most controversial ones.

Apart from the aforesaid drafts, legislators examined and passed a series of amendments aimed at bringing Moldovan normative acts in accordance with European standards.

Law on the Modification and Completion of the Law on Employment and Social Security of the Unemployed

The goal of the law is to bring national laws in accordance with Labor Code and enhance social security of the unemployed.

The law also regulates the legal status of private employment agencies, coordination and control over their activity. One of the innovations of the law is that it allows for permanent employment in localities far from the place of residence. Ousted employees who would register with employment agencies would be also entitled to unemployment aid.

The provision on reducing the unemployment aid from 50–60% to 30–50% of the previous salary has triggered many debates. Many deputies objected on the grounds those people would be worse off, considering the inflation and raising cost of consumption basket.

Draft authors supported by majority faction replied that unemployment aid would in fact increase, i.e. in 2005 it would equal 500 Lei, in 2006 — 650 Lei, while in 2007 — 850 Lei. Those arguments convinced hesitating deputies to pass the law in the final reading.

Law on Modification and Completion of the Law on the Status of Refugees

The amendments come in response to recently passed international documents in the field of refugees. The law includes new provisions on several institutions:

  1. Humanitarian protection, institutions supported via the Council of Europe Recommendation of 2001 on subsidiary protection. According to Council of Europe the latter is to be provided by the states in conformity with decisions taken by the specialized bodies, to certain persons that do not fall under the provisions of 1951 Convention on Refugees, but need to be protected from threats and various ill treatments.
  2. Council for Refugees which should be an administrative, consultative structure without any appeal or recourse powers.
  3. Access of UN High Commissioner on refugees to applicants for asylum or refuge.
  4. Applicant for asylum. The deadlines for applying to asylum are to be abolished as the person deserves to be protected regardless how many days passed since his/her arrival in the country.
  5. Voluntary repatriation. This has been proven to be the most appropriate solution to refugee’s problems, therefore the law provides such a repatriation as grounds for ceasing the refugee status.
  6. Exclusions. The law also provides persons that might not apply for a refugee status.
  7. Family reunification. This provision was included in the law so as to make possible family reunification in the Republic of Moldova.
  8. Appeal. Provisions as regards appeal were brought in accordance with national and international law in the field.

Resolution on granting “Valea Morilor” park in Chisinau the status of monument of architecture

Parliament passed such a decision in view of recovery and conservation of the “Valea Morilor” park, following a report by a working group responsible for fighting illegal construction in the park. The park was founded in 1951 and currently has 113.9 hectares. By including the park in the list of places under state protection, it would be preserved and become a center culture and recreation, a natural attraction.

Resolution on abolishing sanctions on prostitution

Parliament resolution that approved the Action-Plan in the field of Human Rights back in 2003 provides for amending the law so as to persecute both the person providing the service and the clients of such services. Since then the criminal law has changed and it does no longer sanction prostitution due to its low social harm. Prostitution continues to be sanctioned as a contravention. In most European countries the client of such services are not sanctioned, that is why Moldovan legislators considered there were no grounds to introduce such sanctions in Moldovan law.

Draft law on modification of the Criminal Code and new regulations on torture

Parliament passed in a first reading a draft law completing Criminal Code with a new article on torture. Under the draft, intentional actions causing pain, physical or mental suffering in order to obtain from a person or a third party information or confessions so as to punish that person for an action he/she committed or is suspected of committing; intimidation or pressure on a third party, any form of discrimination, when such a pain or suffering are caused by a person in high position or at duty shall be sanctioned.

It was important to introduce the modification as there were no such provisions in the Criminal Code and there were numerous cases of torture registered in the Republic of Moldova.

May 30 — June 3, 2005

Parliamentarians debated on several draft laws on June 2, in particular, on introduction of amendments to old laws. Also, the Parliament passed a new law which regulates the statute of botanical gardens, in the final reading. It is worth to mention that a consumer protection organization was holding a news conference when the legislature was adopting this law, and claimed that the Botanical Garden in the Chisinau municipality is abusively administrated, while the Environment Ministry leases it to a private company, which raises profits from prohibited activities rather than improves the situation of this scientific institution.

A draft law on pay of indemnities to detainees, which will be used to issue identity documents to detainees, if they do not hold them, raised a special attention.

Also, the examination in the second reading of a law which empowers the Labor Inspection with the right to apply administrative sanctions provoked ardent debates. A new situation was observed in the Parliament on this occasion — the absence of several lawmakers from the Communist majority faction halts the adoption of some organic laws. Thus, the votes of the 51 lawmakers representing the ruling Communist Party of Moldova were not enough to promote this law at the very beginning, and this situation generated ardent talks and mutual accusations between the majority and opposition factions. Also, some opposition deputies obstructed their own faction colleagues and supported drafts promoted by majority.

However, the Parliament debated on several important laws which shall be given a thorough consideration below.

Law on Botanical Gardens

Under the adopted law, a distinct juridical regime will be in effect for botanical gardens, which will hold a statute of public science and innovation institutions subordinated to the Moldovan Academy of Sciences or local public administration authorities. This statute will exempt them from some state taxes and fees, and will allow them to attract internal and external financing, including from the private sector.

The law says that the botanical gardens are created through delimitation of grounds and/or water areas under a special management regime for conservation, adaptation and regeneration under best artificial conditions of sorts of local, allochthon and exotic plants, which are significant from scientific, economic and esthetic points of view.

Constructions in botanical gardens must be based on a project approved by the Moldovan Academy of Sciences and documents on town planning and territorial arrangement.

Sale and leasing of fields which are part of public botanical gardens are prohibited, while their withdrawal must be based on a decision of the Parliament, a proposal of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences, and an agreement of the central environment authority, only if they lose their value after natural disasters or catastrophes, and if they cannot be restored.

Under the law, botanical gardens are created to ensure the protection, maintenance, reproduction, reasonable use of bio-diversity of vegetal world, ecological, cultural and esthetic education, and recreation of population. The key tasks of scientific activity of botanical gardens comprise among others:

The law stipulates the possibility for botanical gardens to practice economic activities with the purpose to raise extra-budgetary financial means for maintenance and development. These activities comprise among others:

A Chisinau-based nongovernmental consumer protection organization has described a leasing contract between the Environment Ministry and a private firm as doubtful, saying that the Botanical Garden is destroyed through trade objects, massive manifestations improper to the statute of scientific institution, instead of being protected.

To avoid abuses of this kind, the new law restricts a number of activities in botanical gardens, including:

Law on Granting Facilities to Residents of Transdnistrian Region

The Parliament adopted this law that exempts the electricity and natural gas supplies, telecommunication services, water and sewerage services provided by businesses based in Moldova but without any fiscal relations with its budgetary system from Value-Added Tax.

Also, the law compensates the difference of tariffs for electricity and natural gas used by residents of the village of Varnita in Anenii-Noi. The need of this law was due to the fact that the Varnita residents receive electricity and natural gas from enterprises on the left bank of the Dniester river, but do not benefit from compensations for these services.

Law on Amendment of the Code on Administrative Contraventions

The law adopted by the Parliament calls for introduction of a “conventional unit” as administrative sanction instead of the minimum salary. Thus, the fine will be established in conventional units, while a conventional unit will be equivalent with 20 lei. At present, the 18-leu minimum salary as measurement unit is used to calculate rises, additions and supplements to payments for work, and it was introduced on June 1, 1994.

However, the notion of minimum salary represents the minimum size of the wage in lei, established by state for a simple, unqualified work, which the employer must respect it to pay for the work that the employee is doing a month or an hour.

The law on calculation of minimum salary was adopted in 2000 and it stipulated that the executive must present proposals on adjustment of the legislation in effect to this law within two months. The situation in this sector was not entirely changed after about five years, and many payments for budgetary workers are calculated on basis of the 18-leu minimum salary, which is no more an adequate economic category for quite a long time.

Law on Granting Labor Inspection the Right to Administrative Sanctioning

The law adopted by the Parliament provoked ardent debates during talks in the first reading, but most of opposition lawmakers and certain representatives of the parliamentary majority did not warm the empowerment of one more body with the right to administrative sanctioning.

Few new arguments in favor of this law were voiced in the second reading, while the main of them indicated findings of previous controls regarding violations of the labor protection legislation.

The law gathered the constitutional number of votes at the first try to adopt it, but an opposition lawmaker annulled later his positive vote under the pressure of his colleagues, and this action provoked controversial talks, but the Communist lawmakers ensured the presence of one more representative of their faction and approved the law with 52 votes.

Draft law on introduction of state allocations for persons who take care of blind invalids

The draft law adopted in the first reading proposes the introduction of a 150-leu monthly indemnity for people capable of work who take care of 1st-degree blind invalids at home. The total cost of this draft is estimated at 5 million lei a year.

May 2–22, 2005 June 6–19, 2005