Activity of the Parliament on October 11–25, 2005

Appointments. Dismissals

The Constitutional Court decided to validate the lawmaker mandate of Sergiu Sococol, the 65th candidate in the list of the Party of Moldovan Communists at the parliamentary elections.

Legislative documents

Decision on creation of the investigation commission to examine situation of detainees from the detention facility #3 based in the Chisinau municipality. The motivation of this decision was that this institution holds more than 1,000 persons who wait for a court ruling or delivery of their cases to court. Many of these persons are held there for many years because the penal investigation is delayed or because of a long examination of causes by courts.
Law on annulment of debts to the social insurance budget for 2004 calculated for agricultural producers from settlements in the security zone of the Dubasari district. By passing this law, parliamentarians decided to annul debts in the amount of over one million lei of agricultural businesses based in the district of Dubasari, owners of land fields on the other side of the Ribnita-Tiraspol highway, who could neither hold economic activities, nor they paid social insurance fees for their workers because of obstacles and abuses of Transnistrian authorities. This amount will be paid to the social insurance budget from state budget, so that the persons concerned not suffer social damages.
Law on prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings. This legislative document aims to create the legal framework needed for prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings, insurance of protection of rights and interests of victims of trafficking. The law contains regulations on prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings; protection and assistance for victims of trafficking; cooperation of public administration authorities with public associations and other representatives of civil society in preventing and combating trafficking in human beings. The U.S. Government provides financial assistance of about 2 million dollars for implementation of this law, in particular for creation of the centre for the struggle against trafficking in human beings, international anti-trafficking analytical bureau, and accomplishment of the programme on protection of victims.
Law on amendment of the law on making and circulation of ethyl alcohol. Under existing provisions of Article 24 of the amended law, only businesses which hold licences import ethyl alcohol and alcohol production “through customs stations Ungheni, Palanca, Leuseni, Ocnita, and Otaci.” Lawmakers decided on July 22, 2005, to extend the number of checkpoints for importation of these products, and added the customs stations “Giurgiulesti, Tudora and Sculeni”. The chief of state did not promulgate the law, proposing to exclude some of these checkpoints and arguing his initiative through necessity to combat alcohol smuggling, which can be admitted through new customs stations inappropriately endowed.

Opposition lawmakers did not support the proposals of the chief of state, describing them as groundless and invoking certain business interests of people close to the power, but the majority faction gave green light to initiatives of the president and excluded the Sculeni checkpoint from category of customs stations admitted for importation of alcohol and alcohol production.
Law on modification of legislative documents on activity of bank sector. The law adopted by Parliament calls for setup of some mechanisms to ensure the transparency and to avoid the inadequate influence on activity of financial institutions in Moldova. Thus, the share of participation in banks’ capital for persons from offshore countries and zones cannot exceed 50 percent of the total capital of the bank. In addition, the new provisions require that the majority of members of banks’ boards be people unaffiliated to them, while majority of members of commission of censors be persons who do not work in these banks. They also stipulate the possibility of some additional controls of the National Bank of Moldova, which will approve beforehand the amendments on shares of participation in banks’ capital.

The declared goal of these amendments is to ensure the stability of bank sector, but it seems that these changes cannot be regarded separately of the recent events and statements of authorities concerning activity of bank institutions in Moldova.
Law for modification of the Code of Penal Procedure. The Constitutional Court passed a ruling on July 19, 2005, outlawing provisions of many articles from the Code of Penal Procedure regarding obligation to declare the ordinary appeal or annulment only through lawyer. The Constitutional Court argued its ruling through fact that everybody must have access to justice while the obligation to appeal a lawyer is an indirect limitation of the right to defence, free access to justice, harms the principle of universality of rights, and creates premises for introduction of a monopoly on lawyers.

The October 21 law amended unconstitutional norms, establishing that defendant, plaintiff, civil side, and other persons harmed by a court judgement can appeal to a higher court, calling on services of a lawyer, other persons who studied in the area or alone for this purpose, if education and qualification allow this thing.

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Activity of the Parliament on October 11–25, 2005

Appointments. Dismissals

Legislative documents

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