A technical meeting focused on the final version of the new draft Customs Code (CC) gathered on 5 August representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Customs Service, the European Business Association and the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova. The Ministry of Finance representatives spoke on the importance of bringing the Customs regulation in line with those of the EU, whereas business sector representatives raised their questions related to new specific procedures.
The EU High-Level Adviser on Customs and Tax Policy, Rosario De Blasio, briefed the participants on the benefits of the new CC, including immediate and longer-term facilitations for businesses such as: centralised customs clearance, elimination of tax or fees for customs procedures, deferment of payment of customs duty and other import taxes, reduction and reorganisation of the number of customs procedures, Authorised Economic Operators, etc. The new CC will also provide economic operators with the possibility to be informed in advance about customs decisions, thus enabling them to respond before a final customs decision is made.
On 1 May 2016 the EU Regulation 952/2013 (Union Customs Code) entered into force in the European Union and EU traders witnessed the beginning of the largest change to European Customs procedures in the past 20 years. The Republic of Moldova has ratified the Agreement on the EU macro-financial assistance to Moldova for 2020, including conditions in the field of anti-smuggling and the adoption of a new Customs Code approximated with the UCC. The new Customs Code was adopted in first reading by the Moldovan Parliament in 2020, and currently is pending its final adoption(in second and third readings), envisaged for Codes in general, according to Moldovan legislation.