Tiraspol, 29 January. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Despite the agreement that Pridnestrovian enterprises will continue duty-free trade with the EU, domestic manufacturers are facing the need to pay customs duties to the Moldovan customs for previously imported raw materials.
A round table talk was organised by the State Customs Committee of the PMR to examine the situation.
The meeting was attended by directors of the enterprises selling goods to the EU, representatives of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Union of Manufacturers, Agrarians and Entrepreneurs, the SCC press service reports.
As was noted at the meeting, Kishinev decided to change for Pridnestrovian exporters the order of the payment of customs duties, i.e. stopped exempting them from paying duties for previously imported raw materials. Now Moldova's customs service is demanding our exporters pay duties with the so-called equivalent effect.
«Raw materials for our industrial enterprises were imported in 2015. Had we known in advance that certificate requirements would change since 1 January 2016, we would have informed our partners and received those certificates beforehand," ZAO Tirotex director general Andrey Mezhinsky commented on the situation.
Besides, the Moldovan customs authorities recognise only the certificates issued by the so-called authorised raw material suppliers. This term, as enterprise directors admitted, is often difficult to comply with.
«We must have 40 authorised suppliers. Every invoice is a supplier. There are 25 invoices for each truck and, consequently, the same number of suppliers. To receive 25 Euro-1 certificates for 2015 looks impossible now," said Softshoes director Yury Cheban.
Thus, Pridnestrovian exporters have become hostage to a regular change of the Moldovan legislation. According to directors, their European suppliers are also shocked by the change of rules.
«Pridnestrovie is well aware that this innovation is just another step made by official Kishinev to draw Pridnestrovie into Moldova's fiscal space," says the statement by the SCC press service.
In conclusion, the chairman of the SCC, Yury Gervazyuk, expressed mutual determination to solve this issue as soon as possible because not only financial losses of enterprises are at stake, but also the country's economy as a whole.
