Tiraspol, 27 March. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A meeting of expert (working) groups on road transport was held in Tiraspol on 17 March. It focused, among other things, on the problem of receiving professional competence certificates from Moldova's authorities, which are needed by Pridnestrovian carrier companies working on routes in Moldova.
The Pridnestrovian side requested their Moldovan counterparts to avoid imposing administrative measures against Pridnestrovian carriers whose certificates had already expired until the issue of obtaining new certificates was not settled.
Novosti Pridnestrovia has learnt new details about this problem.
The reason for the next discussion of this topic at an expert group meeting was an incident that took place on 22 February. According to the head of the Association of Transport and Road Workers, Sergey Martsinko, on that day the Moldovan transport police stopped a Pridnestrovian intercity bus Tiraspol-Kishinev and fined its driver for the absence of a certificate. Such incidents had previously occurred as well, and, according to some carrier companies, are still occurring.
It does not mean, however, that the bus driver did not have a certificate because he had not even tried to obtain it, but because Moldova's National Road Transport Agency had refused and still refuses to issue this certificate to him as well as to many other Pridnestrovian drivers.
As the head of the expert group on transport, Andrey Medvedev, told Novosti Pridnestrovya, in order to receive such a certificate, it is necessary to undergo special courses in a training centre accredited by the Moldovan agency.
Several dozens of Pridnestrovian drivers have already accomplished them. Each has paid from 500 to 1,000 Moldovan lei, depending on the type of vehicle, the chair of the board of the transport association, Mikhail Kyrnats, told Novosti Pridnestrovya.
The Pridnestrovians were given certificates after the courses but they failed anyway to obtain professional competence certificates. The Moldovan agency said that only those with Moldova-issued driving licences would be able to receive those documents.
And this is all despite the fact that according to the protocol on mutual recognition of documents signed in May 2001 by Pridnestrovian President Igor Smirnov and his Moldovan counterpart Vladimir Voronin driving licences issued by Pridnestrovie are valid in Moldova and, in fact, vice versa.
According to Andrey Medvedev, the procedure of obtaining Moldovan driving licences is rather complicated and involves the registration of Pridnestrovian vehicles in Moldova, purchasing Moldovan number plates and paying automobile taxes and fees to the Moldovan budget. These conditions are unacceptable, Medvedev believes.
At the same time, according to Sergey Martsinko, in addition to Moldova-issues driving licences, there is one more mandatory condition mentioned by Moldovan officials — the citizenship of Moldova. This requirement effectively outlaws citizens of Russia, Ukraine and other countries working on Moldovan-Pridnestrovian routes.
Drivers who are unable to obtain a certificate will be forced to either leave their place of work or continue to be subject to punitive sanctions by Moldovan law enforcers. According to Mikhail Kyrnats, today the fine toady is 700 lei. If the payment is delayed, however, its size is doubled.
Negotiations is still underway to resolve this issue. According to Amdrey Medvedev, during the meeting of expert groups Moldovan representatives provisionally agreed not to levy fines on Pridnestrovian drivers until the problem of obtaining certificates is resolved.
