Process of issuing special transport authorizations to be optimized in Moldova

Chisinau, 22 October /MOLDPRES/ - The process of issuance of special transport authorizations (AST) will be optimized, including through the changing of legislative provisions to this end. Proposals to this effect were unveiled at a today’s meeting in Chisinau, organized by the Economics and Infrastructure Ministry, National Motor Transport Agency (ANTA) and USAID Programme for Structural Reforms in Moldova.    

The ANTA deputy director, Igor Guja, has said that, in early 2019, a study was made on assessing the conditions and process of AST issuance. “This study will be used for the optimization and adjusting of the national legislation to the EU one. We received more notifications on behalf of operators and we want to improve the legal framework, in order to issue authorizations in a shorter period and revise the tariffs,” Igor Guja said. According to him, the e-authorization application is to be developed till late 2019.  

The director of the USAID Programme for Structural Reforms in Moldova, Douglas Muir, noted that the meeting held in Chisinau today represented a starting point in the process of revising the normative framework as to the issuance of authorizations.     

The assessment of the process of AST issuance emphasized the fact that this process was not focused on the needs of economic agents, as certain possibilities are lacking, especially the ones concerning the getting of AST in a shorter period. At the same time, experts pointed out the lack of possibility to return the sums paid in the case of failure to use AST and lack of the exemption of the tax imposed in certain situations. At the same time, the duration of the consideration of applications and release of AST is of 5-8 days, while in other European states, this term is three days at the most or even several hours.    

Following the evaluation, decision-makers came up with more proposals for optimizing the process of AST issuance. One of them regards the revision of the taxes through the enforcement of a model based on the principle of proportionality, so that the size of the taxes is established in relation with the position held by Moldova in international rankings on roads’ quality. At the same time, experts proposed to change the current model of calculating the taxes and give possibility to return the bills paid, if AST was not used.