Parliament passed a new Customs Code which provides for the possibility of duty-free shops only in airports, ports, on board aircraft, and ships. The code, adopted in the second reading with 55 votes, will enter into force on January 1, 2023.

On Thursday, August 12, the Cabinet of Ministers examined the draft decision providing for the adoption of a new Customs Code in Moldova, which derives from the need to execute the commitments assumed by Moldova, by signing the Moldova-EU Association Agreement.

The document involves:

Adjustment of certain key concepts, such as customs office of supervision, customs decision, declaration of origin, exporter, re-export notification, etc.;

• modification of the ceiling for withdrawal of the customs broker’s license from 100,000 euros – to 25,000 euros;

• concretization of the fact that the exchange rate applied for customs purposes represents the official exchange rate of the Moldovan Lei against foreign currencies established by the National Bank of Moldova at the time of the occurrence of the customs debt;
• simplifying the conditions for the destruction of goods infringing an intellectual property right, as well as increasing the period from one year to 3 years, in which the right holder is obliged to destroy the goods infringing an intellectual property right.

The new Customs Code is coherent with the European Union legislation, which provides for the possibility of duty-free shops only in airports, ports, on board aircraft, and ships. Some of the duty free shops in the land border area will cease their activity upon expiration of the license, namely on December 22, 2022, i.e. until the entry into force of the new Customs Code.

In addition, the new Customs Code contains modifications, such as: reducing the fine in case of non-declaration of goods, clarifying the notions of serious violations and crimes related to economic activity, but also updating some rules of the Code with the provisions of current legislation.