Moldovan state, municipal enterprises to be reorganized, liquidated in two-year term

Chisinau, 23 November /MOLDPRES/ - The state and municipal enterprises will be reorganized or liquidated in a two-year term, under the law on the state enterprise and municipal enterprise, passed by the parliament in the final reading today.  

The law sets peculiarities of the foundation, work and ceasing the activity of the state and municipal enterprises, way the assets transmitted to enterprises are managed, procedure of reorganization or dissolution, composition, powers and responsibility of the leadership bodies, transactions with conflict of interests and the way information is revealed by the concerned enterprises.  

The document provides for the fixing of a ceiling of at least 5,000 lei for the registered share capital of enterprises. Also, the law proposes establishing a special legal regime, with distinct registration in book-keeping, for the public and social assets, so that they cannot be sold.

As for the leadership of the state/municipal enterprises, the powers of the administrative board will be extended. Thus, the body will establishes the performance indexes of the enterprise and criteria of evaluation, will approve a business plan and will monitor its fulfillment, will supervise the unfolding of litigious situations, will approve the regulation on acquisition of assets, works and services, and will select the manager by contest. Also, the powers of the founders and managers of the state/municipal enterprises will be completed. In particular, the founder is to authorize the acquisition of assets the value of which accounts for over 25 per cent of the values of net assets or exceeds 400,000 lei.

Another novelty refers to the setting up of auditing commissions, which will exercise control over the economic and financial activity of the enterprise, including of the acquisition procedures, each half a year.     

The document also sees clear principles of paying wages to members of the administrative boards, so that they are remunerated according to the results achieved, but should not have a fixed salary established under cabinet decision. Also, the ministries will no longer have right to delegate representatives to companies’ administrative boards. This task is to be taken by the Public Property Agency.     

The law also includes provisions on the voluntary dissolution of state/municipal enterprises, given that, at present, about 320 state enterprises do not work are to be liquidated. At the same time, the setting of a deadline of two years is needed for the reorganization of the state/municipal enterprises into commercial companies or public institutions.   

In 2016, the local public authorities were managing 550 municipal enterprises and the central public authorities – 250 state enterprises.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor M. Jantovan)