Market Surveillance in the Republic of Moldova

1. Market Surveillancein the Republic of MoldovaBratislava 2007Maria Bizgu, MoldovaStandard

2. General vision • The citizens, no matter in which country they live have the right to be protected from the products that can affect their life and health • Although legislative and institutional framework can differ from country to country, the main principles regarding market surveillance are the same.

3. The recent changes • The willingness and efforts of Republic of Moldova to integrate in the European and international space • The adhesion to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 • Developping of technical regulations elaboration • The voluntary application of standards

4. Legislative framework • Law concerning technical regulation activity • Consumer protection law • General products safety law • Government Decision “Concerning improvement of state inspection system”

5. The main principles of MS in Moldova • Market surveillance is the task of the public authorities • Market surveillance can be performed regarding every product , at every economic operator, no matter the type of ownership and form of organization • The market surveillance may use the testing laboratories of other bodies with condition that there is no conflict of interest and that the responsibility for decision making is by the market surveillance authority

6. The main principles of MS in Moldova • The decisions regarding sanctions in case of non conform products should be made taking in the consideration the principle of proportionality • The bodies for conformity assessment are not allowed to perform market surveillance • The controls are on the selective base in order to find out the common problems • One of the goals of market surveillance is to prevent the infringements by different forms of collaboration with the economic operators

7. Theterminology • Market surveillance • Control or Inspection • Planned control • Thematically control

8. Institutional structure • The State Inspectorate for market surveillance, Metrology and Consumer Protection • The State Inspectorate in energetic field • State Construction Inspectorate • State Communication Inspectorate

9. Testing laboratories used in market surveillance • The market surveillance authorities do not have in their structure testing laboratories • There are used the accredited laboratories • There are one hundred thirty accredited laboratories in different fields

10. Conclusions • The comparative analysis of the market surveillance system in the Republic of Moldova and the European Union allows drawing following main conclusions: • In December 2006 the important horizontal legislation provided the general safety rules for non-food products and the main principles of caring out of market surveillance, namely the Law on General Product Safety and the Law on Technical Regulations, have been adopted in Moldova • Together with the Law on Consumers protection (2003) and a number of vertical legislation – the Law on Electric Energy, the Law on Gas and the Law on Quality in Construction – it has established the legal basis for market surveillance in Moldova.

11. Conclusions • It is very important, the new adopted legislation assure, at least at the legal level, the following European principles: • the only products which do not endanger a person’s health and safety can be placed on the market • Market surveillance is the responsibility of public authorities, and these authorities need to have the necessary resources and powers for their surveillance activities, ensure technical competence and professional integrity of their personnel, and act in an independent and non-discriminatory way respecting the principle of proportionality • Market surveillance involves two main stages: (i) monitoring of products placed on the market to ensure that these products comply with the provisions of the applicable national legislation, and (ii) subsequently, when necessary, taking action to establish conformity

12. Thanks for your attention