The purpose of the law is to create a legal basis for commercial activity, to develop a distribution network of goods and commercial services, free competition, and to protect the life, health, safety and economic interests of consumers.
Regulation scope
This law regulates activities in the field of domestic trade, establishes the basic requirements for the implementation of this activity, the forms of its implementation and the powers of the central sectoral public administration bodies and local public administration bodies in the field of trade.
For the purposes of this law, the types of activities for trade in food and non-food products and the provision of services are defined in accordance with the Classifier of Economic Activities of Moldova - NACE Rev.2 (CAEM-2).
Central public administration bodies authorized in the field of trade
Central public administration bodies ensure the harmonious development of trade networks and the procedure for the distribution of goods and commercial services, as well as equal conditions of activity for all traders regardless of their type of ownership and organizational and legal form.
The rules for the implementation of trading activities, including sanitary and sanitary-veterinary rules, as well as food safety and consumer protection rules are approved by the Government.
The central sectoral public administration body responsible for the development of state policy in the field of trade and for regulating this area is the Ministry of Economy and Digitalization.
The State Inspectorate for Supervision of Non-Food Products and Consumer Protection coordinates and implements the state strategy in the field of consumer protection;
The supervisory authorities develop, publish and periodically update (in the event of changes in current legislation or for the purpose of improvement) reference guides that contain clearly stated requirements to be met by traders when implementing trading activities. Control authorities ensure that the guidelines are published on their official websites and made available to the general public.
Powers of local public administration authorities in the field of trade
Trading activities carried out locally are administered and coordinated by local public administration authorities in accordance with the national regulations in force.
Legal basis of the Republic of Moldova
Law No. 231/2010 on internal trade
Classification of Economic Activities in Moldova - NACE Rev.2 (CAEM-2)