Articol 6
Residents of free zones
(1) Resident of the free zone, hereinafter referred to as resident, may be any natural or legal person registered by law as a subject of entrepreneurial activity in the Republic of Moldova, any educational institution, scientific research and technology transfer centre, other entities that contribute to the improvement of the quality of the labour force of residents.
(2) The selection of residents is carried out by the Administration on a competitive basis, taking into account the volume and nature of planned investments, the need to create productive and non-productive infrastructure of the area, the maintenance of the orientation of the free area towards the manufacture of industrial production for export, the territory and free land, the provision of labour, water, energy resources and other criteria.
(3) Enterprises on the basis of which the free zone is created, are obliged to register as residents.
(4) The manner of holding competitions in free zones, is established in the regulation on competitions approved by the Government.
(5) The conditions for the selection of residents, as well as the criteria for determining the winners of the competitions, are established by the chief administrator in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.
(6) The natural or legal person who has obtained the right to register as a resident, concludes with the Administration a contract for carrying out the entrepreneurial activity in the free zone. The contract is concluded for the entire period of activity in the respective area.
(7) The contract must specify:
a) the authorized type of activity;
b) the rights and obligations of the resident and the Administration;
c) the economic project that follows to be carried out in the free economic zone and its expected parameters;
d) the amount of zonal payments and fees, lease payments;
e) the facilities granted to the resident by the Administration;
f) the types of reports submitted by the resident;
g) the responsibilities of the parties, in case of violation of the contractual requirements;
h) other matters as agreed between the parties.
(7.1) The administration coordinates in advance with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure the text of the contract that follows to be concluded between the administration and the resident, as well as any amendment, suspension or termination thereof.
(8) Registration as a resident is subject to a fee, the amount of which is established by the Administration in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.
(9) Within 15 days of the resident's registration, the Administration submits a copy of the registration decision to the local public administration authority and the statistical and customs bodies, as well as to the State Tax Service.
(10) The following types of activity may be carried out in the free zone:
a) industrial production of goods with the exception of ethyl alcohol (refined ethyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol of more than 80% vol., ethyl alcohol of less than 80% vol., technical alcohol, denatured alcohol, raw and aged wine distillates, other ethyl alcohol derivatives) and alcoholic production.
b) sorting, packaging, marking and other such operations with goods transiting through the customs territory of the Republic of Moldova;
b1) external commercial activity;
c) auxiliary types of activity, such as communal services, storage, construction, catering, etc., necessary for carrying out the activities indicated in letters a) and b).
(10.1) By derogation from the provisions of par. (10) lit. a), the residents who, at the date of implementation of the mentioned provisions, were implementing investment projects related to the production of ethyl alcohol and alcohol production, are entitled to continue their realization under the conditions provided by the contract concluded with the Administration, in force at the time of implementation of the provisions of this Law.
(11) The priority type of activity will be industrial production.
(13) The removal of alcoholic production from the free zone to the rest of the customs territory of the Republic of Moldova is allowed up to 25% of the total net sales of alcoholic production by the resident during a calendar year. Recording and marking of alcoholic production are carried out in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Government. The import of tobacco and tobacco products into the free zone and the production of tobacco products in the free zone are strictly prohibited.
(14) Residents carry out the activities referred to in paragraph (10) on the basis of the authorization for each type of activity, issued by the Administration on the basis of the contract concluded with them according to the regulation approved by the Chief Administrator in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.
(15) The authorization to carry out the activity in the free zone does not exempt the resident from the obligation to obtain other authorizations established by laws.
(16) The authorization referred to in paragraph (14) is issued, as a rule, for the term of validity of the contract concluded between the resident and the Administration. The authorization issued to the resident may be withdrawn or its action may be suspended if the resident does not fulfil the conditions of the contract or the requirements of the legislation.
(17) The carrying out of entrepreneurial activity in the free zone by natural or legal persons who are not registered as residents or who do not have the necessary authorization for this activity is prohibited and entails liability under the law.
(18) The administration is entitled to allow non-residents to carry out works on the territory of the free zone on the development of the infrastructure of this zone, as well as to provide specialized services to the administration and/or residents on the basis of contracts concluded for this purpose.
(19) The residents are obliged to declare the goods only to the customs body that supervises the activity of the corresponding free zone.
(20) Residents may have their resident status revoked by cancelling their registration in case of:
a) failure to comply with the terms of the contract concluded between them and the Administration;
b) violation by them of the legislation or requirements established by the Administration within the limits of its competence established by laws and Government regulations;
c) existence of falsified data in the documents submitted by them to the Administration;
d) non-payment of debts on compulsory zonal payments and taxes;
e) carrying out entrepreneurial activity without the respective authorizations after the expiry of 3 months from the date of receipt of notification of the violation.
(21) The resident may appeal against the actions of the Administration, including the annulment of the permit or suspension of its validity, deprivation of the status of a resident, to the competent court under the Code of Civil Procedure, in accordance with the law.
(22) The amounts of the fees for the granting of permits are determined by the Administration in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure.
(23) The resident keeps, in the established way, the accounting and statistical records of his activity, systematically submits to the Administration reports on the activity carried out in the area. The form and deadlines for submission of reports are determined by the Administration.
(24) Records of entrepreneurial activity carried out by the resident within the free zone must be kept separate from records of activity carried out by the resident outside the free zone.
(25) Control over residents' activities are carried out by:
a) Scheduled inspections - not more frequently than once during a calendar year by all supervisory authorities at the same time;
b) Unplanned inspections - if there is at least one of the following circumstances:
- a tax, statistical or zonal report has not been submitted in due time or the reports contain unreliable data;
- there are written complaints or other appeals about violations of the law by the resident;
- there are sufficient grounds to believe that the actions of a resident contain signs of an offense;
- the administration has sufficient grounds to consider that the resident violates the contract concluded between them or the legislation on free zones.
(25.1) In order to carry out the planned controls, the control authorities will submit to the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, by 1 November of each year, proposals for the control of free zone residents in the following year. The Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure presents to the Government for examination and approval the plan of resident controls for the following year. Unplanned controls are carried out only with the consent of the State Chancellery, based on the provisions of art. 6 para. (25) lit. b).
(26) All inspections on the territory of the free zone are carried out in agreement with the Administration and in the presence of representatives of the Administration and the resident, on whose behalf the complaint was submitted or whose activity was the basis for the inspection.
(27) The provisions of paragraph (26) do not extend to controls performed by the customs body.
(28) The National Bank of Moldova carries out, within the limits of its competence, the control over the activity of the residents according to the Law on the National Bank of Moldova.
