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During the aforesaid period Parliament examined several legal acts, some of which raised a rich harvest of criticism.

I. Law on State of Emergency, Siege and War

ADEPT Comment: The organic law passed by the Parliament outlines:

• Terms, methods and conditions for declaring the state of emergency, siege or war;
• Competencies of the authorities declaring the state;
• Measures to be applied during the state of emergency, siege or war;
• Rights, obligations and responsibilities and liability of natural and legal entities during the relevant state.

The law also defines the state of emergency, siege and war. Under the law during the relevant state legal acts adopted prior to declaring such a state shall be applied as long as they do not run counter to this law.

During the state of emergency, siege and war some citizens' rights and liberties may be restricted proportionally to the gravity of the situation, as provided by the Constitution. Those restrictions should be in line with the obligations assumed by the country as part of international treaties on the human rights, and shall not involved discrimination of persons or groups of population based on race, nationality, sex, language, religion, political affiliation or social origin.

During the aforesaid states, Parliament may not be dissolved, while its mandate should only be prolonged via an organic law. The state of emergency, siege or war shall be declared via a resolution of the Parliament. The decision to declare a state of emergency, siege or war shall include: the grounds for declaring the state; bodies entrusted to enact the state, etc. The decision on the state of emergency, siege or war shall enter into force upon its adoption and shall be immediately communicated to the population via all mass media means. It shall be also published in the Official Monitor.

Note: For more details on the law please see ADEPT commentary, May 24-28, 2004.

II. Law on Modification of Legal Acts on Pension Indemnification

ADEPT Comment: Under the law citizens affected by the Cernobil accident shall have their pension yearly indemnified on April 1. The indemnification ratio shall be established by calculating average ratio between yearly price hike and yearly salary growth.

III. Law on the Modification of the Law on Licensing

ADEPT Comment: Under the law passed by the Parliament 45 types of activities shall be subject to licensing. The law also stipulates that Licensing Chamber together with specialised local government bodies shall verify the compliance with the law no often than once a year. The law also outlines the grounds for withdrawing the license such as:

• False data in the application documents;
• Illegal engagement in other activities subject to licensing without holding a relevant license for that purpose;
• Illegal engagement in licensed activities in branches or subdivisions or other separate units not indicated in the license;
• Failure to meet the deadlines for submitting the application for issuing a copy of the lost or damaged license.

IV. Law on the Construction of the Block for Studies of the National Institute for Physical Training

ADEPT Comment: The law provides for a derogation from the provisions of the Law on Education by allowing the completion of the block of studies and sports facilities for the National Institute for Physical Training on the investors' expense (estimated at around 80 million Lei). In return for covering the expenses the investor would get into his property the block of studies (about 3 thousand square metres) and neighbouring territories (around 4.8 ha), worth 35 million Lei. Actually the law triggered a lot of debates, opposition deputies pointing to the misleading character of the proposed procedure and required compliance with the Law on Privatisation. In response, majority faction cited the importance of supporting sports and invoking Parliament's absolute right to decide on any legislative matters.

V. Law on Granting Certain Plots to Milestii-Mici Wine Factory

ADEPT Comment: Under the law a 100 hectare plot (currently in the use of Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Healthcare) is granted to the wine factor. It is expected that the plot shall be used for growing high quality winning material.

VI. Law on Ratification of International Acts

ADEPT Comment: The law ratified the following documents:

1. Protocol on the privileges and immunity of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. Under the document representatives of the member-states Parliaments shall enjoy certain privileges and immunity while exercising their mandate and travelling to the place of work, such as immunity from arrest or detention, immunity from any kind of trial based on the words spoken or written in their capacity as representatives of member-states, right to immigrate together with their family members to the member-states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, which they visit or travel to while exercising their functions, etc.

Those benefits and immunities are not granted to MPs for their own personal benefit but rather to enable them to independently exercise their function in the Parliamentary Assembly. Respectively, any member state is entitled to suspend the immunity of its representative in any of the cases when immunity would impede justice or when it may be suspended without any prejudice to the purpose the immunity was granted for.

2. Free Trade Agreement between Republic of Moldova and Albania

The Agreement includes standard provisions for this kind of bilateral agreements, and follows the requirements of the WTO. It aims at promoting foreign trade, ensure level playing field and abolishing technical barriers.