Electronic Licensing Register Eases Way for Doing Business
With the assistance of USAID’s Business Regulatory and Tax Administration Reform project (BIZTAR), Moldova’s Licensing Chamber has published the full register of li-censes for all firms, which includes contact information and license expiration dates. The register can be ac-cessed through the internet or at a touch-screen informa-tion kiosk in the customer service area in Chisinau. Licensing Chamber is now the sole source for licensing 37 types of business activities, ranging from pharmacies to construction companies.
Before the register was accessible electronically to the public, entrepreneurs had to apply in writing and pay ap-proximately US $5 to check on the licensing status of a potential partner; a reply would then typically take 30 days. The same information is now available online for free. Liviu Durughean, a businessman from Moldova has a small factory producing PVC, aluminum windows, and doors, found himself constrained in his hopes to expand his business. Durughean wanted legitimate business partners, but Moldova lacked a central register to search for reliable partners that were licensed and operating within the law.
The online register was launched in January 2009, and generated 22,700 hits in its first five months of operation. The register allows business people to check the status of prospective partners before signing a contract with them, thus encouraging the development of trustworthy relationships. The register also precludes periodic visits by the police or tax authorities to check on licenses as a pretext to extort a bribe. Businesses, when receiving a surprise visitor, can now use the online register to prove their license is valid.
“The government offers subsidies to the farmers who buy seedlings from a licensed company,” Durughean noted, who now is expanding his business by establishing an orchard in Criuleni district, near Chisinau. “The electronic register helped me by offering information on a wide range of business firms operating in Moldova, so I am consulting the electronic register to see what companies nearby are licensed, and where I can buy saplings for my orchard.”
