The relevant amendments to the trade regulations were introduced at the end of last month, which the European Commission notified to the Moldovan side.
The refund will be made “at the request of the European importer by recalculating the volumes and in compliance with the procedure for filing customs declarations”. That is, economic entities – residents of the EU – are entitled to claim the refund of customs duty. However, the European and Moldovan authorities urged traders from the Republic of Moldova “to discuss this option directly with their European partners for consideration and determination of possible joint actions”. That is, theoretically, according to the agreement, some benefit from the reimbursement of customs duties can be received also by participants of export operations from the Moldovan side.
Earlier, Logos Press reported that in July 2022, the EU authorities introduced unilateral measures to liberalize trade with these countries as a gesture of support for Ukraine and Moldova. In particular, duties were canceled on a number of Moldovan agro-food products, the export of which to the European market had been quoted before. The mentioned extraordinary measures expired on July 24, 2025. From this date, the previous quotas on Moldovan fruit supplies, which were in force until 2022, were activated. Among other things, Moldova could send 15 thousand tons of plums to the EU duty-free.
Under the previous quota, the entire agreed volume of goods was delivered to the European market by the end of the first decade of September. Then, Moldovan plums were supplied with a 12% customs duty. Reimbursement of these amounts to European importers is provided for by the recently adopted adjustments to the RM-EU trade regulations.
It is also worth mentioning that since October 2 this year, new extended quotas for Moldovan fruit supplies to the European Union, approved within the process of modification of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement DCFTA, have come into force. In particular, for 2025 and subsequent years, the size of the new duty-free quota for the supply of plums from Moldova to the European Union is set at 61 thousand tons.
That is, by the end of this year, Moldovan traders will be able to send many tens of thousands of tons of these fruits to the European market in preferential regime.
