This was discussed by the participants of the conference “Roadmap for the development of Moldova’s IT sector in the EU: from risks to opportunities”, organized by the National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC) with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“We all realize that Moldova’s accession to the EU implies serious changes in the rules of the game,” said Olga Surugiu, CEO of Orange Moldova and President of ATIC, in her opening remarks. – If for other sectors of the economy there are possibilities to continue working as they are now, for ICT there are fundamental changes ahead”.
Michelle Iliev, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization, said that the government is preparing to unify the legislation with the European one, without interrupting the implementation of new elements in the ICT ecosystem of the country. Such as the Innovation Fund or Sandbox.
“In dialogue with the real sector, we need to develop what we need at the moment: infrastructure, mechanisms, think about what specialized niche Moldova can occupy in the European ICT architecture,” Michelle Iliev said.
The head of Inovate Moldova Sergiu Rabii emphasized that not only new rules are introduced, but also new opportunities.
ATIC executive director Irina Orel said that in the 19 years of its existence, the association has made a lot of efforts to create Moldova’s ICT ecosystem, including white papers, proposals to change legislation and many others.
“In 2017, we had 55 meetings with the government regarding the creation of MITP, 25 times the association expressed its official position, and, at the end of the year, 15 members acted as founders of Moldova IT Park, which now has more than 1,600 residents. In 2018, the modernization of the tax regime for it was adopted, in 2019 a new Competitiveness Strategy was approved, etc.”.
The ATIC legal team presented a package of European directives and regulations related to the ICT sector, which our country should implement in the coming years. It was noted that some of them stipulate fines of tens of millions of euros for violations, others – just 1-2% of the company’s turnover.
The following European directives were listed, which Moldova has to implement and the ICT community has to prepare to work in accordance with them:
– Directive (EU) 2019/882 of April 17, 2019 on accessibility requirements for products and services;
– Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of October 23, 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers in breaches of Union law;
– Directive 2006/123/EC “on services in the internal market”;
– Directive 2009/38/EC “On the establishment of a European Works Council and on the procedure for informing and consulting employees (recast)”;
– Directive No. 96/71/EC “On the secondment of workers within the framework of the provision of services”;
– Platform Work Directive (EU) 2024/2831;
– Directive N 2008/94/EC “On the protection of employees in the event of bankruptcy of the employer”;
– Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of October 19, 2022 on an adequate minimum wage in the European Union;
– Law on Cyber Resilience (EU Regulation 2024/2847);
– EU 5G Toolbox;
– Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act).
ATIC will hold separate detailed seminars on all these regulations. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will assist it in this, assured Alexandru Cosovan, EBRD Senior Banker in Moldova.
“I see more risks than opportunities in all this,” Olga Pavlic, Head of Financial Services Department of Moldcell company, commented for Logos Press on the discussions at the conference.
“The fate of MITP is of particular concern,” QSystems CEO Andrei Aidov joined her, “The tax incentives that are in force do not meet the European requirements. If nothing is done, we will lose these benefits when we join the EU, and we will not be able to join the EU market in time. Our companies are financially unable to compete with European companies. For example, take Sweden. An IT company has 100 employees and a budget of 100 million euros. One million per person. Of course, it is possible to pay a 50% tax on such a budget. I think we should negotiate the introduction of a rather long transition period for IT parks.
Eugene Galamaga, CEO of Allied Testing, Vice President of ATIC, devoted his speech to this topic.
“The state has guaranteed the work of MITP until 2035. But how long will it really last? In the list of documents presented today there is a directive on state aid, incompatible with the park. And in general, the coming events may hurt all companies working in the ICT sector very badly. We will actively discuss and try to make some adjustments, as long as the Moldovan government listens to us and willingly makes contact. But in five years we will have to fly to Brussels to do this, and not necessarily anyone will pay attention to us there. The practice of accession of other countries to the EU shows that it is possible to bargain for some privileges, you just need to do it consistently,” said Eugen Galamaga.
Moldova’s IT sector accounts for more than 5% of the country’s GDP, which is more than the wine industry, which is considered one of the pillars of the national economy. More than 20 thousand specialists of different levels work in the IT sector, while 11% of IT products are intended for the domestic market, the rest are exported.
