This Government Decision approves a comprehensive Regulation governing the administration, valuation, storage, use, sale, gratuitous transfer, destruction and restitution of a wide range of goods that seized by the state authorities. Covered categories include confiscated goods (including from unjustified assets), ownerless goods, goods abandoned in favour of the State, found goods, perishable agricultural and food products under seizure or with limited shelf life, corpus delicti, succession goods acquired by the State, and treasures. It defines key terms, lists exceptions subject to special regimes (e.g. weapons, dual-use items, toxic substances, cultural property, certain customs and forestry items), and assigns primary responsibility for administration and commercialization to the State Tax Service (Serviciul Fiscal de Stat – SFS), while specifying the roles of other authorities that initially seize or hold the goods. The text details procedures for the transfer of goods from competent authorities (police, customs, prosecution, other enforcement bodies) to the SFS, including strict deadlines depending on the type of goods and their perishability, and the mandatory accompanying documentation (judgments, decisions, seizure reports, customs documents, expert reports, valuation documents, storage contracts, succession certificates, etc.). It regulates the keeping of records, the preparation and registration of handover minutes, and the handling of discrepancies. It establishes rules on the allocation and reimbursement of administration and storage costs, including verification of invoices and time limits for payment orders. A dedicated Goods Administration Commission within the SFS is created to decide on modes of use (sale, processing, storage, gratuitous transfer, destruction), to set exposure prices based on expert valuations and tax rules (excluding VAT and excise where applicable), and to conduct or supervise reevaluations. The Regulation sets out detailed regimes for storage (including selection by tender of third-party custodians), and for commercialization through three main channels: direct sale by the SFS (primarily via online offers), sale through commission contracts with economic agents, and sale by auction with price reduction. It prescribes conditions for participation, pricing rules, commission limits, reporting and payment obligations, penalties for late remittances, and repeated reevaluation and discounting within defined limits. Certain goods (national and foreign currency, payment instruments, securities, stamps, cultural property, immovables) are excluded from ordinary sale and are instead transferred to banks, the Public Property Agency, the postal operator, museums, libraries or other designated bodies. The text also regulates gratuitous transfer of unsold goods to social and public institutions and to the State Reserves Agency, and provides for destruction of goods that cannot be sold or given away, or that infringe intellectual property rights or are otherwise unsuitable, under the supervision of a special destruction commission and with environmental safeguards. Further chapters govern the restitution of goods or their value when confiscation or transfer decisions are annulled or modified, including time limits, documentation, valuation bases and deductions for administration costs, and special rules for currency, precious metals, cultural objects and lottery tickets. The Regulation also clarifies the procedure for identifying and declaring certain goods as ownerless, including those requiring registration in public registers, and the related publication of notices. It assigns to other authorities (e.g. Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Culture, Public Property Agency, Medicines Agency) the responsibility for specific sensitive categories (weapons, radioactive materials, cultural property, narcotic medicines, securities), which they must manage, use, sell or destroy under their own sectoral rules. A special regime is established for the temporary custody by the SFS of certain corpus delicti (notably valuables and currency), including strict packaging, sealing, documentation, registry-keeping, inventory and restitution procedures. Finally, the Regulation sets out the role of the SFS in executing criminal court decisions on special and extended confiscation, including initiation of enforcement, cooperation with prosecutors, courts, bailiffs and the Criminal Asset Recovery Agency, and measures for locating and realizing confiscated assets domestically and abroad.
Republic of Moldova · 2025-12-17