Strong Messages Urge Moldovan Entrepreneurs to Support Regulatory Reform
“Tired of writing too many reports?” “Tired of staying in too many lines?” “Tired of too many inspections?” These are just a few messages one can frequently see while strolling or driving in Moldova. Each one ends with a challenge: “Fight back!”
On February 6, 2005, the new law on streamlining the legal and regulatory environment for business activity, commonly referred to as the “guillotine law”, became effective. For six months, the Moldovan Government has been reviewing and streamlining the Soviet-era legacy of burdensome laws to cut ambiguous, repetitive and ineffective business regulations that encumber investment and enterprise development.
But that has been just the first step in the fight against over regulation and corruption. The next important step was—and remains—to develop an understanding of regulatory reform among mid-level bureaucrats. To achieve this task, Moldovan citizens and entrepreneurs were called to action through the Join In communication campaign, launched by USAID’s Regulatory Reform for Moldova (RRM) project.
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| A Join-In campaign billboard targets business owners: “Too many reports? Fight Back!” |
Through caricatures printed on billboards, posters and flashcards, the Join In communication campaign urges citizens and entrepreneurs to get involved and support reform implementation at the grassroots level. It urges them to protect their legitimate business activities from frequent public officials’ interference, counter bureaucratic abuse and question ineffective business regulations that hinder business development. It identifies impediments for business development and calls for action. Endorsed by the Moldovan Government coat of arms, the campaign conveys a strong message: business is operating within a new legal and regulatory environment.
Billboards are at the core of the RRM communications campaign. Placed in 12 regional cities, these billboards reach nearly 150,000 Moldovans every day. Merely in Chisinau, about 100,000 people see the Join-In billboards daily.
Since the billboards appeared in Cahul, the business capital of south Moldova, calls to regulatory reform hotlines to request information about entrepreneurs’ rights and report bureaucratic abuse increased by 91 percent. In Hincesti, a satellite business center 40 kilometers from Chisinau, they went up by 45 percent and in Ceadir Lunga, the main commercial center for the autonomous region of Gagauzia, a Turkish/Russian-speaking area, they increased by 53 percent.
In the new reform awareness program, posters, billboards and flash cards are complemented by online resources. The Regulatory Reform’s website, www.bizreforma.md, provides visitors with access to the texts of laws and regulations affecting business development. The site also hosts an online registry of updated regulations managed by the Ministry of Economy and Trade with technical and financial assistance from the USAID project.
The continuous flow of information available in various formats, ranging from flashcards for truck drivers to a searchable regulatory database involves citizens and entrepreneurs in the regulatory reform process and helps them to feel part of the initiative.
According to Mr. Ion Chicu of the Ministry of Economy & Trade, the growing public awareness brought about by the Join-In campaign, has increased pressure on public officials to accomplish tangible results in the post-guillotine implementation phase.
So while the Government is reviewing and streamlining burdensome laws and local public officials are developing an understanding of the benefits of regulatory reform, Moldovan citizens and entrepreneurs are actively joining in to “Fight Back!” against official abuse.
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