3.1. General restrictions and duties

The legal status of various categories of public officials is stipulated by laws or regulations governing the activities of the respective authorities and persons. In particular, the legal status of public officials is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 158-XVI on Public Service and the Status of Public Officials dated 4 July 2008, which covers their responsibilities, rights, restrictions, liability, employment, promotion, remuneration and social benefits, disciplinary liability, termination of service.

One of the anticorruption responsibilities of a public official is an annual submission of income declaration containing information about his/her income and financial liabilities, covering the respective person, his wife/her husband and the family members who are minors as per the requirements of a specific law.

The persons listed in Clause 2.2 (the Corruption Infringers) are restricted from performing the following acts that are interpreted as corrupt behavior¹:

• to interfere in the activity of other bodies, enterprises, institutions and organisations, regardless of type of ownership and legal form, in cases where such an act does not fall within their competence, making use of their position, which leads to conflicts of interests;
• to participate (using their voting or decision-making rights) in the examination and resolving of problems in their personal interest or in the interests of their family members;
• to provide illegal support to the entrepreneurial activity or to other kinds of private activity, or acting as representatives of third parties within the public authority where they are employed, or which are subordinated to them, or the activity of which they control;
• to unlawfully grant advantages to individuals or legal entities in connection with the drafting or issuance of decisions;
• to take advantage of privileges in order to obtain for himself or for other credits and loans, or to purchase securities, real estate and other property by taking advantage of their position;
• to unlawfully use, in their own interest or in the interests of other persons, public goods that are available to them for exercising their duties;
• to use information received while exercising their duties, in their own interest or in the interests of other persons, when such information cannot be disclosed;
• to refuse, in their own or others interests, to issue to individuals or legal entities the information the provision of which is permitted by normative acts, to delay issuing such information or to intentionally issue false or incomplete information;
• to manage public goods and finances contrary to their designation, in their own interest or the in the interest of others;
• to receive from any person or legal entity gifts or other benefits for the performance of official duties or due to their social status, and to offer such gifts to other public officials, except for the symbolic signs of attention and souvenirs according to the unanimously recognised norms of protocol and international courtesy;
• breach of any other restrictions set by the codes of conduct and other similar rules.

3.2. Gifts and other benefits

Under the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 90-XVI on Preventing and Fighting Corruption dated 25 April 2008, the Corruption Infringers are prohibited from accepting gifts or other benefits in connection with their position, except for the “symbolic signs of attention and souvenirs according to the norms of protocol and international courtesy"^2. Additionally, under the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 25-XVI on the Code of Ethics of the Public Official dated 22 February 2008, public officials are also restricted from accepting gifts, services or other benefits, except for the “symbolic signs of attention and souvenirs” according to “unanimously recognised norms of protocol and courtesy, if the value of such symbolic signs of attention or souvenirs does not exceed the amount of one minimum monthly wage in Moldova”, which is currently set at MDL 600 Lei (about USD 50).

If the value of gifts received by the public official, without his knowledge or granted by foreign persons, exceeds the amount mentioned, then the public official shall have to transfer it into a special state repository fund.

Therefore the range of socially acceptable and legally unproblematic gifts and benefits is rather narrow. The law also requires public officials to undertake certain measures to protect themselves when an undue benefit has been offered to them, including identifying the persons offering undue benefits and reporting such attempts.

Such “small signs of attention and souvenirs” cannot be offered in connection with/in exchange for an identifiable official act performed or expected to be performed by a certain public official, in favor of the offeror, because it could be qualified as a bribe, under the Moldovan Criminal Code³. For such qualification a relation between the advantages offered and an identifiable official act (action) on behalf of the public official is always required, even if such official act was not performed by the respective official.

The Moldovan laws do not contain specific provisions with regard to events and entertainment, meals, travel and sponsored education. However, we believe that such categories could fall under the general restrictions described above applicable to gifts, services and benefits.