After suggesting postponing the ban on placing tobacco products in visible places in stores for a year, the Government proposed a new deadline. The measure is to be applied in three months of the lifting of the state of emergency, IPN reports.

Prime Minister Ion Chicu on April 17 said the time limit was reviewed on the insistence of the minister of health. If the state of emergency is not extended, the shops as from May 15 will have three months at their disposal to comply with the legal provisions.

Besides this, the bill approved by the Government provides for the refund of the excise duty paid by the national business entities on produced or imported goods (raw material) that are later supplied to companies that manage duty-free shops. The Ministry of Finance explained that if the excise duty on national products supplied to duty-free stores is not refunded, excise duties are collected two times - at the production stage, for raw material that is purchased or imported, and at the sale stage, by companies that manage duty-free shops. The given provision is to take effect on May 1.

There were also approved amendments concerning the tax on mineral extraction that will come into force on January 1, 2021. As a result, about 15 million lei is to be collected additionally into the state budget.

The approved provisions formed part of the bill for which the Government assumed responsibility on April 2. The three aspects were challenged by opposition MPs in the Constitutional Court for the reason that these measures have nothing to do with the state of emergency. Following the requisition submitted by independent MP Alexandr Oleinic, who asked the CC to pronounce on the procedure for the assuming responsibility, the whole law was declared unconstitutional.