The CELIS Institute together with BLOMSTEIN have successfully assisted AmCham Moldova in improving the national Moldovan FDI law and align it with best practises in the EU

Over the past three months, the CELIS Institute has brought together a team of leading FDI experts to assist the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Moldova in improving Moldova’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening mechanism.

The team supporting this process consisted of Dr Roland M. Stein and Dr Laura Louca from BLOMSTEIN and Professor Steffen Hindelang of Uppsala University. AmCham was on its side supported by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). The team’s main aim was to improve the already existing provisions, render them more effective and align them with EU requirements as well as best practises in EU Member States.

In recent years, Moldova has implemented two legal acts concerning the screening of foreign direct investments. The Law no 174 of 11 November 2021 introduced a mechanism to appraise investments into sectors important for the security of the state. Furthermore, Government Decision no 585 of 12 May 2016 established a council to promote investment projects of national importance. However, first experiences with the FDI system had shown unveiled insufficiencies and its partial ineffectiveness. In consequence, AmCham Moldova – a Moldovan non-governmental and non-profit organization to advocate policymakers, foreign, and local investors – is supporting the revision of the FDI screening system.

The CELIS Institute and BLOMSTEIN assisted in this endeavour. We have identified the critical issues of each provision in both legal acts and categorized the risks according to their im-portance. Based on this, BLOMSTEIN and the CELIS Institute suggested possible improvements to AmCham Moldova in order to help the Moldovan legislator to further integrate its FDI mechanism into the framework of FDI laws in the EU and its Member States.