The project will support the Republic of Moldova (RM) in enhancing its economic efficiency, enabling businesses to compete in the European market effectively. It will contribute to the implementation and observance of the EU-RM Association Agreement (AA) provisions related to competition and state aid policies, and with the alignment of domestic legislation to EU acquis and international commitments.

The central beneficiary is the Moldovan Competition Council (MCC), an independent administrative body entrusted to enforce competition rules. The project aims to enhance the internal organization and operations of the MCC, ensuring more efficient case processing. Efforts will be destined to strengthen the MCC’s enforcement capacities and to support in drafting legal acts addressing the gaps in the legislation and ensure alignment to the EU standards. The Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalisation will also be a stakeholder to this project, as initiator of competition and state aid legislation and state aid grantor.

Under the new competition law, the MCC is empowered with the right to set its enforcement priorities, therefore MCC will be supported in identifying the appropriate prioritisation mechanism for RM based on the practices of the Consortium partners and other relevant EU models. Efforts will be directed to improve the public relations and advocacy of the activities of MCC both vis a vis business and the Moldovan society at large.

- The overall objective is to enhance the internal market in Moldova by facilitating the effective implementation and enforcement of competition and state aid policies in line with the EU-Republic of Moldova Association Agreement, relevant European acquis, the EU Integration process, and international agreements and ensure fair competition, foster market integrity, and safeguard consumer welfare in the Republic of Moldova.
- The specific objective of the Twinning project is to strengthen the capacities of the Competition Council to enforce the competition and state aid policy in line with commitments taken by the Republic of Moldova in the framework of the EU integration process.

Component 1 of the project will provide a comprehensive enhancement of the internal organisation and operations of the MCC. The goal is to ensure that the MCC processes cases more efficiently and is better equipped to address the needs of enforcement of competition and state aid rules.
Component 2 will focus on strengthening the MCC’s capacity to effectively implement competition policy and enforce competition legislation in line with EU acquis and the existing best practices, placing emphasis on improving infringement detection and investigation.
Component 3 will focus on enhancing the MCC’s capacity to implement state aid rules in line with the EU acquis. This involves strengthening institutional capabilities to ensure effective control and enforcement of state aid, focusing on identifying, assessing, and monitoring state aid measures, as well as conducting infringement investigations.