Moldova: New draft Law on Public Events could curb freedom of peaceful assembly

Adopted   in 2008, the Law on Public Assemblies established a favourable framework for exercising the right to peaceful assembly and played a key role in liberalising practices concerning public assemblies, including all types of public events.  

Based on the Urgent Opinion On The Law On Assemblies issued by the ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Assembly and Association in November 2023, the law could benefit from further improvements, mostly in the sense of additional protection of rights and freedoms and additional guarantees against abuses from public institutions. 

However, the Law was designed to regulate peaceful assemblies as the form of exercising the freedom of peaceful assembly, and does not address the specific characteristics of sport, religious, commercial or other types of public events. Article 24 (2) of the Law specifically provides that religious, traditional, sport, cultural-artistic, entertainment and commercial events will be regulated according to this law until special normative acts would be adopted. Since 2008, no such special normative act has been adopted. 

The initiative to adopt special normative acts for specific types of events outside the exercise of freedom of assembly is a welcome development and could help address issues related to the commercial use of public spaces or regulation of sport events. Nevertheless, the draft law proposed by the MIA appears to lack a consistent analysis of the problems and solutions specific to each type of event it seeks to regulate.  

Flaws and inconsistencies of the draft law on public events

The purpose of the draft Law on Public Events would be to regulate the organisation and conduct of public events in open and closed spaces

The current form of the draft laws has important flaws: 

• The object of the draft law is not clearly defined: The draft law mentions the categories of events to which it applies but does not provide definitions for them. Without clarifications, it is not possible to clearly distinguish each category, understand their specific characteristics, or establish appropriate regulations for each type of event.
• The draft law does not address specific concerns related to each type of events: The draft law applies a one-size-fits-all approach to all event types, despite significant differences in how they are organised and held—for example, sporting events in stadiums, religious gatherings in public spaces, and commercial events in public squares or private venues each require distinct procedures and considerations. The draft law is seemingly tailored for sporting events, lacks clear distinctions and could impose inappropriate measures—like security stewards or baggage checks—on other events, such as religious gatherings. Given the specificities of each event type, they should be addressed separately.
• The draft law repeats existing provisions from the Law on Public Assemblies: The draft law largely duplicates existing regulations on public assemblies, bringing little added value and creating confusion due to the lack of clear distinctions between regulated types of events and between public assemblies and consequently the applicable legal provisions.
• The draft law assigns disproportionate obligations to event organisers: It assigns organisers responsibilities that legally belong to public order institutions—such as ensuring participant safety or preventing incidents—placing excessive burdens on them without regard for the size of the event of their capacity to manage risks typically handled by law enforcement.
• The draft law contains ambiguous wording that allows for misinterpretation and potential abuse. For example, the draft does not differentiate between participants and spectators/passersby, which can lead to confusion regarding the application of legal obligations. Furthermore, the draft prohibits events that violate moral standards unanimously accepted in society or those that defame the country and the nation. Moreover, the definition of objects used as weapons is vague and may abusively include ordinary items, such as a pen. 

The need for the Law on public events is provided in the National Public Order and Security Program 2022-2025 and responds to the possibility of adopting special normative acts, as foreseen in the Law on assemblies. 

The initiation of the draft was first announced in March 2024 and in June, the first draft was sent for consultations to a limited number of CSOs and International Organisations. The initial draft included largely the same flaws and inconsistencies as the current draft. It lacks consistent analysis of practical issues related to each type of event, as well as specific legislative solutions to address those issues. 

If adopted in its current form, the draft law would create confusion about the applicable legal framework, conflicting with the Law on Public Assemblies, especially given that it introduces more restrictive procedures and obligations for public events. This poses a significant threat to the freedom of assembly and undermines the rights and responsibilities of both organisers and participants.