On July 7, 2023, the Parliament adopted the Law on crowdfunding services and is set to enter into force on March 1, 2024. The law states expressly that it aims to support and provide a financing alternative for start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and local public administration authorities, through crowdfunding platforms.
The law does not mention in any way non-commercial organisations and thus it is not clear how the crowdfunding activity carried out by CSOs is going to be regulated. Until now, the crowdfunding activity has not been clearly regulated. However, non-profit initiatives by civil society have already run numerous crowdfunding campaigns.
What does the law regulate?
The adopted law regulates the conditions for access to the crowdfunding activity and its development, categories of crowdfunding services, and the competences, instruments and procedures for the supervision of crowdfunding service providers. The main categories of participants in these legal and economic relationships identified in the law are:
- Provider of crowdfunding services: a legal entity established in the form of a limited liability company or joint-stock company, registered in Moldova and authorised to provide crowdfunding services.
- Developer: a natural person practicing entrepreneurial activity or a for-profit legal person from Moldova, who intends to obtain financing for a project through a crowdfunding platform.
- Investor: any natural or legal person who grants loans or acquires shares within a crowdfunding project.
The draft law was developed by the Ministry of Economy, was introduced by the Parliament on January 23, 2023 and was subject to public consultations. As stated in the law, it partially transposes the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2020 on European providers of crowdfunding services for businesses and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and Directive (EU) 2019 /1937, published in the Official Journal of the European Union L347/1 of 20 October 2020.