API ASKS GOVERNMENT'S HELP TO CURB STATE COMPANY'S DOMINANCE

The Independent Press Association (API) has requested the authorities to compel the Posta Moldovei enterprise [national postal authority] "not to abuse its dominating position on the market".

The API has addressed to the Parliament, the Government, the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technologies (ANRCETI) and the national Competition Council with an insistent request to influence on the policy of Posta Moldovei, whose leadership "are imposing on press editors the signing of contracts on periodicals distribution in 2019 on their own unilateral terms".

For instance, such contracts compel editors to provide for the distributor space on newspapers' and magazines' first pages for printing the Posta Moldovei commercials - free of charge. The markup of 36% may be unilaterally pushed up at Posta Moldovei's discretion.

The Association says with regret that Posta Moldovei refuses to negotiate contracts with publishers, and that "the arbitrary practices of this state-run enterprise have remained unchanged, though the Parliament considered this problem in 2017".

The Independent Press Association called on the collectives of Moldovan newspapers and magazines to journalist solidarity, recommending them not to accept Posta Moldovei's conditions.