Unofficial translation  
from Romanian to English  
 
 
PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA  
 
LAW  
on Amending Some Normative Acts 
(Improving the Mechanism for Issuing Compulsory Licenses)  
 
The Parliament adopts this organic law.  
 
Article I.  – Law N o. 50/2008 on the Protection of Inventions ( Official Gazette  of the  
Republic of Moldova, 2008, No. 117 -119, Art. 455), with subsequent amend ments , shall be  
amended as follows:  
 
1. In Article 3:  
the notion “Eurasian application”  shall be  excluded;  
the notion “Eurasian patent ” shall be  supplemented with the text “, on the basis of a n 
application filed before  April 26, 2012, ”; 
the Article shall be  completed with a new notion with the following wording : 
“TRIPs Agreement  - Agreement on Trade  Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, 
concluded in Marrakech on April 15, 1994, as subsequent ly amend ed”. 
 
2. In Article 20 paragraph  (2) letter s a) and c), the text “use, importing ” shall be replaced by 
the text “use, transporting , importing, other way of putting into circulation ”. 
 
3. In Article 22, paragraph  (1) shall be  supplemented with letter b1) with the following 
wording : 
“b1) acts done for the purpose of  obtain ing an authorization to place a product on the market  
that is the  subject -matter  of the invention ;”. 
 
4. Article 28 shall have the following wording : 
“Article 28.  Grant of a Compulsory License  
The courts may grant a compulsory license for a patent to any interested person : 
a) on the grounds of non-exploitation or insufficient exploitation of the patent;  
b) in the public interest;  
c) for the purpose of remedying an anti -competitive practice ; 
d) in the case of inventions in the field of semiconductor technology and for the purpose of 
exploit ing dependent patent s and plant variety patents.”.  
 
 
5. The Law shall be  supplemented with Articles 281 - 284 with the following wording : 
“Article 281. Grant of a Compulsory License on the Grounds of Non -Exploita tion or 
Insufficient Exploitation of the Patent  
(1) If, according to an application filed upon the expiration of a period of 4 years from the 
date of filing of the patent application or a period of 3 years from the issuance of the patent, 
whichever is later, the patent owner has not exploited  / has exploited insufficient ly the patent in the territory of the Republic of Moldova or has not undertaken serious and effective preparations  for 
such purpose, the court may grant a compulsory patent license  to any interested person  requesting 
such a license (the applicant) without the consent of the patent owner, unless the patent owner 
justifies the non-exploitation or insufficien t exploitation  thereof . 
 
(2) A compulsory  patent  license , in accordance with the provisions of paragraph  (1), shall be 
granted solely where  the interested person  has made efforts  to conclude a license contract with the 
patent owner on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and  that such efforts ha ve not been 
successful  within 6 months  from the date of the request to conclude such contract . 
  (3) No distinction shall  be made between the domestic products and imported products for 
the purposes of establishing the fact of the non-exploitation or insufficient exploitation of the patent . 
 
Article 282. Grant of a Compulsory Patent License in the Public Interest  
(1) The court may grant a compulsory license in the public interest, in cases determined 
by situations of national emergency or other circumstances  of extreme urgency  in the fields of  
public health, national defense, agriculture, environmental protection, climate change s and natural 
resources, and in case s of public non-commercial use. 
The grant of a compulso ry license in the public interest shall not be condition al on the 
obligation o f the intereste person to negociate a license contract with the patent owner.  
(2) An a pplication for the grant of a compulsory patent license in the public interest shall be 
filed with  the Chisinau Court of Appeal and shall be examined within 20 calendar days from filing .  
(3) An a pplication for the grant of a compulsory patent license in the public interest shall be 
filed by the ministry ensur ing the implementation of government policy in the field of activity 
entrusted to it, as follows : 
a) in the case of public health emergency – the Ministry of Health;  
b) in the case of national defense em ergency – the Ministry of Defens e; 
c) in the case of national emergency concerning the field of agriculture – the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Food Industry;  
d) in the case of national emergency concerning the field of environmental protection , 
climate change s and natural resources – the Ministry of Environment;  
e) in the case of public non-commercial use – the Ministry of Economic Development and 
Digitization . 
(4) An a pplication for the grant of a compulsory patent license in the public interest shall 
contain : 
a) the name of the entity selected by the ministry as capable of ensuring the production of the 
subject -matter of the patent according to the existing needs;  
b) data/information regarding the existing needs, the period for which the grant of a 
compulsory license is requested, the volume of production under the compulsory license . 
 (5) The ministries referred to in par agraph  (3) shall establish the mechan ism for selecting 
the entity capable of ensuring the production of the subject -matter of the patent according to the 
existing needs . 
(6) In the case of grant of a compulsory patent license in the public interest following the 
occurrence of a public health emergency, the court, at the proposal of the Ministry of Health, shall 
designate a national entity capable of exercising it. If the national entity is not able to exercise the 
compulsory license, the court shall grant, in accordance with the provisions of the TRIPs Agreement, the compulsory license to a foreign entity, proposed by the Ministry of Health, on the 
basis of which the products will be imported.  
(7) The court, examining the request for the grant of a compulsory patent license in the 
public intere st, shall adopt a decision, in which the terms and conditions of the compulsory license, 
as well as  the license holder  will be provided . 
(8) In accordance with the provisions of the TRIPs Agreement, a compulsory patent license 
may also be granted to a nati onal entity for the manufacture and export of a pharmaceutical product 
protected by a patent or supplementary protection certificate to an importing country that has public 
health problems.  
  (9) Within 5 days from the pronouncement, an appeal can be lodge d against the decision of 
the Chisinau Court of Appeal. The appeal shall be examined within 10 days from the receipt of the 
respective file.  
 
Article 283. Grant of a c ompulsory License for the Purpose s of Remedying an Anti-
Competitive Practice  
(1) For the purpose of  remedy ing a practice that has been qualified after administrative 
procedure to be anti -competitive, being determined by the abusive use of the patent , the court may 
grant a compulsory license , on request , to any interested person, following the decision of the 
Competition Council.  
(2) The grant of a compulsory license  in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (1) 
shall not be conditional on the obligation of the intereste person to negociate a license contra ct with 
the patent owner  
Article 284. Grant of a Compulsory License in the Case of Semiconductor Technology  and 
for the Purpose of Exploiting  Dependent Patents and Plant Variety Patents  
(1) In the case of inventions in the field of semiconductor technology, t he court may only 
grant a compulsory patent license for public non-commercial use or to remedy a practice qualified 
after administrative proce dure to be anti -competitive.  
(2) In the case of dependent patents or plant variety patents, t he court  may grant a 
compulsory patent license , on request , to an owner  of a patent for an invention or an owner of a  
patent for a plant variety who cannot exploit  his invention or protected plant variety ( the second 
patent), without infringing  another patent ( the first patent), provided that the invention or plant 
variety claimed in the second patent shall involve  an important technical advance  of considerable  
economic significance  in relation to the plant variety and the invention claimed in the first patent. 
The court shall take all necessary measures to verify  the existence of these circumstances . In the 
case of a compulsory license in respect of a patent for an invention or a patent for a plant variety, the 
owner of the first patent shall be entitled to a cross-license  on reasonable terms to exploit the 
patented invention or the protected plant variety.”  
 
6. Article 29 shall have the following wording : 
“Article 29.  Conditions Applicable to the Grant of a Compulsory License  
(1) At the time of grant of a compulsory patent  licens, the court shall specify the type s of use 
covered by such license , the terms and conditions to be observ ed. The following conditions shall 
apply:  
a) the scope  and duration of such use shall  be limited to the purpose for which it was 
authorized;  
b) such use  shall be non -exclusive;  
c) such use shall  be non -assign able, even in the form of grant of a sublicense, except with th e 
assignment of th at part of the enterprise  or goodwill  which enjoys such use ; d) any such use  shall be authorized predominantl y for the supply of the domestic market, 
except whe re such use  is permitt ed to remedy a n anti-competitive practice;  
e) the license holder shall pay the patent owner an adequate remuneration, established in 
relation to  the economic value of the authorization and, eventually , the need to remedy an anti -
competitive practice, and in the cases stipulated in Article 282 paragraph  (3) the remuneration cannot 
exceed the amount of 4% of the total price to be paid by or on behalf of the importing country . 
f) in case of a compulsory license for a dependent patent or a plant variety patent, the use 
authorized in respect  of the first patent shall be non -assign able, except with the assignment of  the 
second patent.  
(2) In the case of grant  of a compulsory license, the patent owner shall be notified of this on 
the same day or on the next working day.  
(3) The court may, upon motivated  request, decide that action of a compulsory patent license 
granted pursuant to Article 28 shall be liable , subject to adequate protection of the legitimate 
interests of the persons so authorized, to be terminated  if the circumstances which  led to it cease to 
exist and are unlikely to recur . The court shall have  the authority  to refuse termination  of the action 
of a compulsory license if the circumstances which  led to its grant  are likely to recur . 
(4) The legal validity of any act relating to  the grant of the compulsory license referred to  in 
paragraph  (1) and any other act relating to the remuneration provided for in respect  of such use shall 
be subject to judicial review.  
(5) The holder of the license shall communicate to  AGEPI t he court decision  to grant a 
compulsory license or, where appropriate , to terminat e its action, and the mention with reference to 
such fact shall be  entered in the National Register of Patents  for Invention  and published in BOPI. 
The compulsory license granted in the situation referred to  in Article 282 shall be  entere d in the 
National R egister of Patents for Invention without pay ment  of fee. 
  (6) If the holder of the compulsory license  has not undertaken any effective and serious 
preparation for exploiting the invention  within one year following the date of grant of the license, 
the compulsory license may be cance lled by a court decision . The validity of a compulsory license 
shall terminate  if the license holder has not begun  exploitation of the invention within 2 years 
following  the date on which the license was granted to him.”  
 
7. In Artic le 31 paragraph  (2), the words “ made  in the Republic of Moldova ” shall  be 
replaced by the words “originating in the Republic of Moldova ”. 
 
8. In Article 39, paragraph (2) shall have the following wording:  
“(2) Every filing under the national law of the State where it was made or under bilateral or 
multilateral agreements in the field shall be recognized as giving rise to a right of priority.”.  
 
 
 
 
9. The name of Article 44 shall have the following wording : 
“Article 44.  Eurasian Patent” . 
 
10. Article 442 shall be  supplemented with paragraph  (12) with the following wording : 
“(12) The same invention disclosed in a European patent and respectively, in a national 
patent, originating from the same applicant, having the same filing date or, where  priority is 
claimed, the same priority date , cannot be protected simultaneously by a validated European patent 
and a national patent. A European patent shall be validated in the Republic of Moldova if the rights 
conferred by a national patent have expired according to Article 68. A national patent shall be granted if the rights conferred by a European patent validated in the Republic of Moldova have 
expired acc ording to Article 68.” 
11. In Article 45 paragraph (2), the words “made in the Republic of Moldova” shall be replaced by 
the words “originating in the Republic of Moldova”.  
12. In Article 46, paragraph  (2) shall be  supplemented with the following sentence:  “If the 
applicant fails to  file a request  for re -establishment  within the omitted term  under the terms of the 
Regulation s, the patent application shall be  deemed to be  withdrawn. ”. 
 
13. In Article 49 paragraph  (7), the text “paragraph  (1)” shall be  excluded.  
 
14. In Article 51 , paragraph  (2), after the words “following  the date of entry into  the national 
phase ”, shall be introduced  the text  “, and in the case of a divisional application - within 6 months 
following  its filing , being applied the term that expires later .” 
 
15. In Article 52:  
in paragraph (2), after the text “on or after th at date,”, shall be  introduced  the text “patent 
documents relating to  author ’s certificates, ”; 
in paragraph s (3) and (4) , the words “meets the requirements of” shall be replaced by the text 
“compli es with the provisions of paragraph  (1) and ”. 
 
16. In Article 59, paragraph  (4) shall have the following wording : 
“(4) The decision of the Appeal s Board  of AGEPI shall be  notified  to the parties and may be 
appealed according to the legislation. ”. 
 
17. In Article 71 paragraph  (1), letter b) shall be  supplemented with the words “and is within 
the limits of the claims in the patent ”. 
 
18. In A rticle 90 paragraph  (3), after the text “Article 43 paragraph s (1) and (2) ” shall be 
introduced  the text “A rticle 442 paragraph s (6), (7) and (10) ,”. 
 
19. Article 92 : 
in the title of the Article, the words “ Re-establishment of Rights” shall be replaced by the 
words “ Reinstatement of Rights”;  
in paragraph (2), the words “The request for re -establishment of rights” shall be replaced by 
the words “The request for reinstatement of rights”, and the text “the period of 12 months shall start  
from the date ” – by the text “the running of the period of 12 month s shall st art from  the date "; 
in paragraph (3), the words “The request for re -establishment of rights” shall be replaced by 
the words “The request for reinstatement of rights”, and  the words “re-establishment of rights” – by 
the words “reinstatement of rights”;  
the Article shall be  supp lemented with paragraph (31) with the following wording : 
“(31) In case of reinstatement  of rights , the decision of the subdivision shall be  revoked. ”; 
in paragraph (4), the text “, Article 51 para graph  (2), Article  57 para graph  (1) and Article 58 
paragraph  (3)” shall be  replaced by the text “and Article 57 para graph  (1)”; 
in paragraph (5), the words “ re-establishment  of that right ” shall be  replaced by the words 
“reinstatement of th at right ”. 
20. In Article 94 paragraph (1), letter f) shall have the following wording:  
  “f) re insta tement of rights”.   
Article II.  – In Article 115 paragraph  12 of Law No. 1456/1993 on the Pharmaceutical 
Activity (republished in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova, 2005, No. 59 -61, Art. 
200), with subsequent amendments, the text “Article 28 paragraph  (3)” shall be  replaced by the text 
“Article 28 letter b) and Article 282”. 
Article III. – The Government, within 12 months from the date of entry into force of this 
Law, shall bring its normative acts in line with it.  
 
 
 
CHAIRMAN OF THE  
PARLIAMENT                                                                                 Igor GROSU  
 
No. 98. Chisinau, April 27, 2023