Moldova sets the phased VAT and excise charge on Transnistrian imports at Government Decision No. 469

What changed in detail

Government Decision No. 469 of 26 August 2026 (Monitorul Oficial No. 398-400, 28 August 2026) sets the actual phase-in dates for VAT and excise on goods that Transnistrian-based economic operators release for free circulation on Moldovan-controlled territory — replacing the dates an earlier report gave for this charge. VAT and excise become payable in three phases:

• 1 September 2026: caviar, alcoholic drinks, tobacco and nicotine products, perfumes, fireworks, furs, pearls and precious stones, jewellery, precious metals and vehicles.
• 1 January 2027: non-alcoholic sweetened drinks, ores and concentrates, base metals, kaolin and other clays, and petroleum products.
• 1 April 2027: natural gas, electricity, telephones and computers.

Goods from direct external transactions outside this list continue to clear without VAT or excise, provided they remain within the Transnistrian region. Decision No. 469 supersedes the earlier report on this measure, Moldova’s phased withdrawal of Transnistrian VAT and excise exemptions, which stated the charge would begin on 1 August 2026 and would include fuels and electricity in its first phase. Neither is correct under the decision as adopted: the first phase starts a month later, on 1 September, and fuels (petroleum products) and electricity are in the later phases — 1 January 2027 and 1 April 2027 respectively — not the first.

What it means

Two things changed between the earlier report and the adopted decision, not one: the start date moved back a month, and the goods in the first tranche are narrower than first reported — fuels and electricity are deferred by four to seven months, not charged from day one. Any compliance calendar or customs-system configuration built on the 1 August date or the earlier good-category split should be corrected against the phase list above, which is what the Government actually adopted.