Destination… Moldova

October deadline for producers and traders

As reported in Compass in September 2024, the framework Law No. 209 on Waste (2017) was amended in May 2024.

The main change introduced by the amendment was the mandatory establishment of the deposit return system (DRS) for reusable and single-use beverage packaging.

Almost a year later, in July 2025, Decision No. 379 on the implementation of the DRS was published.

The Decision sets out several obligations for producers, including:

• registration within three months of the DRS administrator’s appointment
• concluding a contract with the administrator
• labelling packaging
• submitting regular reports
• transferring deposit amounts, and
• providing relevant information to end users

As per the Decision, the founders of the DRS administrator must be associative structures representing both producers and traders of single-use and reusable packaging.

The DRS administrator is to be nominated by producers who collectively account for at least 60% of the total volume of beverages in packaging covered by the DRS and placed on the market in 2024.

The Environmental Agency will coordinate the administrator’s activities.

By 4 October 2025, producers and traders, through associative structures, must submit to the Ministry of Environment:

• a plan for organising the deposit system
• a financing scheme for both reusable and single-use packaging, and
• a public awareness and information programme

The DRS must be operational across the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova within one year of the appointment of the DRS administrator, and no later than 25 January 2027.

Track developments in Moldova with Landbell Group’s Global EPR Information Services.