Under a Moldovan government decree, which comes into effect July 1, producers in the self-declared republic must certify their imports with Moldovan customs authorities, or face export bans.
In a joint statement, Transdnestr's Commerce and Industry Chamber and Union of Industrialists, Agrarians and Entrepreneurs said the amendments introduced in March by Moldova had pushed Transdnestr's companies, which are completely dependent on importing resources and exporting products, to the brink of collapse.
They said the new regulations had made it impossible for enterprises to plan their production in the long term and secure long-term partnership contracts or loans.
The organizations said they wanted commonly-accepted and coordinated regulations for the region's foreign economic activity under international guarantees, which would be independent from arbitrary decisions by the Moldovan authorities.
Home to most of Moldova's heavy industry, Transdnestr broke away from Moldova in bloody conflicts of the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Moldova has been seeking to bring the separatist republic back under its control ever since.
Since March 2006, export-dependent Transdnestr has been under customs restrictions, imposed by neighboring Ukraine at Moldova's request, a move which the breakaway region called an economic blockade.
The restrictions have dealt a serious blow to the region's struggling economy, causing a halt in deliveries of goods to Ukraine, due to the lack of official Moldovan customs stamps.
