Republic of Moldova

The Republic of Moldova gained its independence from Soviet Union on August 27, 1991. On July 29, 1994 the Moldovan Parliament adopted the new Constitution of Moldova, which came into force on August 27, 1994.
This basic law enshrines democratic values and establishes a national, sovereign, independent, unitary, indivisible and neutral state (Article 1 and Article 11). The Republic of Moldova is a Parliamentary Republic.

As the fundamental law of Republic of Moldova (Article 7), the Constitution defines the structure of the government of Moldova, the rights and duties of the country’s citizens, the procedure for passing laws and specifies the principle of separation of powers and balance of the legislative, executive and judicial powers (Article 6). The unicameral Parliament represents the legislative branch. The executive branch is represented by the President as Chief of State and Prime Minister as the Head of Government.
The Judicial branch is composed by ordinary Courts, Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The Moldovan legal system belongs to the civil law tradition; under which, typically, only the Constitution and other statutory legislation constitute a source of law.

The Moldovan Constitution contains specific provisions concerning the protection of intellectual property. According to Article 9, “Property can be public or private, and it can consist of material and intellectual goods”. Moreover the Constitution protects the national symbols (Article 12).