Environmental Measures

After giving up the environmental stamp duty, the Romanian authorities are now considering an alternative: a modern, European system that would help Romania reach its environmental targets.

România Internațional, 22.02.2017, 13:48

Romanian authorities are going to present an alternative to the environmental stamp duty which was eliminated on February 1 alongside another 101 fees and duties. The environmental stamp duty, in the various forms it had over the years, managed to drastically curb Romania’s rapid transformation into a scrap yard of Europe.

However, according to officials from the Romanian Automotive Register, the elimination of the duty has lately triggered a considerable increase in the number of applications for the issuance of documents necessary for registering second-hand cars bought from abroad. It is obvious that the number of old cars that will enter Romania will grow alongside pollution, and road traffic safety will drop.

The Environment Minister Daniel Constantin has explained that the new system, which will replace the environmental stamp duty, will not entail further taxes for citizens and its aim is to reduce the number of polluting cars. In 2017, the Environment Fund and other such funds will finance 11 programs, among which the replacement of the stamp duty, the ‘Rabla’ and ‘Rabla Plus’ car scrapping programs as well as the ‘Green House’ and ‘Green House Plus’ programs.

Minister Daniel Constantin: “The environmental stamp duty has been eliminated. Living in a much clearer environment is important. Together with other institutions, we are considering a modern system through which we want to make sure that Romanians buy less polluting cars, especially in big cities, without introducing further taxes for citizens. It is a modern, European system, which we have designed so as to reach our environmental targets and make everybody happy.”

Minister Daniel Constantin has recalled that, at present, Bucharest, Brasov and Iasi are under the infringement procedure because of the poor quality of the air.The minister has also explained that, through a new government decree to be proposed next week, the Government intends to obtain an increase in the capacity of selective waste collection, to reach the 50% target Romania committed itself to reaching by 2020.

Daniel Constantin: “Of all that it is being collected, the recycling rate must reach 20% in the first year. In this way, we also reduce the amount of waste that usually goes to landfills and thus reach the European recycling target. Then we will increase the collection rate by 10% every year, which is actually the normal level that should have been reached a long time ago.”

The European Commission has sued the Romanian state for the illegal landfills that should have been closed or rehabilitated by 2009. Although progress has been reported, there are still 68 non-conforming landfills and the European Commission might propose a fine and refer Romania to the European Court of Justice.