Government Cuts Car Pollution Tax By One Third

The Government has decided to reduce the car pollution tax by one third. The measure applies also to cars bought before 15 December 2008, whose owners are now able to have them registered under the terms of the previous law. If the car has already been registered, the owners will be reimbursed the difference between what they paid and the new level of the tax. The decision will come into effect as soon as it is published in the Official Journal.

"We have been facing a special situation regarding the registration of pre-owned cars in 2008. Thus, in June 2008, the ratio was one pre-owned car to five new cars registered. In December 2008, the ratio was four pre-owned cars to one new car registered," said Dan Carlan, Secretary of State with the Ministry for Environment and Sustainable Development. Romania needs to clarify the matter of the car pollution tax until April, or could face the European Union"s infringement procedure, Environment Minister Nicolae Nemirschi recently said on television.

The Tariceanu Government in December 2008 passed Emergency Ordinance no. 2008, which tripled the registration tax for pre-owned cars. At that time, the Premier explained that the measure was intended to encourage the Romanian car industry. Concurrently, the Government issued an exemption from the registration tax for Euro4-compliant cars with a capacity below 2,000 cubic centimetres registered in Romania or another EU country for the first time. The European Commission recently announced that the first estimations provided by E.C. exp­erts on the matter of the t­h­r­e­e-­fold increase in the registration tax, based on the preliminary information received from Bucharest, indicated that the new measure was not compliant with European Union laws.