EC Claims Romanian Bridge Toll Is Legal, FORT Complaint Is Pending

"Our colleagues from DG TREN informs us that the acquis on road charges (Dir 99/62) does not prevent a vignette country (Romania) to apply tolls on bridges and tunnels," said the EC press release.

On the other hand, the quoted source reminds that the sums collected by an EU member state foe the use of the road infrastructure – bridge, tunnel, highway – do not qualify as taxes under the community legislation, but are considered "remuneration for the performance of a service."

The EC added it has not received any complaints regarding the bridge tax.

"The complaint referred to in the press has not yet been received by the Commission. The Commission will analyze thoroughly the complaint when received," the reply reads.

The Romanian Federation of Road Transporters (FORT) recently announced that it has sent a notice to the European Commission on the introduction of the Fetesti bridge tax. FORT claims the tax violates the treaty with the European Union.

Romanian transporters claim that the toll introduced by the public roads authority CNADNR on the crossing of the Fetesti bridge, in southeastern Romania, breaches the country's treaty with the European Union, the Federation of Romanian Transport Operators (FORT) said in a statement Monday.

“Desperate over the loss of control and power and the possibility to levy a toll on overweight vehicles following the legislative amendments set up by FORT representatives with the Transport Ministry, the public roads authority wants to prove its efficiency by coming up with an order whose article 1 item 5 last year, in the context of the talks between the transport employers’ associations and the ministry, would have heated up the situation,” the statement said.

The EU agreed with the introduction of bridge toll, but didn’t accept the possibility to introduce subscriptions, head of the roads and highways company Dorina Tiron told MEDIAFAX Monday.

“We’ve talked about this toll with the European Union and it agreed with it. A subscription replacing the toll was possible, but the EU disagreed, so we removed it,” Tiron said.

Regarding the notification sent by FORT to the European Commission, Tiron said anyone has the right to send notifications.

 

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