EC Says Was Not Officially Informed On Romania’s Car Tax Increase Decision

Assimakopoulou said that although member states are free to set their own taxation level on cars, they still need to observe the principle of non-discrimination and tax old or used cars as well as the new.

"It is not very clear what the Romanian Government decided. I cannot comment on decisions that are adopted every day. So far they haven’t been officially presented to us and the Commission hasn’t been informed," Assimakopoulou said Friday at a press conference, answering a question on the European Commission’s reaction to the Romanian government’s decision to increase the car tax for used vehicles by up to three times.

Assimakopoulou listed EU taxation rules, saying “these are very simple and easy enough to understand for everybody".

"In the area of car taxation, there is no harmonization in the European Union, so member states can set their own tax levels on registration tax or on circulation tax. However, all member states have to respect main principle, like, for example, the principle of non-discrimination. In practice, that means member states cannot just increase the registration tax for used or old cars and not for new cars. I hope that it’s very simple and clear,” she concluded.

The Romanian government decided Thursday to increase up to three times the pollution tax for cars on purchases of imported second-hand cars as of December 15 and to increase bonus for the scrapping of old cars.