Planned closure of complaint 2007/2001

(2008/C 314/06)

The European Commission has received multiple complaints concerning a discriminatory tax levied in Romania on the occasion of the first registration of a motor vehicle within its territory. In this respect, the Secretariat General of the European Commission registered a large number of complaints and letters. The complaints registered under reference numbers 2007/4078, 2007/4079, 2007/4151 and the other correspondence from the concerned citizens of the EU were treated under the lead file with reference number 2007/2001.

The responsible Commission's department completed its investigation of the above-mentioned case. In order to properly inform not only the complainants but also all other concerned persons the Commission has decided to publish the present notice expressing an intention to close this file.

Whilst it is clear that there is no harmonisation of the passenger car related taxes at Community level and thus Member States may impose such taxes and decide on their levels and methods of application, such a discretion is restricted by the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Community (EC), in particular Article 90, which precludes any discriminatory taxation of the products coming from other Member States.

The Romanian provisions relating to the car registration tax did not appear to comply with Article 90 of the EC Treaty. Consequently, on 23 March 2007, the Commission initiated an infringement procedure by issuing a letter of formal notice (IP/07/372) to Romania. The Commission referred to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice which has consistently ruled that when the tax is levied only once on new and used motor vehicles, the amount of tax due on a second-hand motor vehicle coming from another Member State must never exceed the residual tax included in the market value of a similar used car already registered in that Member State when new. To that effect Member States must take the depreciation of imported used motor vehicles into account.

Romania acknowledged the letter of formal notice and developed general lines, according to which the necessary amendments were drafted, together with a formula for calculating the amount of car registration tax and the values to be used for that purpose, including a fixed grid of depreciation. However, the necessary amendments were not adopted in due time.

On 28 November 2007, the Commission addressed a reasoned opinion to Romania requesting that they comply with Community law as interpreted by the Court (IP/07/1799). This was followed by a number of technical meetings and discussions on versions of a draft legislation which resulted in the adoption on 21 April 2008 of Emergency Ordinance No 50/2008 (published in the Official Journal of Romania on 25 April 2008) amending the contested legislation. The Romanian Government has also approved the methodological norms for the application of Emergency Ordinance No 50/2008 by integrating Title V Determination of the real depreciation of a used motor vehicle into the application of the improved fixed grid of depreciation contained in Annex 4 of the Emergency Ordinance. This ensures that the actual depreciation of used motor vehicles is taken into account when calculating the amount of car registration tax due.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned Romanian legislation removed a discriminatory correlation coefficient, established a proper definition of ‘a new motor vehicle’, and also provided the tax payer with the right to have an individual inspection of his motor vehicle in order to establish its true depreciation. Finally, the adopted legislation disclosed to the public the criteria on the basis of which the depreciation of used motor vehicles is established.

In the light of the above information, the responsible department of the Commission considers that the Romanian authorities have taken the appropriate steps to ensure compliance with Community law and at present it would appear that the Romanian legislation on car registration taxes has been brought in to line with Article 90 of the EC Treaty.

For this reason, the responsible department will propose to the Commission that the case in question be closed.