Government introduces new tax for second-hand cars

hose who buy cars registered in Romania by1 January 2007 will have to pay the car tax.

The decision was taken on Monday by the members of the governmental coalition.
Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely said that he proposed at the government meeting that the first registration car tax value to decrease by 20-30 percent, but this aspect will be decide at the next meeting.

The tax reduction will be applied to all cars, so as an eventual discrimination is avoided - the Environment Minister also said.

The car tax change was decided by the members of the coalition, after the Court of Justice has explained that the first registration tax violated the European Union law as it caused a disadvantage in selling cars from other countries within Romania"s territory.

The point of view was submitted to a trial in which a Romanian, who has bought in July 2008 a second hand car from Germany and paid the pollution tax for the registration in Romania, denounced the fact that the tax was only valid for old vehicles imported from other states, not for the other second-hand cars, that have already been registered in the country and resold.

First registration tax "remains but is reduced"

The Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely said that the first registration tax remains, but that its value could fall by 20-30 percent.

"Obviously, the first registration tax cannot be dropped because it is beneficial and in order that old cars that pollute a lot to disappear", Laszlo Borbely stated.

We have also introduced this requirement for cars registered before 1 January 2007, that at the first sale first registration tax to be paid and because obviously one particular category of citizens must also pay when buying a car, there will be reduced a little of the percentage of the first registration tax.

The car analyst Dan Vardie considered that the government should appeal this decision to the Court of Justice.

"To me it seems slightly strange that a Court of Justice can adjudicate on a matter before 2007, considering that Romania before 2007 was not a member of the European Union. So I do not see why it was necessary to respect some rules."

"It can only have a negative effect in the sense that more transactions on the second-hand market in Romania we cannot have the most healthy second-hand market is that within the national space", Dan Vardie said.

The new rate will apply to all owners of cars older than four and a half years, who wish to sell their car.

Translated by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University