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| THE POLLUTION FEE FOR CAR OWNERS 22/04/2008 |
| (2008-04-22) |
| Last updated: 2008-04-23 14:18 EET |
The Romanian Government on Monday approved the new car registration fee which it rebranded as an air pollution fee for car owners. This is the third version of the fee and will replace, as of July the 1st, the current version in force since January 2007. The first two versions had come under harsh criticism from car makers, civil society and the European Commission. Equally unpopular, the current version meets, however, the EU requirements.
The fee will be calculated based on each car’s technical characteristics, and the carbon dioxide and fumes emissions. The government has promised to give the people who have paid the former fees the difference in money between the older fee and the new one. People will start paying a higher fee for new cars sold in Romania and a lower fee for Euro 1 and Euro 2 cars with engines of up to 2,000 cubic cm, while the fee for older imported cars remains high. In keeping with the recommendations of the European Commission, the new formula includes a coefficient of fee reduction which will result in the diminution of the amount that needs to be paid as the car loses its value.
For example, the fee for cars older than 15 years will be applied a 95% reduction as compared to fees for new cars with the same capacity. In Monday’s government meeting, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu recalled that the money resulting from the pollution fee will be used to fund programmes related to 7 environmental protection areas, including the renewal of the car fleet. Another programme is currently being run in Romania by which the state is to grant 800 euros to owners who wish to scrap cars older than 12 years old.
This year, the authorities are planning to expand this programme to include another 40,000 cars and possibly even buses. According to statistics, 54% of all cars in Romania are highly polluting. The main reason for introducing the car fee was precisely the reduction of the number of old, polluting cars bought in western Europe based on the Polluter Pays Principle.
“We have no intention of becoming Europe’s scrap yard”, said Prime Minister Tariceanu last year, and went on to become the author of a very unpopular law, especially among Romanians who cannot afford to buy new, better and less polluting cars.
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