Under the new regulation, the fees for Euro 3 and Euro 4 Diesel cars will increase, with the authorities saying gas emissions are higher in their case compared to other types of cars. Car owners who have already paid this fee in various versions are exempt from paying it again. As for the cars registered prior to 2007, the environmental fee will be paid only when the respective cars are sold. The car’s cylinder capacity is no longer taken into account when calculating the new fee, but only its carbon dioxide emissions. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the amount to be paid by car owners will decrease by 60% in the case of Euro 2 cars, by 80% for Euro 1 cars and by around 90% for non-Euro cars. The environment minister Rovana Plumb explains:

Rovana Plumb: “We have also taken into account the state of the car, its age. The older the car, the shorter its lifespan, so it will pollute less, given that the environmental fee is only paid once.”

In the opinion of the environment minister, retaining the same amount of fees for non-Euro, Euro 1 and Euro 2 cars would have made it very difficult for them to be sold. The environmental fee is based on “the polluter pays” principle, says Rovana Plumb. The fee will hit hard the owners of Euro 3 and Euro 4 cars, which account for the majority of second-hand cars bought in Romania. In their case, the fee goes up by 10-15%, although, according to experts, they are less polluting than non-Euro and Euro 1 and Euro 2 cars.

Producers say, however, that the new fee facilitates the purchase of very old cars and does not encourage at all the renewal of the car fleet. The fee also affects owners of diesel cars, who will pay a higher fee than owners of cars running on petrol. In the case of cars that are older than 8 years, the former will end up paying up to 50% more. As a first, people registering an electric car will be receiving a bonus consisting in an eco-voucher of 2,500 euros. Experts believe however that this measure will not have a strong impact on the market, as electric cars are very expensive and difficult to recharge. Only 10 electric cars were registered in Romania in 2012.