At a meeting on 26 August, representatives of the UNTRR, the Concordia employers’ federation and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu agreed to postpone fines for failure to use GPS applications to monitor the transport of goods deemed to be at high fiscal risk and international road transport. Without this last-minute postponement, the fines would have been imposed from 1 September.
The RO e-Transport system, implemented in January 2023, is designed to monitor the movement of goods within Romania with a higher risk of tax evasion. The system was later expanded in January 2024 to include all international shipments of goods.
The system aims to reduce tax evasion, narrow the VAT gap, and prevent illegal trade by ensuring that goods transported within the country are properly documented and monitored.
The system requires transporters to electronically notify the national platform with a detailed RO e-Transport document, which includes critical information such as the nature and value of the goods, the consignor and consignee, and the transportation route. Once this information is submitted, the system generates a unique identification code (UIT), which must be displayed on the goods’ transport documents. Vehicles involved in transporting these goods must be equipped with GPS devices to allow continuous monitoring by Romanian authorities.
Fines for non-compliance, initially set to be enforced from September 1, 2024, range from 5,000 to 100,000 lei depending on the nature of the violation. However, with the recent agreement, these penalties will now only come into effect in 2025, providing additional time for transport companies to comply with the new regulations.
Radu Dinescu, General Secretary of UNTRR, expressed relief at the government’s decision:
“The deferral of sanctions provides the industry with much-needed time to adapt to the new requirements. While we understand the necessity of the RO e-Transport system, the logistics and costs associated with the implementation of GPS tracking for all shipments are significant.”
In addition to securing this postponement, UNTRR also advocated for several other measures during the meeting, including state aid to offset the rising diesel excise duty, subsidies for green trucks, and legislative amendments to facilitate the transport of oversized goods, such as wind turbine blades, within Romania. The organisation also called for the Romanian government to lobby the European Commission for a delay in the mandatory retrofitting of commercial vehicles with Smart 2 digital tachographs, which are due to be implemented by the end of this year.