To reduce tax evasion and efficiently collect taxes, the Romanian Government approved Emergency Ordinance No. 41/2022, implementing the integrated electronic system RO e-Transport.
The role of the RO e-Transport system (interconnected with other existing IT systems at the Ministry of Finance, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, and the Romanian Customs Authority) is to monitor in real-time the movement of high fiscal risk goods within Romania. These include the transport of goods purchased and delivered within the EU, goods involved in customs operations, and goods transported between two locations within the national territory.
It has become mandatory to declare in advance the data related to road transport of high fiscal risk goods, depending on the type of operation, to the beneficiary or, as the case may be, the supplier in Romania so they can be identified by the UIT code.
The system will record information regarding the sender, recipient, transported goods (name, characteristics, quantities, and value), loading and unloading places, information about the means of transport used, data on the transporter, and the declared start date of the transport. As a result of declaring the mentioned data, the system will generate the UIT code (which will confirm that the transport of high fiscal risk goods has been declared). The validity period of the UIT code is 5 calendar days, or 15 calendar days in the case of intra-community purchases of goods, starting from the declared transport start date. The use of the UIT code by the road transport operator beyond its validity period is prohibited.
According to the Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration No. 802/2022, high fiscal risk goods include vegetables, plants, edible roots and tubers, edible fruits, citrus or melon peels, beverages, alcoholic liquids, vinegar, salt, sulfur, earths and stones, gypsum, lime, cement, clothing and accessories, knitted or crocheted footwear, cast iron, iron and steel, etc.
In the upcoming period, the Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration No. 802/2022 is expected to be amended by issuing a new order, which will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, to include other high fiscal risk goods, such as meat and edible organs, fish and crustaceans, mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates,
milk and dairy products; bird eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, raw or unprocessed tobacco; tobacco waste, other processed tobaccos and tobacco substitutes; homogenized or reconstituted tobaccos; tobacco extracts and essences, mineral fuels, mineral oils and products resulting from their distillation; bituminous materials; mineral wax, soaps, organic surface agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial wax, prepared wax, maintenance products, candles and similar articles, modeling pastes, dental wax and preparations based on plaster, miscellaneous chemical industry products, other made-up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and used textile articles; rags.
The categories of road vehicles monitored in the RO e-Transport system are those with a maximum permissible mass of at least 2.5 tons, loaded with high fiscal risk goods with a total gross mass of more than 500 kg or a total value of more than 10,000 lei, for at least one batch of goods being transported.
According to Art. 13¹ of OUG No. 41/2022, failure to comply with the obligations regarding the declaration of data related to the transport of high fiscal risk goods in the RO e-Transport system is punishable by fines ranging from 10,000 lei to 50,000 lei for individuals, and from 20,000 to 100,000 lei for legal entities, as well as the confiscation of the value of undeclared goods.
The finding and application of sanctions are carried out by authorized persons from the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, the Romanian Customs Authority, and officers and agents from the Romanian Police.
The contraventions mentioned above are subject to the provisions of Government Ordinance No. 2/2001 regarding the legal regime of contraventions. Therefore, a complaint against the Minutes of Finding and Sanctioning of the Contravention can be filed within 15 days from the communication of the Minutes.
Author: Atty. Ionut Sfetcu