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UNTRR calling on Romanian gov't to reactivate partial fuel excise duty refund scheme
The National Union of Romanian Hauliers (UNTRR) is calling on the Romanian government to reactivate the partial excise duty refund scheme in order to maintain the competitiveness of the road haulage industry in a European market with declining volumes, UNTRR said in a release, mentioning that it has requested Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sorin Grindeanu to initiate the procedure for the refund of the fuel excise tax, in order to maintain the competitiveness of the industry. This request comes amid the successive increases in diesel excise duties established for the year 2024 according to Law No. 296/2023.
According to the organization, starting from January 1, 2024, the diesel excise tax increased to RON 1,850.95/1,000 liters, and a second increase will follow on July 1, 2024 to RON 2,183.85/1,000 liters.
"After these major rises, the diesel excise duty will exceed the threshold of 400 euros per 1,000 liters and, historically speaking, whenever the excise duty reached this threshold in the last ten years, the partial excise duty refund scheme to road transport operators was activated," explained UNTRR secretary general Radu Dinescu.
UNTRR brings to mind that the European legislation provides for the possibility of a partial refund of the additional excise duty to professional users, and 6 EU member states apply these provisions constantly, while Romania applied them only occasionally, when the fuel excise duty topped the minimum provided for in the European law. In the last ten years, the fuel excise refund scheme was activated three times in Romania.
"The road haulage industry contributes 46 percent of Romania's service exports and this is why it is all the more so important to maintain the competitiveness of Romanian road hauliers. The road haulage sector is the backbone of goods logistics in Romania. According to the UNTRR report Road Transport Market 2018 - 2030, in 2022, and based on 2023 preliminary results, the road transport of goods accounted for 71 percent (maritime transport included) of the total freight transport expressed in million tons-km," the statement reads.
The National Union of Romanian Hauliers is a non-governmental professional employers' organization that has registered ever since its establishment over 16,000 transport companies that perform domestic and international cargo and passenger transport.
