Brussels, 10/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Romanian tax on polluting emissions from motor vehicles, which applies to all motor vehicles as soon as they are registered in Romania with the exception of those already registered in the country before the tax entered into force, is compatible with Community law, the Advocate General the Court of Justice, Maciej Szpunar, concluded on Tuesday 10 February (case C-76/14).
In the main proceedings, a Romanian national bought a second-hand car in Spain. When he came to register it in Romania, the authorities asked him to pay the tax on polluting emissions. He challenged this, arguing that the tax does not comply with Community law, as it only applies to cars already registered in Romania if the legal ownership of the vehicle is transferred (if it is resold, for example) and cars registered in Romania before the tax entered into force are exempt from it. The Romanian court then approached the Court of Justice to ask whether this tax is compatible with article 110 of the TFEU, which prohibits the member states from taxing products originating from other member states at a rate higher than the one covering similar national products (principle of tax neutrality).
Szpunar found that the tax does not bring about any discrimination which runs counter to Community law. Indeed, it is hard to point to any form of discrimination in this case, as the tax applies just once to any vehicle when it is registered in the name of a new owner in Romania, whether or not the vehicle is imported. It is now for the Romanian court to verify whether the tax applied is the same (as it must be in order to comply with EU law). As for the fact that a car already registered in Romania is not hit by the tax unless its registration changes after the entry into force of the tax, this point is irrelevant, as a second-hand car cannot be considered a good (within the meaning of article 110 of the TFUE) unless it is put up for sale, Szpunar said. (Jan Kordys)