Brussels, 15/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Just like advocate-general Maciej Szpunar in February this year (see EUROPE 11250), the European Court of Justice ruled in Case C-76/14 on Tuesday 14 April that the Romanian tax on polluting emissions from vehicles that is levied on all motor vehicles as soon as they are registered in Romania is compatible with EU law. The Court of Justice rules that since the tax is for the same amount for all taxpayers, it is neutral in terms of competition, but the exoneration for vehicles that are already registered and which have had an earlier, similar, tax levied on them (which would need to be reimbursed by the Romanian authorities under several earlier Court of Justice rulings) is not lawful because it must be reimbursed with interest rather than in the form of an exemption in order to avoid unfairly encouraging the sale of Romanian second-hand vehicles. (Jan Kordys)