The European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET) on Wednesday 9 January called on the Romanian government to suspend the enforcement of the turnover tax for the electricity sector, introduced by an emergency ordinance (114/2018 of 29 December 2018).
EFET believes that the government order will have negative consequences on the functioning of the electricity market in Romania, on consumers in the country, and on the “country’s social welfare”, according to a statement from this federation.
The order was implemented “without any prior stakeholder consultation or impact assessment”, the EFET statement said, adding that this law leads to an “unprecedented” increase in turnover fees (by no less than 2,000%) for companies holding licenses in the electricity sector.
According to the available information, the Ordinance adopts a principle whereby the tax payable in 2020 by the relevant companies would be calculated retroactively on the basis of 2019 income, which in turn is based mainly on transactions concluded in 2018. The effects of the measures set out in the order are likely to be “devastating”, concludes the EFET. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)