“The motor vehicles older than 10 cannot be imported today. We have situations when national business entities that provide transport services on interurban routes are unable to purchase buses younger than ten, which are very expensive and it is very hard to recoup these investments. It is an extreme situation when buses older than 20 run on interurban routes. It’s impossible to replace the old buses with newer ones,” secretary of state at the Ministry of Finance Dorel Noroc stated, noting this is an argument in favor of the authorities’ intention to remove the restrictions on the import of units of transport.

According to the official, the current administration considers there should be no restrictions on the import of goods as these limitations lead to smuggling.

“The interdictions generate situations when the persons are stimulated to avoid those bans. This thing happens and is evident. No taxes are paid into the budget in such a case. That’s why we aim to obtain the annulment of these bans, but they should be replaced with a stricter taxation system for older units of transport,” stated the official, adding the authorities now work on the conceptualization of this system so as to create a European taxation system.

“I admit that the tax or excise duty that will be collected can be higher than the value of the imported car. That’s why the ecological aspect should be addressed not be imposing bans, but by introducing a taxation system. Something like this is done everywhere. An efficient taxation system determines the behavior of a private individual,” noted Dorel Noroc.

The 2021 draft budgetary and fiscal policy provides that the excise duties on tobacco, alcohol and oil products will increase. A package of cigarettes now costs 33.60 lei, while next year it will cost 36.80 lei and its price will rise to 44.50 lei until 2023.