The RO e-Transport monitoring system emerged in the second half of 2022, when Romania implemented it through Government Emergency Ordinance No. 41/2022 (“GEO no. 41/2022”) as a system initially designed to combat tax evasion by monitoring the transport of goods with high fiscal risk (RO e-Transport).
The categories of road vehicles subject to monitoring in the RO e-Transport system are those with a maximum technically admissible mass of at least 2.5 tonnes, loaded with goods with (i) a total gross mass of more than 500 kg or (ii) a total value of more than 10,000 Lei, corresponding to at least one consignment of goods subject to transport.
The RO e-Transport system is basically a combination of IT systems jointly managed by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration and the Romanian Customs Authority, with the goal of monitoring the relevant information on transported goods and involved parties (i.e., the parties’ identification data, characteristics of the goods, quantities, loading and unloading locations, details of the vehicles, etc.).
Once the responsible party reports the relevant information, the RO e-Transport system will generate a unique code (“UIT code”) with the purpose of uniquely identifying the transported goods.
Although the system has been fully operational since 2022, its early scope was limited to the transport of goods with high fiscal risk, and therefore it had little influence on the business sector in terms of taxpayers being targeted for reporting responsibilities.
However, reporting obligations are returning to the spotlight, as beginning on December 15, 2023, GEO 115/2023’s new regulations amended GEO no. 41/2022, and introduced the obligation to report via RO e-Transport for all international road transport of goods (related to import/export operations, intra-community purchases, and intra-community deliveries), regardless of the category of transported goods (i.e., not only for goods with high fiscal risk, as was previously the case).
Since the new reporting obligations address a wide range of actors in the business sector, companies must face the challenges of complying with the reporting obligations while preserving their company operating models and avoiding fines of up to 100,000 lei, beginning July 1, 2024.
This is the reason why these days Who and What are the most talked-about questions, as the legal provisions in place are not sufficiently explicit in covering all of the real-life scenarios that arise when recording data via the RO e-Transport system.
Who does the reporting?
According to Article 8¹ of the amended GEO 40/2022, regardless of the category of international road transport of goods, the responsible entity required to report via RO e-Transport is either:
- The recipient listed in the import customs declaration, or the exporter listed in the customs declaration of export, for goods subject to import/export operations;
- The beneficiary company from Romania, in the case of intra-community purchases;
- The supplier company from Romania, in the case of intra-community deliveries, or;
- The depositary company from Romania, in the case of goods that are the subject of intra-community transactions in transit, both for goods unloaded on the territory of Romania for storage or for the formation of new transport, and for goods loaded after storage or after the formation of a new consignment on the territory of Romania.
What does reporting mean?
In principle, when uploading data to the RO e-Transport system, the reporting entity should provide relevant details such as the sender and recipient of the goods, the characteristics and value of the transported goods, the loading and unloading locations, and information on the vehicle’s registration plate and mode of transportation, among others.
The RO e-Transport system reporting obligations must be carried out not more than 3 (three) calendar days before the date declared for the starting of the transport, but not later than the moment of arrival at the border crossing point upon entry into Romania.
Although, as a rule, Romanian-based companies will act as reporting entities, given the nature of the reported information via RO e-Transport system, they will have to rely on their external business partners’ and carriers’ willingness to share relevant information in due time, in order to comply fully with the reporting obligations.
As the RO e-Transport system still presents multiple challenges when it comes to recording all of the relevant data, our colleagues from the Romanian office recently addressed the national control bodies (i.e., the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, Romanian Customs Authority, and Romanian Police) with a questionnaire inspired by practical situations encountered in various business sectors.
PETERKA & PARTNERS Romania remains at your disposal to provide more information and/or related legal assistance connected to this topic.
***
No information contained in this article should be considered or interpreted in any manner as legal advice and/or the provision of legal services. This article has been prepared for the purposes of general information only. PETERKA & PARTNERS does not accept any responsibility for any omission and/or action undertaken by you and/or by any third party on the basis of the information contained herein.
