TRANSPORT: MONITORING ROAD TRANSPORT OF GOODS WITH HIGH FISCAL RISK

The electronic integrated system RO e-Transport for monitoring road transport of goods with high fiscal risk¹ on the national territory and of international road transport of goods, introduced in Romania since October 1, 2022, under the GEO no. 41/2022, provides for the obligation to declare, in advance, the details related to such transports, depending on the type of the operation, either by the beneficiary or by the supplier from Romania.

The Procedure for use and operation of the national system for monitoring the transport of goods, RO e-Transport, has recently been published in the Official Gazette no. 597 of June 27, 2024.

Users of the system e-Transport

The economic operators bound to declare in advance the details related to the road transports of goods are :

• The supplier of the goods, for domestic supply of goods (between two locations on the Romanian territory);
• The buyer / beneficiary of goods, for intracommunity acquisitions of goods;
• The sender of goods, for the exports of goods;
• The receiver (indicated in the import customs declaration), for the imports of goods.

These are the main categories of legal person concerned. However, the law also provides for other specific cases when the economic operators must declare details of the transport in the RO e-Transport, e.g., when there are two transfers of goods (goods come to Romania and return to another EU state, or leave Romania for another EU state and return processed or not and are used for the provision of services), in the case of goods accounting for stocks at the client’s disposal or goods transiting Romania and which are temporarily stored before being transported to another country.

The legislation also provides for some exceptions to the obligation to declare in advance the transport of goods with high fiscal risk. Such exceptions regard goods purchased from cash & carry stores, or agricultural products purchased from agricultural producers, based on the marketing license, the transport of goods by agricultural producers from the storage facilities to the sale places or vegetal agricultural products (as defined by Law no. 108/2014).

The above mentioned economic operators have the obligation to introduce in the electronical system RO e-Transport, accessible via their SPV account, the data related to the goods to be transported by road. Once such data is validated by the fiscal authority, ANAF, an UIT code is generated, allowing the transport to be set in motion.

Under the GEO no. 115/2023, the UIT code is also mandatory for all international road freight transports, not only for the transport of goods with high fiscal risk. It should be noted that it is just as important as declaring the data in the e-Transport system to provide the UIT code²  to the carrier of the goods, who has the following obligations:

• to ensure the transfer of the current data of localization of the transport vehicle at all times through the transport of goods subject to monitoring via the RO e-Transport system;
• to equip transport vehicles with telecommunications terminal devices using satellite localization (GPS);
• to provide the vehicle driver with the UIT code, allowing to identify the goods carried.

Conditions for declaring and monitoring the road transort of goods

Under the procedure of use of the RO e-Transport system³, the monitoring of road transport of goods on Romanian territory may concern:

• the transport of goods purchased and/or delivered within the EU (e.g., export, intracommunity delivery, import, intracommunity purchase);
• the transport of goods subject to custom clearance operations (cross-border transactions in transit in Romania)
• the transport of goods delivered between two locations in Romania.

The categories of road vehicles monitored via the RO e-Transport System are vehicles with a maximum technical mass of at least 2.5 tons, loaded with high fiscal risk goods with a total gross mass exceeding 500 kg or a total value greater than 10,000 lei.

It should be noted that starting from July 1, 2024, failure to declare goods in the RO e-Transport system will be subject to penalties, excepting authorized economic operators (AEO)⁴.

Notes

1. Are deemed high fiscal risk goods only those listed in the Appendix to the Order no. 802/2022. Among the categories includes in the said Appendix, there are, among others, some alcoholic beverages, construction materials, clothing or shoes.
2. The UIT code is valid 5 working days, or 15 calendar days in the case of intracommunity acquisitions of goods, as well as in some intracommunity acquisitions in transit in the Romanian territory.
3. Approved by Order no. 1337/1268/2024
4. Operators established within the customs territory of the European Union, that are part of the international supply chain and are involved in customs operations, based on a special authorization issued by the competent customs authority.