Romania implements mandatory e-transport in 2022

The government in Romania introduced the obligation to report each transport for trading products with high fiscal risk via RO e Transport . Unfortunately because of too short implementation timelines and inadequate documentation problems arose consisting in the inability to implement solutions from the too frequently changing documentation in the very short time imposed on its implementation. The reporting obligation by the e-Transport platform is maintained from July 1, 2022 but the introduction of criminal provisions was postponed until October 1, 2022. The obligation to use the e-Transport platform continues, but the testing and implementation of the solution is ongoing.

What are high fiscal risk goods?

The Ministry of Finance mentioned high fiscal risk goods with assigned CN codes. In short, such goods fall into the following categories: vegetables, fruits, nuts, alcoholic beverages, mineral products (natural mineral water, sand and gravel), clothing and footwear.

What transport must be reported?

Every transport on national territory of goods with high fiscal risk must be reported. This applies but is not limited to:

• transport of goods resulting from intra-Community acquisitions from the road border crossing point to the entry into Romania to the place of unloading on national territory
• transport of the goods supplied from the place of loading situated on national territory to the road border crossing point on exit from Romania
• transport of imported goods from the place of import to the place of unloading located on national territory
• transport of goods belonging to economic operators between two locations on the national territory from the place of place of loading to the place of unloading

The above reporting obligation is independent of the invoicing obligation. In other words, even if the transport of high risk goods is not accompanied by an invoice (because it’s not a sale under the VAT act), such transport must also be declared.

Who is obliged to report such transport?

The obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System is the responsibility of the following users:

• the beneficiary in Romania, in the case of intra-Community acquisitions of goods with a high tax risk
• the supplier in Romania, in the case of domestic transactions or intra-Community supplies of goods with a high tax risk
• the consignee entered on the customs import declaration
• the warehouse-keeper, in the case of high-tax-risk goods subject to intra-Community transactions in transit.

What information must be reported?

The RO e-Transport system includes IT modules for the management of goods transport, which records data relating to the consignor and beneficiary, the name, characteristics, quantities and the value of the goods transported, the places of loading and unloading, details of the means of transport used, and the ITU code generated.

The ITU code must be held during transport in physical or electronic format and shown at the request of the competent authorities.
The validity period of the ITU code is five calendar days from the date declared for the start of the transport. The use by the road transport operator of the ITU code beyond its period of validity is prohibited.

Penalties for non-compliance with the law

Failure to comply with these provisions may be punished by a fine of between EUR 1,000 and EUR 20,000.

From July 2022, Romania is also implementing mandatory e-invoicing for companies dealing with high fiscal risk products.

There’s more you should know about e-invoicing in Romania – learn more about the new and upcoming regulations.