The RO e-Transport system: what is it and how does it affect you?

If you have read our articles, you will have understood that freight transport is exposed to a large number of risks. Staying with this subject, today we will discuss the RO e-Transport system, but this time referring strictly to fiscal risk.

What is the RO e-Transport system?

In the first part of 2022, more precisely in April, the Romanian Government approved a draft Emergency Ordinance.

It provided for the implementation of the integrated electronic system RO e-Transport. Through it, the road transport of goods with a high fiscal risk on Romanian territory is monitored.

In practice, the state can thus monitor both the transport of high-risk local purchases and those that merely transit our country.

Types of transport covered by the new system

The system covers the following types of transport:

• transport operations that begin and end on Romanian territory
• any cross-border transaction that begins in Romania (for example: export, intra-Community supply)
• any cross-border transaction that ends in Romania (for example: import, intra-Community acquisition)
• any cross-border transaction that is in transit through Romanian territory, because in this case too part of the transport takes place on the territory of our country

What is the purpose of implementing RO e-Transport?

The purpose of this system is, in particular, to reduce tax evasion. Increasing the collection rate of VAT and of state budget revenues is also targeted. So the aim is to prevent and combat illicit trade in goods.

Who is this system aimed at?

RO e-Transport, also nicknamed the “goods radar”, directly targets importers, distributors and exporters of goods with a high fiscal risk

More precisely, under Order 802/29.04.2022, the goods subject to monitoring through this system are:

1. edible vegetables, plants, roots and tubers, falling under CN codes 0701 to 0714 inclusive
2. edible fruit; peel of citrus fruit or melons, falling under CN codes 0801 to 0814 inclusive
3. beverages, spirits and vinegar, falling under CN codes 2201 to 2208 inclusive
4. salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plaster, lime and cement, falling under CN codes 2505 and 2517
5. articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted, falling under CN codes 6101 to 6117 inclusive
6. articles of apparel and clothing accessories, other than knitted or crocheted, falling under CN codes 6201 to 6212 inclusive and CN codes 6214 to 6217 inclusive
7. footwear, gaiters and similar articles; parts of such articles, falling under CN codes 6401 to 6405 inclusive
8. pig iron, iron and steel, falling under CN codes 7213 and 7214.

Who is obliged to declare the transport?

Under the Ordinance, advance declaration of the data relating to these transport operations on Romanian territory will become mandatory.

This falls to the following users:

a)the consignee entered in the import customs declaration, or the consignor entered in the export customs declaration, for goods with a high fiscal risk that are the subject of import or export operations
b) the beneficiary in Romania, in the case of intra-Community acquisitions of goods with a high fiscal risk;
c) the supplier in Romania, in the case of domestic transactions or intra-Community supplies of goods with a high fiscal risk
d) the warehousekeeper, in the case of goods with a high fiscal risk that are the subject of intra-Community transactions in transit, both for goods unloaded on Romanian territory for storage or for forming a new consignment from one or more lots of goods, and for goods loaded after storage or after a new consignment has been formed on national territory from one or more lots of goods.

How does the system work?

Any transport operation containing goods that fall within one of the categories above must be registered in advance in the RO e-Transport system. The system will automatically generate a unique UIT code.

The UIT code is the unique generated code by which the goods with a high fiscal risk relating to each commercial relationship that is the subject of transport on the territory of our country are identified.

The operator must hold the UIT code throughout the road transport. It may be in physical or electronic format, together with the document accompanying the transport of the goods.

Fines for non-compliance will be up to 50,000 lei for natural persons and up to 100,000 lei for legal persons. To these will be added confiscation of the equivalent value of the undeclared goods.

The RO e-Transport system includes IT modules for managing goods transport operations, which will generate unique registration codes for each of them. In addition, it has elements for interconnection with specific road traffic monitoring devices.

It will use information held by public institutions or authorities with responsibilities in road transport. It will also be interconnected with existing systems at the Ministry of Finance, ANAF (the Romanian tax authority) or the Romanian Customs Authority.

Data will be declared in the RO e-Transport system before the transport operation itself is carried out. The system will allow the declared data to be amended. However, this will be possible only until entry into national territory or until the vehicle performing the transport is set in motion.

When does use of the RO e-Transport system become mandatory?

Initially, companies were obliged to use this system from 1 July 2022. The corresponding penalties for failing to comply with this ordinance were also intended to apply from then.

However, the date for applying the penalties was postponed, in a first phase, until 1 October. This week, a draft Emergency Ordinance published by the Ministry of Finance provides for the penalties in the e-Transport Ordinance to be postponed by a further 3 months, until 1 January 2023.

The new draft put forward for debate also provides for other important changes, such as:

• the possibility of amending the details of the transport vehicles, where applicable, without the risk of a penalty
• in certain cases, the UIT code will have extended validity
• inspections may be carried out not only by ANAF inspectors and those of the Romanian Customs Authority, but also by police officers.

Honexpres offers complete solutions for domestic and international shipments!

So that your transport is carried out professionally and optimally, Honexpres offers you complete services as a freight forwarder. In addition, on the blog you will find information on choosing the right insurance; the policy is taken out with an insurer or an insurance broker.

Contact us and we will take care of everything you need!