According to ANAF, which has published in decisional transparency an Order amending the project regarding the functioning of the e-Transport taxation system, small producers and farmers have been exempted from paying the transport tax for their products, including milk and dairy products.

The announcement comes after Dorin Cojocaru, the president of APRIL, previously criticized in a public statement the initial form of the project, which provided for the payment of a tax on the e-Transport platform by farmers producing fruits, vegetables, milk, and small dairy producers. Below is the official text:

PROCEDURE for the use and functioning of the national system for monitoring the transport of goods RO e-Transport

ART. 1- General provisions

(1) This procedure establishes the framework for the use and functioning of the national system for monitoring the transport of goods RO e-Transport.

(2) The RO e-Transport System monitors international road transport of goods, as defined in art. 2 para. 2^1 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022 for the establishment of the national system for monitoring road transport of goods with high fiscal risk RO e-Transport and for the repeal of art. XXVIII of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 130/2021 on some fiscal-budgetary measures, extension of certain deadlines, as well as for the amendment and completion of some normative acts, with subsequent amendments and completions, hereinafter referred to as Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, regardless of their nature, as well as road transport of goods with high fiscal risk established on the basis of art. 15 para (2) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022.

(3) The RO e-Transport System monitors road transport meaning a journey with cargo, carried out by a road vehicle, on public roads with a point of departure/entry on national territory and a point of arrival/exit from national territory, on the territory of Romania.

(4) The national system for monitoring the transport of goods RO e-Transport represents the set of principles, rules, and computer applications aimed at monitoring the transport of goods on national territory.

(5) The RO e-Transport System is managed by the Ministry of Finance, through the National Agency for Fiscal Administration and the National Center for Financial Information.

(6) For the use of the RO e-Transport information system, economic operators must be registered in the Private Virtual Space (SPV), in their own name or through a legal representative, by a designated representative or by a proxy, in compliance with the Order of the President of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration no. 1.090/2022 approving the Procedure for electronic communication by remote transmission between the central fiscal authority and natural persons, legal persons, and other entities without legal personality.

ART. 2 - Declaration of goods shipments in the RO e-Transport System

(1) The categories of operations of transporting goods with high fiscal risk on the national territory are those provided for in art. 2 point 9 of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and additions.

(2) Declaring the transport of goods in the RO e-Transport System is done by the users provided for in art. 8 para. (1) and art. 8^1 of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and additions, in his own name or through a legal representative, through a designated representative or through a proxy.

(3) To declare goods shipments, the user uses the means of electronic identification to access the SPV, for:

a) interconnection of the application available at the level of the issuer with the RO e-Transport System, using a series of microservices exposed in the form of an API (Application Programming Interface);

b) use of the application made available free of charge by the Ministry of Finance, part of the RO e-Transport System, provided for in art. 4 para. (1) lit. a) from the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and additions.

(4) The technical documentation for microservices and the application provided for in para. (3) are available at the web address https://mfinante.gov.ro/ro/web/etransport.

(5) Following the transmission of data related to a transport of goods, the RO e-Transport System automatically assigns a unique identification number (UIT), used as a reference within the processes and operations specific to the system.

ART. 3 - Data Declared in the RO e-Transport System

(1) The RO e-Transport System records data regarding the sender, recipient or consignee, name, characteristics, quantities, and value of the transported goods, loading and unloading locations, details regarding the transport means used and the carrier, the declared date for the start of transport, as well as the generated UIT code.

(2) In case the documents held by the users mentioned in art. 8 para. (1) letter d) and art. 8^1 letter d) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, do not contain all the data provided in para. (1), the users are obligated to declare in the RO e-Transport System the data related to the transports for all goods carried within the batch of goods, except for the data concerning the goods category, N.C. codes, net weight, and value of the transported goods.

(3) The RO e-Transport System allows the user to select the taxpayer for whom they declare the data of transports with high fiscal risk based on the rights they hold.

(4) In relation to the type of goods transports provided in art. 2 para. 9 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, the declarant shall select the type of commercial operation carried out, based on which the computer application will activate specific data fields.

(5) In the case of a batch of goods subject to an international transport meeting the conditions provided in art. 1 para. (4) of this order, all transported goods shall be declared, and the system will generate a single UIT code for them.

(6) In the case of a transport initiated and completed on national territory for a batch of goods including goods with high fiscal risk, meeting the conditions provided in art. 1 para. (4) of this order as well as other goods, all categories of transported goods shall be declared in the RO e-Transport System, and the system will generate a single UIT code for them.

(7) For goods transport carried out in a groupage system, a number of UIT codes equal to the number of batches of goods meeting the conditions provided in art. 1 para. (4) of this order, which are the subject of the respective transport, are held.

(8) When determining the total gross weight of the goods subject to a batch of goods for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System, the net weight of the transported goods and the weight of the packaging necessary for the commercialization and transport of the goods are taken into account.

(9) The determination of the total value of the goods subject to transport declared in the RO e-Transport System shall take into account:

a) The value of the transported goods does not include VAT;

b) In the case of commercial transactions settled in foreign currency, the conversion into Romanian lei shall be made at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Romania valid on the date of declaring the transport in the RO e-Transport System;

c) Depending on the type of transaction declared in the RO e-Transport System, the value of the transported goods shall refer to the known value according to commercial, financial, or accounting documents, as applicable, at the time of declaration.

d) In the case of import operations, the declared value of the goods is the value stated in the foreign invoice.

(10) In the case of the transport of goods subject to export according to art. 2 para. 9 letter d) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, through an export customs office located in another member state of the European Union, the transport of goods is declared for the journey from the loading place located on national territory to the road crossing point at the exit from Romania.

(11) In the event that the goods for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System have not been received or have been partially received by the recipient/consignee mentioned in the RO e-Transport System at the time of obtaining the UIT code, the unreceived goods shall return to the loading depot or the nearest depot of the sender based on the initial UIT code. The subsequent return of goods that have been received constitutes a new batch of goods for which a new UIT code is required by the returning party.

(12) In the situation provided for in para. (11), in the case of an international transport of goods with a supplier from Romania, the subsequent return of goods that have been received constitutes a new batch of goods for which a new UIT code is required by the original supplier.

(13) In the situation provided for in para. (11), after receiving the returned goods in the case where the declaration obligation falls back to the supplier or after non-reception in the case where the declaration obligation falls back to the recipient, the declarant shall mention the return in the "Transport Confirmation" area of the RO e-Transport software application, selecting the option "Denied" or "Partially Confirmed", followed by mentioning the quantities returned in the "Confirmation Comment" data field. The data regarding the return shall be mentioned in the RO e-Transport System during the validity period of the UIT code.

(14) In the case where goods for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System are transported domestically using means of transport belonging to multiple transport categories: maritime, rail, air, road, etc., only the road transport component shall be declared in the RO e-Transport System, in which case the loading or unloading location shall be considered the place where the road transport vehicle picks up or delivers, as applicable, the transported goods.

(15) In the situation described in paragraph (14), the loading location on the road transport vehicle shall not be assimilated to the initial loading location used in defining the batch of goods according to art. 2 para. 5 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions.

(16) For declaring the transport of goods within commercial operations representing non-transfer or the transport of goods representing stocks at the customer's disposal as provided in art. 2 para. 9 letter j) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, declarants shall select in the RO e-Transport software application a transport option similar to "Type of Operation" in the data field, followed by selecting an option in the "Operation Purpose" field consistent with the destination of the transported goods.

(17) In the case of mobile sales within the national territory ("Van Sales"), when the recipients of the transported goods are not known at the start of the trip, in the RO e-Transport System, the option "TTN-National Transport" shall be selected in the "Type of Operation" data field, and the option "Transfer between warehouses" shall be selected in the "Operation Purpose" data field, with the farthest address of the proposed route being indicated in the "Final Location of the Road Route" field. Information regarding the mobile sale of the transported goods shall be mentioned in the "Other Information" data field. In this case, the transport vehicle shall be considered as the sales agent's warehouse, the stock of goods shall be justified as the difference between the quantities of goods declared in the RO e-Transport System and the goods delivered to customers based on supporting documents, and the undelivered goods shall be returned to the warehouse based on the initially obtained UIT code.

(18) In the exceptional situation where the transport declared in the RO e-Transport System is not completed within the validity period of the UIT code provided for in art. 11 para. (2) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, the declarant shall deny the transport in the RO e-Transport System and restart the process of declaring the transport and obtaining a new UIT code. Thus, after the vehicle has actually been put into motion on public roads within the validity period of the UIT code, the declarant may select the "Denied" option in the "Transport Confirmation" area of the RO e-Transport application, mentioning the cause in the "Confirmation Comment" data field, and a new UIT code shall be obtained for the respective transport based on the new data.

ART. 4 - Modification of Declared Data in the RO e-Transport System after Obtaining the UIT Code

(1) During the 3 calendar days provided for in art. 11 para. (1) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, but no later than the actual commencement of the vehicle's movement on public roads, the data declared in the RO e-Transport System can be modified while retaining the original UIT code.

(2) After the actual commencement of the vehicle's movement on public roads, to update the information regarding the identification of the road transport vehicle, the transport organizer shall access the RO e-Transport software application through their own account in the SPV.

ART. 5 - Confirmation of Declared Data in the RO e-Transport System after Obtaining the UIT Code

(1) The RO e-Transport System provides the user with the option to confirm previously declared transports. Data completion in the "Transport Confirmation" section shall be done after the completion of the transport.

(2) The "Transport Confirmation" section contains two data fields: "Purchase/Delivery Confirmation" with the option to select from the list "Confirmed", "Partially Confirmed" or "Denied", and the "Confirmation Comment" data field where the user can provide comments regarding the respective transport.

(3) If until the expiration date of the UIT code validity, the user does not exercise their option to confirm the transport, the RO e-Transport System will consider that particular transport as confirmed.

ART. 6 - Data Transmission in the RO e-Transport System

(1) Declaration of goods transports using the method provided in art. 2 para. (3) letter a) is done by transmitting an XML file.

(2) After the transmission of the XML file, the RO e-Transport System automatically performs the following operations:

a) Checks and validations regarding structure and syntax;

b) Semantic checks.

(3) Until the automated checks, validations, and final storage are completed, the data declared through the method provided in art. 2 para. (3) letter a) will have the status "processing", and the system will return the corresponding UIT codes to the user.

(4) After performing the operations in para. (2), a response message is generated.

(5) In the event that no errors are identified as a result of the operations specified in para. (2), the electronic signature of the Ministry of Finance, which confirms the receipt of the declaration in the RO e-Transport System, is applied. The original copy of the declaration is considered to be the XML file accompanied by the electronic signature of the Ministry of Finance, which is made available to the declarant in the form of a zip archive file.

(6) In the event that errors are identified as a result of the operations specified in para. (2), the declaration is not considered transmitted in the system, and the declarant receives an XML file containing the identified errors, accompanied by the electronic signature of the Ministry of Finance, in the form of a zip archive file.

(7) After the automated checks, the files specified in para. (5) and (6) will be available in the system for download for a period of 60 days from the time of generation, and subsequently will be electronically archived in accordance with the applicable legal provisions and released upon request.

(8) The file specified in para. (5) will be available in the system for download for the period indicated in para. (7) and through the application provided in art. 2 para. (3) letter b).

ART. 7 - Notification of Involved Parties

Through the RO e-Transport System, the following data are made available to the parties involved in the domestic transport of high-risk goods, individuals from Romania other than the declarant: the declarant, the carrier, the beneficiary, the declared date for the beginning of the transport, the registration number of the transport vehicle, and the UIT code.

ART. 8 - Obligations of the Transport Operator

(1) In the situation provided for in art. 8^2 para. (3) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, where the transport vehicle is equipped with devices for automatic transmission of positioning data, the road transport operator is obliged to ensure the proper functioning of these devices to fulfill the requirement of transferring current positioning data of the transport vehicle, which are the subject of the declaration, throughout the entire transport route. Before starting a transport route covered by the RO e-Transport System, it is mandatory to enter the UIT codes and assign them to the devices for automatic transmission of positioning data with which the transport vehicle is equipped for transmission to the ANAF servers. After completing the transport, the devices for automatic transmission of positioning data will not have UIT codes allocated to them.

(2) In the situation provided for in art. 8^2 para. (2) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, where the transport vehicle is not equipped with devices for automatic transmission of positioning data, the road transport operator is obliged to equip the transport vehicles with terminal devices using satellite positioning and data transmission technologies (functional mobile phone devices) on which the computer modules provided by the National Center for Financial Information have been installed.

(3) The road transport operator is obliged to provide the driver with the UIT code received from the users of the RO e-Transport System in any intelligible form of presentation.

ART. 9 - Responsibilities of the Transport Vehicle Driver

(1) In the case of goods transport for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System, carried out with a transport vehicle equipped with telecommunication terminal devices, the driver of the transport vehicle is obliged to activate the positioning device and enter the UIT codes related to the transport before commencing the transport on national territory, and to deactivate the positioning device only after the goods have been delivered to the declared delivery location on national territory or after leaving national territory.

(2) The driver of the transport vehicle is obliged to present, upon request of the competent authorities, the documents accompanying the goods transport subject to monitoring through the RO e-Transport system, together with the UIT code. The UIT code can be presented in any intelligible form.

ART. 10 - Monitoring of Goods Transport through the RO e-Transport System

(1) Monitoring of goods transport through the RO e-Transport System is carried out automatically based on the data and information provided by the computer modules, interconnection elements, devices transmitting positioning data, and software components for integrated data analysis mentioned in art. 4 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, with the purpose of determining potential diversion points within or into the supply chain, based on the UIT code.

(2) For the transfer of positioning data in the case of transports carried out with transport vehicles equipped with telecommunication terminal devices, information regarding the method of connection to the ANAF information systems as well as the formatting of data packets between applications can be found within the Ministry of Finance portal (www.mfinante.ro), in the RO e-Transport section, under the technical specifications subsection (https://mfinante.gov.ro/ro/web/etransport/informatii-tehnice).

ART. 11 - Responsibilities of Users

(1) Users specified in article 8 paragraph (1) shall declare in the RO e-Transport system the data regarding goods transport starting from the entry into force of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022.

(2) Users specified in article 8^1, lit. a) – d) shall declare in the RO e-Transport system the data regarding goods transport starting from the entry into force of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 115/2023 concerning certain fiscal-budgetary measures in the field of public expenditures, for fiscal consolidation, combating tax evasion, amending and supplementing certain normative acts, as well as extending certain deadlines.

(3) Users specified in article 8^1, lit. e) – h) shall declare in the RO e-Transport system the data regarding goods transport starting from the entry into force of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 43/2024 for amending and supplementing certain normative acts.

(4) The sanctions provided for in article 13 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, shall remain in force until June 30, 2024, with the sanctions provided for in article 13^1 to be applied starting from July 1, 2024.

ART. 12 - Determination of the value of undeclared goods to be confiscated

(1) If, upon the finding of the offense, the sales invoice or the goods accompanying note is presented, the value of the goods to be confiscated shall be equal to the value of the goods for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport system, which have not been declared in the RO e-Transport system according to the presented supporting documents.

(2) If, upon the finding of the offense, the sales invoice or the goods accompanying note is not presented, the value of the goods to be confiscated shall be determined based on the unit value of the goods from the previous transaction with similar products. By transaction with similar products, it is understood the previous purchase when the obligation to declare lies with the recipient, respectively the previous delivery when the obligation to declare lies with the supplier.

(3) If, upon finding the offense, the sales invoice or the goods accompanying note is not presented, and the offender has no purchases/deliveries of similar goods, the value of the goods shall be determined based on the unit median value of goods declared in the previous week in the RO e-Transport System for goods of the same type of transport and tariff position. If no goods of the same tariff position were declared in the RO e-Transport System in the previous week, the reference period shall be extended by one week until similar goods declared in the RO e-Transport System are identified.

(4) If the conditions set out in paragraphs (1)-(3) are not met, the value of the goods to be confiscated shall be determined based on the unit median value of goods declared in the previous week according to the data in the integrated customs information system. The period for determining the unit median value of goods shall be extended by one week until similar goods are identified.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2), if upon finding the offense, supporting documents are presented indicating a clear undervaluation of the goods for which there is an obligation to declare in the RO e-Transport System, the value of the goods to be confiscated shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (3) or paragraph (4), as the case may be. Undervaluation of goods is determined by comparing the value stated in the presented supporting documents to the unit median value of goods stated in paragraph (3) or (4), and it is justified when a difference of 50% is found.

(6) Determination of the value of undeclared/undervalued goods to be confiscated shall be made in the order set out in paragraphs (1)-(4).

(7) If, during checks related to a road transport of goods, the computer system displays the status "in processing," the authorized persons referred to in Article 14 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, shall record the findings made without taking further measures at the time of the findings, and compliance with legal provisions shall be subsequently determined after the operations provided for in Article 6(2).

ART. 13 - Clarifications regarding the transport of goods with high fiscal risk representing agricultural products

(1) Transports of goods with high fiscal risk representing agricultural products purchased from agricultural producers based on the trade certificate, as well as transports of goods with high fiscal risk carried out by individual agricultural producers from the place of possession to the place of sale, mentioned in Article 11(1) and (2) of Law no. 145/2014 establishing certain regulatory measures for the agricultural products market, with subsequent amendments and completions, are not subject to declaration in the RO e-Transport System.

(2) Transports of goods with high fiscal risk representing plant agricultural products that meet the conditions provided for in Article 3(1)-(3) of Law no. 108/2014 on the road transport of plant agricultural products on public roads, with subsequent amendments, are not subject to declaration in the RO e-Transport System.

ART. 14 - Clarifications regarding the transport of goods with high fiscal risk marketed in the Cash and Carry system

(1) Transports of goods with high fiscal risk purchased from Cash and Carry stores representing products that the customer chooses from the shelf, pays for at the checkout, and transports on their own behalf are not subject to declaration in the RO e-Transport System.

(2) Declaration in the RO e-Transport System for other types of operations involving the transport of goods as defined in Article 2, point 9 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2022, with subsequent amendments and completions, is the responsibility of entities adopting the Cash and Carry sales system. (Photo: Freepik)