“Romania is requested to change its legislation within two months to bring it in line with EU law (the second stage of an infringement procedure),” the EC said in a press release Wednesday.
If Romania fails to comply with the request, the European Commission may refer the matter before the EU’s Court of Justice, reads the press release.
Products subject to excise duties are generally produced and can be stored under duty suspension in excise warehouses. This means that products can be sent under duty-suspension from a warehouse in one member state to a warehouse in another member state, the EC explains.
“Authorized excise warehouses include for example refineries, distilleries, registered premises and stores, registered traders, etc. Currently in Romania, only refineries may obtain a license to run a storage excise warehouse for energy products (with the exception of warehouses located in the airport areas). This measure is not in line with EU rules on excise duty and it discriminates against energy products from other member states. In practice it means that excise products coming from other member states cannot be held in warehouses and benefit from the duty suspension regime,” reads the press release.
The European Commission on Wednesday adopted 162 decisions regarding infringement procedures.