According to a draft ordinance, the new Agency will drop some of its duties, such as the management of dams and levees, which will be taken over by the National Water Administration.
The Agency will finance its activity from the state budget and from its own sources, including a new land improvement tax. The value and application of the tax will be set through an order of the minister of Agriculture, after consultation with the minister of Finance.
“ANIF and the entire land improvement system have begun to decline. Therefore, ANIF no longer has the legislative framework necessary to finance its activities,” says the ordinance’s explanatory note.
ANIF was threatened by insolvency in the fall of 2008, when it was unable to refund a RON16.8 million debt to Regent Security. In the spring of 2009, a Bucharest Court upheld the Administration’s appeal, rejecting the request for insolvency.