Preliminary assessment of the third payment request of Romania (2024)

Law No. 92/2007 on local public transport services transposes Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No. 1191/69 and 1107/70. Thus, provisions regarding the management of public transport service are aligned Articles 1, 2, 12, 17, 21, 22, 23, 29 and 42 of Law No. 92/2007 make explicit reference to alignment with Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007.

In turn Law No. 155/2023 is aligned with concepts introduced in Law No. 92/2007 such as the concept of transit-oriented development (article 16 (2) of Law No. 92/2007 and article 12 of Law No. 155/2023).

• - …the European General Safety Regulation (GSR) (2019/2144), which shall enter into force

on 6 July 2022;

Article 16 of the Law requires that vehicles of categories M1, M2 and M3 purchased in support of low-emission mobility by county capital municipalities (as indicated in Article 17) comply with the provisions of Regulation No. 2019/2144.

• - Romania’s urban policy which shall include provisions on population density (ensuring the

efficiency of the public transport service) and on the accessibility of the population to transport services (percentage of the population which is less than 0.5km away from a public transport line where there is a maximum frequency of 20 minutes);

Romania’s urban policy includes provisions on population density and on access to transport services. In its Action Plan 2022-2030 section (page 81), the urban policy recommends “a minimum residential density of 40 inhabitants/hectare”. On page 81, the urban policy also recommends that indicators contributing to the implementation of the 15-minute city are established. The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept according to which most daily necessities, including public transit, can be reached by a 15-minute walk.

Article 20(1) of the Law calls for a minimum residential density of 40 inhabitants/hectare and Article 21 (d) calls for at least 60% of the population to be less than 500 metres from a public transport line with a maximum frequency of 20 minutes.

The Council Implementing Decision required that the legislation shall be developed in line with Romania’s urban policy which shall include provisions […] on the accessibility of the population to transport services (percentage of the population which is less than 0.5km away from a public transport line where there is a maximum frequency of 20 minutes)”. While the urban policy includes a provision on the accessibility of the population to transport services by making a reference to the 15-minute policy, the specific indicator contained in the Council Implementing Decision is included in Article 21 (d) of the Law, which establishes that “[a]t least 60% of the population is less than 500 meters away from a public transport line where the maximum frequency is 20 minutes.

Whilst this constitutes a minimal formal deviation from the requirement of the Council Implementing Decision, this deviation is acceptable because the Law, unlike the urban policy, is legally binding, therefore further ensuring progress towards the objective of the reform to improve mobility conditions. As of this, this minimal deviation does not change the nature of the measure and does not affect the progress towards achieving the reform that the milestone represents. On this basis, it is considered that this constitutive element of the milestone is satisfactorily fulfilled.