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

• - the minimum service standards for collective public transport shall be achieved through

amendments/additions to Law No 92/2007 on public passenger transport services in administrative and territorial units;

Order No. 972/2007 added minimum service standards for collective public transport.

Article 2 of the Framework Regulation for the performance of local public transport, provided in Annex No. 1 of Order No. 972/2007, introduces requirements and needs which must be fulfilled by local public transport services. This includes improving road safety, environmental protection and the quality of local public transport (Article 2 (a)).

Article 1 of the Framework specifications for local public transport services, provided in Annex No. 1 of Order No. 972/2007, establishes the conditions to perform the local public transport service by regular routes, establishing the quality levels and technical conditions necessary to perform this service efficiently and safely.

Law No. 155/2023 has been developed in line with these standards.

Indeed, Law No. 155/2023 includes measure to improve road safety, environmental protection and the quality of local public transport, as justified previously.

• - the reforms on road safety and regional and urban mobility established under the

sustainable transport component (milestones 65-68)

This requirement requires that the legislation shall be developed in line with the reforms included under milestones 65, 66, 67 and 68 of the Annex to the Council Implementing Decision.

Milestone 65, assessed as satisfactorily fulfilled under the 2nd payment request, requires the adoption of the National Road Safety Strategy. Milestone 66, assessed under this third payment request (see relevant fiche above), requires the entry into force of the road safety legislation on monitoring, enforcement and sanctions on road safety offences. Target 67, indicatively due in Q4 2024, requires the installation of equipment to increase speed enforcement and compliance with road safety rules. Target 68, indicatively due in Q1 2026, requires the reduction of the number of road accident victims (seriously injured and deceased people) by 25% compared to the 2019 baseline.

Milestone 65 – Alignment of the Law with the National Road Safety Strategy:

Chapter VII of the Law on “measures to increase safety and fluency of road traffic in urban areas” introduces measures to ensure safety requirements in urban areas. In particular, Article 34(1) requires public administration authorities to implement measures to calm traffic to control speed of travel where excessive through the SUMP. Article 34(2) recommends that on certain stretches of municipal public roads travel speed be limited to 50 km/h.

According to Article 42, a guide on traffic calming measures to improve citizen safety must be drawn up within 180 days of the entry into force of the Law.

These measures are in line with the National Road Safety Strategy for the period 2022-2030, which