Preliminary assessment of the fourth payment request of Romania

tting out the criteria for biological, hydromorphological, physico-chemical elements and pollutants for a water body to be classified as having good ecological potential. Furthermore, the Do No Significant Harm Technical Guidance states that “The Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) provides that no measure included in a Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) should lead to significant harm to environmental objectives within the meaning of Article 17 of the Taxonomy Regulation,” meaning Regulation (EU) No. 2020/852. Article 17 of the aforementioned Taxonomy Regulation states that “economic activity shall be considered to significantly harm … the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, where that activity is detrimental: (i) to the good status or the good ecological potential of bodies of water, including surface water and groundwater.” Good status or good ecological potential are defined in the Water Framework Directive as described above. In line with the Taxonomy Regulation referenced in the DNSH Guidance, the project design is to integrate measures to prevent the deterioration of the status of the affected bodies of water and to maintain their good status or good potential, as defined in the Water Framework Directive. Compliance with this element is assessed in the DNSH analysis of the project design and by the competent Water Basin Administration (Administrația Bazinală de Apă) of the National 28 Administration “Romanian Waters” (Administrația Națională Apele Române) and the National Environmental Protection Agency (Agenţia Naţională pentru Protecția Mediului). Where these assessments specify mitigating measures as necessary to ensure compliance, these shall be included in the project design. The Commission verified this through analysis of the following documentary evidence: The DNSH analysis by sub-project (Evidence No. 41 to 59), which is part of the project design documentation, includes an analysis which specifies that implementation of the project will be subject to obtaining a water permit, includes the measures to avoid or mitigate harm to the good status or good ecological potential of the affected water bodies and concludes that the sub-projects do not do significant harm to water and marine resources. Furthermore, pursuant to the Water Law No. 107/1996 (legea apelor, hereinafter referred to as “the Water Law”), which transposes the Water Framework Directive, the competent Water Basin Administration assesses whether the measures in the project design are sufficient to be compliant with the applicable water protection requirements, including the obligation to prevent deterioration of water status under Article 4 of the Water Framework Directive. Accordingly, the competent Water Basin Administration for each river basin has issued a water management permit (aviz de gospodarira a apelor) for each sub-project (Evidence No. 60 to 78). The permits summarise the technical elements in the feasibility studies (Evidence No. 22 to 40) and measures to avoid harm in the DNSH analysis (Evidence No. 41 to 59) on the basis of which the Water Basin Administration decided to grant the permit, stating that these must be respected. Finally, pursuant to Law No. 292/2018 on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment (lege privind evaluarea impactului anumitor proiecte publice și private asupra mediului), the National Environmental Protection Agency has issued Environmental Protection Agency decisions (decizia etapei de încadrare) for each sub-project (Evidence No. 79 to 97). These also include the technical elements and measures to avoid harm on the basis of which the Agency has reached its decision and confirm that no further environmental impact assessment is necessary. As illustrative examples, the evidence includes, among others, mitigating measures for the following sub-projects: • For the sub-project Izvorul Negru: o The DNSH analysis states that the reduction of potentially floodable areas will be accompanied by measures to retain the volume of water in the river (Evidence No. 43, page 4). This includes, among others, protecting riverbanks from erosion through ecological works. In the overview of characteristics of the works set out in the technical documentation on the basis of which the permit is issued, the water permit refers to vegetative works as a measure to stop erosion (Evidence No. 62, page 4), stating that these must be respected. The Environmental Protection Agency decision refers to this measure in the overview of characteristics of the project (Evidence No. 81, page 2), which informed the conclusion that the project has no significant impact on the environment. • For the sub-project Bucșoita: o The DNSH analysis states that selective waste collection will be ensured (Evidence No. 52, page 6). This is reflected in the water management permit, which requires waste materials removal (Evidence No. 71, page 10). 29  The Environmental Protection Agency decision also refers to waste collection in its description of characteristics underpinning the conclusion that the project has no significant impact on the environment (Evidence No. 90, page 2). • For the sub-project Scanteia: o The DNSH analysis states specialised containers will be used to avoid accidental oil pollution (Evidence No. 54, page 10). The water permit requires that measures be taken to prevent and combat accidental pollution (Evidence No. 73, page 4). The Environmental Protection Agency decision includes, as a condition for the decision, that measures be taken to prevent and combat accidental pollution (Evidence No. 90, page 15). On the basis of the documents referenced above, the Commission considers that the competent authorities have duly assessed and determined that any measures necessary to ensure compliance with the Do No Significant Harm Technical Guidance have been integrated into the project design. In addition, the Council Implementing Decision states that the measures identified according to the steps described above shall be “strictly complied with at the stages of construction, modernisation, operation and decommissioning”. This requirement is embedded in the aforementioned water management permits (aviz de gospodarira a apelor) for each sub-project (Evidence No. 60 to 78), which stipulate that the conditions for the issuance of the permit itself form part of the approved project documentation and must be complied with at each stage of the implementation, and that failure to comply is punishable under the aforementioned Water Law. Thus, each sub-project is legally bound to comply with the specific mitigating measures identified as necessary to ensure compliance with the Water Framework Directive and maintain the good status or good ecological potential during construction, modernisation, operation and decommissioning. The table below references where compliance with DNSH technical guidance is confirmed in the DNSH analysis, water management permits and Environmental Protection Agency decisions (Evidence No. 98). Sub-project Do No Confirmati Water Confirmati Environmental Confirmati Significant on on manageme on on Protection on on Harm page nt permit page Agency page analysis (Evidence decision (Evidence No.) (Evidence No.) No.) Măieruș 41 21 60 10 79 1 Grozea 42 21 61 9 80 1 Izvorul Negru 43 8 62 6 81 1 Pârâul Negru 44 56 63 6 82 1 Strâmtura 45 6 64 5 83 1 Scaune Martinu 46 6 65 4 84 1 Casele Bisocii 47 6 66 4 85 1 Tisău-Cheia 48 6 67 10 86 1 Fetița Mare 49 6 68 5 87 1 Grefeniș and 50 12 69 5 88 1 Schitu 30 Valea Rea 51 5 70 5 89 1 Bucșoița 52 5 71 9 90 1 Pârâul 53 5 72 9 91 1 Leșului Scânteia 54 5 73 6 98 2 Valea Lungă 55 5 74 6 98 1 Izvorul 56 5 75 3 94 1 Govorei Bistricioara 57 6 76 10 95 1 Maghernița 58 78 77 6 96 1 Fetig 59 13 78 4 97 2 4. Commission Preliminary Assessment: Satisfactorily fulfilled. 31 Number and name of the Milestone: RO-C[C4]-R[R1.0]-M[59] Entry into force of the legal act(s) for the implementation of a new distance-based charging system for heavy duty vehicles (trucks) linked to air pollution, and higher ownership taxes for most polluting passengers vehicles (cars/buses/coaches) Related Measure: RO-C[C4]-R[R1.0] Sustainable transport, decarbonisation and road safety Qualitative Indicator: Provision in the legal act(s) indicating the entry into force of the legal act(s) Time: Q2 2023 1. Context: This reform has the objective to support the transition towards sustainable and smart mobility by reforming the transport system in Romania. Milestone 59 requires the entry into force of legal act(s) for the implementation of a truck charging system based on distance travelled and air pollution, as well as higher vehicles ownership taxes for polluting cars, buses, and coaches. Milestone 59 is the fourth step of the implementation of the reform and follows the completion of milestones 65, 66, and 69, related to the adoption of the road safety strategy and legislation, as well as the adoption of the railway infrastructure strategy. It is accompanied by milestone 60 related to the entry into force of legal act(s) to boost the use of clean vehicles and fleet renewal in this payment request, and it will be followed by targets 61 and 62, related to, respectively, increasing the share of clean vehicles procured by contracting authorities, and scrapping 250 000 polluting motor vehicles (EURO 3 or below) as well as increasing the zero-emission fleet to 35 500 vehicles in total. 2. Evidence provided: Name of the evidence Short description 1 Cover Note Summary document duly justifying how the milestone (including all the constitutive elements) was satisfactorily fulfilled. 2 Copy of Law No. 226/2023 The Law establishes a new distance-based on the enforcement of charging system for heavy duty vehicles (trucks). road charges on the national road network in Romania, published in the Official Journal No. 659 on 18 July 2023. 3 Copy of Law No. 239/2025 The Law establishes, among others, vehicles on establishing measures ownership tax increasing with the vehicles’ for the recovery and pollution norms. efficiency of public 32  resources and amending and supplementing certain legislative acts, published in the Official Journal No. 1160 on 15 December 2025. 4 Copy of Ministerial Order, The Ministerial Order sets out the unit charge including its Annex, No. (RON/km) for the distance-based charging 1925/2025 approving the system established by Law No. 226/2023. categories of vehicles and the level of the unit charge, published in the Official Journal No. 940 on 10 October 2025. 5 Copy of Ordinance No. The Ordinance extends, among other, the 14/2025 for the extension operationalisation of the distance-based of time limits provided for charging system established by Law No. by Law No. 226/2023 on 226/2023 from 1 January 2026 to 1 July 2026. the application of road charges on the Romanian network of national roads, published in the Official Journal No. 784 on 22 August 2026. 6 Copy of Law No. 14/2026 The legal act converts into Law Ordinance No. on the approval of 14/2025 (Evidence No. 5). Government Ordinance No. 14/2025, published in the Official Journal No. 27 on 15 January 2026. 3. Analysis: The justification and substantiating evidence provided by the Romanian authorities cover all constitutive elements of the milestone. i. Entry into force of the legal act(s) for the implementation of a new distance-based charging system for heavy duty vehicles (trucks) linked to air pollution (…). Legal act(s) for the implementation of a new distance-based charging system for heavy duty vehicles (trucks), which links charges to air pollution production Law No. 226/2023 on the enforcement of road charges on the national road network in Romania (Lege privind aplicarea unor tarife rutiere pe rețeaua de drumuri naționale din România, hereinafter referred to as “Law 1”, (Evidence No. 2) was published in the Official Journal No. 659 on 18 July 2023, and entered into force three days after publication, in accordance with Article 78 of the Romanian Constitution, as Law 1 does not contain a specific entry into force date. Article 12(3) and (4) of Law 1 establishes specific levels of distance-based charges and criteria for charging heavy duty vehicles for the carriage of goods, namely trucks (the charging system is called 33 TollRo). The provisions set out that the unit charge, which is linked to the EURO emission norm as defined in Article 2 of Law 1. The EURO emission norm reflects the level of air pollutant emissions of a given vehicle: the lower the EURO class, the more polluting the vehicle. The unit charge is multiplied by the total kilometres driven, to determine the total charge due. Article 12(5) further provides that the categories of vehicles and level of the unit charge will be approved by order of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The respective Ministerial Order No. 1925/2025 (Evidence No. 4) approving the categories of vehicles and the level of the unit charge (Ordin pentru aprobarea categoriilor de vehicule și a nivelului tarifului unitar), was published in the Official Journal No. 940 on 10 October 2025. Article 3 provides that the Ministerial Order will enter into force on 1 July 2026, that is the date when the system will start collecting revenue, as required by the Council Implementing Decision (see also point v below). According to the annex to the Ministerial Order, the lowest unit charge (in RON/km) is applied for EURO VI vehicles, namely the least polluting ones. The unit charge is higher for EURO V and EURO IV vehicles, and is the highest for the most polluting ones, that is vehicles falling within the EURO 0–III categories. ii. Entry into force of the legal act(s) for the implementation of a new distance-based charging system for heavy duty vehicles (trucks) linked to (…) higher ownership taxes for most polluting passengers vehicles (cars/buses/ coaches). (…) and higher ownership taxes for most polluting passengers vehicles (cars/buses/coaches) Law No. 239/2025 on establishing measures for the recovery and efficiency of public r