Preliminary assessment of the fourth payment request of Romania

According to Article 2, letter g) of the Rabla Plus Ministerial Order, electric vehicles are considered zero emission vehicles.

In terms of eligible beneficiaries, Article 8 outlines the rules for individuals (Romanian residents) to receive the eco-voucher. Article 9 This article lists the types of legal entities (e.g., schools, NGOs, businesses, and public institutions) that can apply for the programme. To qualify, they must meet specific conditions, such as deregistering an old vehicle, working with an approved producer, and complying with administrative steps like destruction and registration proof. Article 7(4) provided that all users purchasing new electric or hybrid vehicles would receive an eco-voucher of variable value depending on the type of vehicle purchased. This value varied during the implementation of the programme, as follows:

• • for a new electric vehicle or a new vehicle with a hydrogen fuel cell: RON 45 000 in 2020,

RON 51 000 from 2022 and RON 25 500 from 2024

• • for hybrids or electric motorcycles: RON 20 000 in 2020, RON 26 000 from 2022 and RON

13 000 from 2024.

Based on Article 7(5), during 2022 and 2023, beneficiaries scrapping two used vehicles could benefit from an eco-voucher with an increased value of RON 54 000 for full-electric vehicles and of RON 29 000 for hybrid vehicles, compared to the value of the eco-voucher for one car scraped.

Furthermore, an additional amount equal to RON 1 500 was added to the eco-vouchers for scraping vehicles with manufacturing date older than 15 years with EURO 3 or lower emission standard.

By exemption, according to Article 7(2) of the Rabla Plus Ministerial Order beneficiaries, like public institutions and administrative territorial units, would benefit from an eco-voucher of RON 120 000 when purchasing a new vehicle, without being required to scrap an old vehicle.

The programme was implemented between 2020-2024.

The Programme on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Transport Ministerial Order approved the continuation of the previous Rabla Plus programme, with similar main characteristics (Evidence No. 5). Article 2 defines the objective of the Programme as the renewal of the vehicle fleet by granting non-reimbursable eco-vouchers for the purchase of new vehicles in exchange for the scrapping of older ones.

According to Article 5, letter i) of Programme on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Transport Ministerial Order electric vehicles are considered zero-emission vehicles.

The financial incentive consists in eco-vouchers offered for the purchase of new vehicles, differentiated by type of vehicle, that strongly favour low and zero-emission vehicles, as provided by Article 8(4): RON 10 000 for internal combustion vehicles, RON 12 000 for hybrids, RON 15 000 for plug-in hybrids, RON 37 000 for pure electric or hydrogen vehicles and RON 120 000 for pure electric or hydrogen vehicles purchased by public institutions/local authorities. According to Article 5, letter f) which defines the new vehicles that can be purchased under this programme, eligibility is strictly conditioned on quantified CO₂ emission thresholds, and diesel vehicles are explicitly excluded from the programme.

With respect to the financial incentives to scrap polluting vehicles (EURO 3 or below), the Rabla Plus Programme and the Programme on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Transport (2025–2030) also introduced financial incentives to scrap polluting cars, as explained above, since according to the eligibility conditions, the eco-voucher for the purchase of a new vehicle is conditional to the scrapping of an used vehicle (Article 7(1) of the Rabla Plus Programme Ministerial

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