Government officials and the Romanian Auto Registry (RSR) have declared war to the right-hand drive cars due to the large number of accidents involving. Such vehicles outside the European Union will no longer be registered in Romania as of the end of this month. Currently, there are tens of thousands of right-hand drive cars in Romania, almost 90% of which are brought from the United Kingdom, capital.ro reports.
After the elimination of the environmental tax, the registrations of right-hand drive cars have exploded. If in 2015 and 2016 only a little over 11,000 cars were approved, in the past 17 months, more than 39,000 cars of this kind were registered in Romania.
In the past year, government officials, the authorities subordinated to the Ministry of Transport, representatives of the Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association, the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Romanian Police have discussed a law banning the traffic of right-hand drive cars in Romania, or to identify solutions to reduce the number of accidents caused by these cars in Romania.
The Ministry of Transport, through the Romanian Auto Registry, attempted a first change regarding the completion of the regulations regarding individual homologation, issuance of the identity card and the certification of the authenticity for road vehicles. The provisions applicable to right-hand drive vehicles from countries other than those of the European Union have been completed.
The Director General of RAR explains that the new amendment will enter into force 15 days after its publication by the Official Gazette. “The debate on these changes has ended in late July. The new changes target the right-hand drive cars. With the approval of these changes, the cars coming from outside the European Union, if they have a right-hand drive, will not receive the approval,” said RAR General Manager, George Dinca.