The Evolution of the First Matriculation Tax

Abstract

Once becoming a member of the European Union, Romania’s Constitution was modified to include the preeminence of the acquis, the modification fundamental for creating the common market, and imposing the same set of rules across the EU territory. As such, a national law that directly or indirectly generates discrimination among consumers or producers can be challenged in court. This chapter analyzes an environmental tax’s evolution whose introduction was motivated by industrial policy aims. The tax was dismantled by being repeatedly put down in the Romanian courts and by the European Court of Justice. We show how the “first matriculation tax,” later transformed into the “pollution tax,” was a flawed policy from the beginning, as it was not designed to limit pollution by old car, but to stimulate the auto industry, and thus did not meet the standard of the acquis.