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Decision of the European Ombudsman in the above case on the alleged wrong response of the European Commission to a complaint against Romania concerning infringement of EU law on motor vehicle taxes
Decision
Case 798/2020/EIS - Opened on Tuesday | 26 May 2020 - Decision on Tuesday | 26 May 2020 - Institution concerned European Commission ( No maladministration found ) - Country Romania
Dear Mr X,
On 10 May 2020, you lodged a complaint with the European Ombudsman against the European Commission on the above matter. You mention that you have not been refunded the registration tax for a car, which was collected by the Romanian authorities in 2010.
Having carefully examined all the information you provided in your complaint, we have decided to close the investigation with the following conclusion [1]:
From the information provided in the complaint, there is nothing to suggest maladministration by the Commission.
In its reply of 12 December 2019, the Commission informed you about the recent developments in the ongoing infringement procedure IN/2017/2108 against Romania. The Commission has also communicated to you the information provided by the Romanian authorities on the conditions for obtaining the refund of the tax, including the mandatory requirement for citizens to provide the relevant documents to obtain the refund.
In addition, the Commission has correctly explained to you that its role in infringement procedures is to follow the application of EU law in the Member States in general. Therefore, the Commission is not in a position to provide individual redress, which can only be granted by the competent authorities of the Member States.
Finally, the Commission has also committed to keep you informed of future actions regarding infringement procedure IN/2017/2108.
Such explanations shall be reasonable, appropriate and in accordance with the Commission's statutory powers. I have therefore come to the conclusion that there is nothing to suggest maladministration on the part of the Commission.
In these circumstances, you may still consider contacting the Romanian Ombudsman if you wish to express your dissatisfaction with the behaviour of the Romanian authorities. If you wish, you can find the relevant contact details below:
the People's Advocate
str. George Vraca no. 8, sector 1
RO-010146 Bucharest
Tel.: +40 21 312 71 34
Fax: +40 21 312 49 21
I hope this information is useful to you.
Yours sincerely,
Marta Hirsch-Ziembińska
Head of ICT and Surveys - Unit 1
Strasbourg, 26/05/2020
[1] Full information on the complaint procedure and rights is available at
https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/document/ro/70707.