In the Official Gazette no. 537 dated July 1, 2019, GOVERNMENT EMERGENCY ORDINANCE no. 49 of July 1, 2019 on alternative transport activities with vehicles and drivers was published.
This emergency ordinance regulates the organization, authorization, and control of alternative transport activities with vehicles and drivers intermediated through digital platforms.
Alternative transport is carried out by an authorized alternative transport operator, for a fee, under an alternative transport contract concluded between the passenger and the alternative transport operator that owns the vehicles, intermediated by a digital platform operator, in accordance with the provisions of this emergency ordinance, through a digital platform.
Alternative transport may only be carried out through a digital platform technically approved by the Ministry of Communications and Information Society.
The technical approval issued by the Ministry of Communications and Information Society is valid throughout the territory of Romania.
Where the digital platform operator is a non-resident legal entity, it is required, for the entire period during which it carries out alternative transport intermediation activities on Romanian territory, to have a registered branch that represents it before the Romanian state authorities.
The Minister of Communications and Information Society issues rules and procedures for obtaining the technical approval for digital platforms through which alternative transport is intermediated, which are approved by order.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Society will issue the technical approval for the digital platform within 30 working days from the submission of the complete documentation.
The technical approval for digital platforms will have a validity of 12 months.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Society issues the technical approval for the digital platform after the operator presents proof of payment of the annual fee established in art. 25 lit. p).
The Ministry of Communications and Information Society publishes on its own website the list of technically approved digital platforms and their operators, and updates it as necessary.
Withdrawal of the technical approval for the digital platform will be carried out by the Ministry of Communications and Information Society if one of the conditions provided for in art. 7 is no longer met.
The procedure for withdrawal of the technical approval for the digital platform is established by order of the Minister of Communications and Information Society.
Alternative transport is carried out only by authorized alternative transport operators, who hold, for each vehicle used for alternative transport, a valid certified copy and the alternative transport badge, issued under the conditions of this emergency ordinance.
The alternative transport authorization is issued within a maximum of 15 working days from registration of the application, by the territorial agency of the Romanian Road Authority (ARR) having jurisdiction, for a period of 3 years, after payment by the alternative transport operator of a fee of 300 lei, paid into its account.
The alternative transport authorization issued to the alternative transport operator pursuant to para. (2) is non-transferable.
The authorized alternative transport operator is required to notify the issuing territorial agency of the Romanian Road Authority (ARR) of any changes to the data and information contained in the documents referred to in para. (1), by means of a self-declaration, within a maximum of 15 days from the date of such changes.
The certified copy of the authorization for alternative transport is issued to the authorized alternative transport operator only for vehicles owned, leased, or held under a loan-for-use agreement, which are registered in the respective county or, as applicable, in the Bucharest-Ilfov development region.
For vehicles held under a leasing agreement by the authorized alternative transport operator, the certified copy of the authorization for alternative transport is issued regardless of where they are registered.
The certified copy of the authorization for alternative transport is issued, in accordance with the operator’s request, for a period of 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years, not exceeding the validity period of the alternative transport authorization, only for vehicles that, at the expiry of the validity of the certified copy, are less than 15 years old from the date of manufacture.
In the last year of validity of the alternative transport authorization, the certified copy may be issued for a period of less than one year without exceeding the validity of that authorization.
The certified copy of the authorization for alternative transport is issued after payment by the alternative transport operator of a fee of 100 lei for each year/fraction of a year corresponding to its validity period, paid into the account of the territorial agency of the Romanian Road Authority (ARR).