International Business Opportunities

Beginning April 15, 2007, Romania will reintroduce import VAT at customs for imports from non-EU countries for a fixed period.

The Romanian government said the measure will not affect those importers who brought in significant imports and met the criteria to be granted a VAT-postponing certificate in 2006.
The decision was made as the National Agency of Fiscal Administration found that fiscal evasion was on the increase since the country suspended import VAT for non-EU countries in January 2007. […]

According to the Romanian government there is a risk that VAT-exempted goods supposed to be delivered to a EU country do not reach their destination but are placed on the black economy.

15 out of the 27 EU countries currently apply the system of import VAT at customs. Out of the ten countries that acceded to the EU in 2004, Estonia, Czech Republic and Lithuania are currently applying the simplified payment system. Hungary used the simplified VAT payment system at the accession date, but later suspended it for the same reasons Romania did. (Source)

As the real estate market in Romania is excessively unstable, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) is forced to intervene through its credit policies, said BNR councilor Adrian Vasilescu.

The real estate market is full of hope about the effects of the accession to the EU, said the official, expecting citizens of member states to rush in with lots of money to buy property in Romania.

The BNR governor’s aide drew the attention of realtors to two issues.
On the one hand, both citizens of EU member states and Romanians (about whom the institution recently revealed that their deposits in banks outside Romania has almost reached the one billion euro threshold) might be much less attracted by the local offer, which is already more expensive than that of other countries in the region.(source)