Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) controls were finalized in 69% of cases with additional payment obligations, reveals the results of a survey conducted by PwC Romania on the impact of environmental legislation. However, 33% of respondents said they hosted a control team from AFM over the past five years.

Environmental legislation was substantially amended in the second half of last year and earlier this year, mainly to be in line with European provisions in the field.

“Legislative changes have an impact on the whole chain involved in waste management and, in particular, on economic operators introducing packaged goods and packaging into the national market. Being complex obligations, with particularities on a case-by-case basis depending on the type of activity, companies face some difficulties in putting them into practice, exposing to the risk of incurring additional amounts in the case of controls. In this context, companies can take certain preventive measures, such as changing internal procedures, renegotiating contracts with suppliers of goods and service providers in the field of packaging management and packaging waste, preparing documentation to comply with the new rules,” says Daniel Anghel, Partner and Leader of Tax and Legal Advice, PwC Romania.

In the cases of 69% of the respondents checked, the inspectors also set additional payments. According to the answers, the values of these sums were: 31% of managers indicated extra amounts between 100 thousand and 300 thousand lei, 15% – between 700 thousand lei and 1 million lei, 15% – up to 50 thousand lei and 8% – between 50 thousand lei and 100 thousand lei.