Romania to Bill Volkswagen Over Emissions Scandal

The Romanian authorities are waiting until October 7 to receive more data from the German Volkwagen group about its emissions problems before deciding how much more environmental tax the company should pay.

Romania says that Volkswagen or its legal representatives in Romania must pay more environmental tax than it has done.

The economic daily Ziarul Financiar says Volkswagen should pay up to 1 billion euro in damages.

"Based on the information from VW, we will calculate the difference in the environmental footprint, namely between what was actually paid and what should have been paid," Environment Minister Gratiela Gavrilescu said last week.

"The money will be recovered from the producer or its legal representative in Romania and not from car owners. The sum will be disclosed when we know it," Gavrilescu added.

Around 105,000 cars from VW Group, with Euro 5 Diesel pollution standards, are registered in Romania, 56,000 of which were purchased new. They are Seat, Skoda, Audi and Volkswagen.

The authorities have put a temporary ban on registering new and unsold Volkswagen cars with the affected engines.

The VW scandal is not good news for Romania as the export of cars and car parts are an important part of the country's economy.

A report from the Bank of America says the the VW emissions could result in a 0.5 per cent decrease in the economy.

Romania is one of the main car producers in Eastern Europe, and is Europe's fifth biggest car manufacturer in terms of volume produced.

Some 256,571 cars were manufactured in Romania in the first eight months of 2015, of which 237,773 were exported.

Dacia, owned by French Renault, and US Ford, are the two main carmakers in Romania.

VW has set aside ?6.5bn to...