The reason is found in some stipulations from the transport chapter of the EU Accession Treaty for Romania and Bulgaria, which state that cabotage is prohibited until 2010, with the possibility to extend the ban for another two years.
The Treaty states that ”transport operators in Romania are excluded from Article 1 of Regulation 3118/93, regarding the possibility of providing national road transport of goods in other Member States, and carriers living in other Member States are excluded from the road freight transport services on national territory“. Romania can extend the period of restraining cabotage with no more than two years, but must inform the European Commission on the extension by the end of the third year after accession. Therefore, if the authorities want to restrict cabotage by 2012, they should inform the Commission by the end of this year. Without such notification, cabotage will be permitted under the rules laid down in Regulation 3118/93.
