The Foundation For The Defense Of Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has sued the General Council of Bucharest to annul discriminatory provisions on parking rates for local residents. The provisions of Decision No. 705/22.12.2022 set rates ten times higher for residents of Bucharest with residency in the Capital and cars registered in other counties. FACIAS is calling for the elimination of this arbitrary criterion and the guarantee of equal treatment for all city residents, who pay the same taxes as everyone else.
According to the current rules, only those who have their car registered in Bucharest can access the preferential local pass, worth 50 lei per month. On the other hand, Bucharest residents who have their residence or domicile in the capital but use cars registered in other localities for personal or professional reasons are obliged to pay 500 lei per month for the same parking space marked in blue next to their home.
In court, FACIAS argued that "local" status should be determined on the basis of domicile or residence in the vicinity of the parking space and the legitimate need to use the parking space in the area where the car is parked, not on the basis of the place of registration of the car. Therefore, a citizen who permanently resides in the vicinity of a blue-marked public parking lot and contributes to the local budget is the victim of an administrative abuse when he is overcharged for a public service on the basis of a discriminatory criterion.
FACIAS asked the court to admit the appeal and annul these provisions, arguing that the charge of a fee ten times higher for the same public service has no legal basis and violates the principle of equality before the law.