Transportation of goods: Government signs agreement with ANTRAM with immediate measures for the sector.
National Association of Public Road Transport (ANTRAM) and the Government signed today an agreement with immediate measures to raise the threshold of professional gas oil from 30 thousand to 35 thousand liters and inspection to the sector.
The Secretary of State for Infrastructures, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, met today with ANTRAM and at the end of the meeting signed a negotiation protocol "for the implementation of immediate, short-term measures and measures that will be implemented until the end this year, "the official explained to journalists at the end of the signing. For the "immediate" application, the threshold of the number of liters from 30 to 35 thousand liters is foreseen, below the value of 50 thousand liters that was ANTRAM's initial proposal, and "concrete inspection measures to the sector", by the IMT and police authorities, to ensure that legislation is complied with, in particular in terms of rest periods, working hours and other issues.
"We are sensitive to the solutions that the sector wants to present. We are available to continue to work and dignify the sector, "said the Secretary of State, stressing that" both parties are satisfied. " By the end of the year, the Government also undertook, under the agreement signed today, to evaluate the tax regime for VAT (namely the application of VAT due by the acquirer), insurance activity in the sector and the implementation of measures and at European level.
"They are measures that have an impact and reflect the needs of freight carriers to adapt the European reality to the national and that the government is sensitive to studying and evaluating with other associations," said Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins. On behalf of ANTRAM, President Gustavo Paulo Duarte acknowledged the importance of finding a platform for understanding in the short to medium term with the Government.
"What we want is real sector regulation, measures that promote efficiency and strategy, including fiscal measures for those who think best about strategy. We are a strong sector, we do not need oxygen balloons, "he said.
The Government will in the next few days also meet with the National Association of Portuguese Carriers (ANTP), to also reach agreement on the point of view of measures to implement and after having held a working meeting with this association on Monday . On May 28, the ANTP held a protest to demand the regulation of the sector, the creation of a State Secretariat dedicated exclusively to Transportation, the obligation to pay within a maximum period of 30 days and the creation of a mechanism so that inflation reflected in the transport sector.
