The National Association of Car Rental Companies (ARAC) has requested an urgent hearing at the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira on the proposal to revise Regional Decree No. 13/2013/M, which regulates rental car activity.
In a statement released this Tuesday, the association considers that the diploma “introduces disproportionate and economically penalising measures, unparalleled in any other Member State of the European Union and without adequate technical, legal or economic justification.”
ARAC warns that the approval of the proposal “will put at risk the continuity of many regional companies, and may cause closures and significant unemployment, with direct impacts on tourism and the economy of Madeira.”
It also underlines that rent-a-car is “the main means of mobility used by tourists visiting the Autonomous Region of Madeira,” threatening that without mobility, there is no tourism, and that, by restricting this activity, the entire regional tourist product is at stake.
Among the measures it considers most worrying, ARAC highlights: the requirement for private parks that are disproportionate, economically unviable, without study on their implementation, creating an obligation unparalleled anywhere in the world; mandatory quotas of electric vehicles without adequate charging infrastructure, to the great detriment of companies and tourists; the obligation of identifying labels on vehicles, contrary to principles of privacy and commercial neutrality; and the creation of a sectoral tax without a clear legal basis, aggravating costs and weakening competitiveness.
The association considers that these obligations, as they are foreseen, will put the sector and regional tourism at risk, arguing that the process should be immediately suspended. From his perspective, a new legislative framework should apply any obligations equitably to all mobility sectors, and not just rent-a-car, avoiding a discriminatory regime, without any rigorous technical study or solid legal framework.
ARAC regrets the absence of dialogue with the sector and calls for the creation of a neutral, balanced, and competitive regime, which protects employment, ensures mobility, and safeguards the future of Madeiran tourism.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
