It appears that an excessive number of licenses were issued without a clear understanding of the rental car inventory, and there is now an intent to rectify this situation through the implementation of newly formulated regulations illegally.
The ARAC – National Association of Vehicle Rental Companies – issued a statement this Thursday expressing “its deepest concern” regarding the approval by the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ALRAM) of the decree that revises Regional Decree No. 13/2013/M, which regulates the activity of renting vehicles without a driver in the Region.
That association speaks of a “set of disproportionate” and “economically penalizing” obligations for the sector, which have no parallel in any other Member State of the European Union.
Given the new legislation, ARAC says that the continuity of “numerous regional companies” is at stake, with a consequent “significant degradation of the competitiveness of Madeira as a tourist destination,” affecting the mobility of those who visit us and the regional economy itself.
Among the measures contemplated in this new regime that ARAC considers disproportionate is the “requirement for private parking lots with economically unviable characteristics and dimensions,” as well as the “mandatory quotas for electric vehicles,” noting, in this context, the insufficiency of charging points.
The proposed two-euro-per-day fee is also unpopular with ARAC, which notes that it lacks a “legal basis” and even questions its constitutionality. “At the request of companies operating in the Region, ARAC is conducting an in-depth legal and constitutional analysis of this imposition,” they stated in the press release.
According to this association, “these obligations seriously weaken the sector, jeopardizing the sustainability of companies and the very economic balance of regional tourism.”
Although the decree has already been approved, ARAC is willing to engage in dialogue with the various bodies of the Regional Government linked to the sector, stressing that only through negotiations “will it be possible to achieve balanced regulations that ensure the protection of tourism and the regional economy, avoiding irreversible impacts on the tourist mobility sector.”