Suspended Driving Licence in Romania

The police took your licence on the spot, or you’ve had a notice saying you’ve reached 15 penalty points (puncte de penalizare), and you want to know how long you’re off the road, whether you can shorten it and how you get your licence back. Here I explain the rules in the road traffic code, Government Emergency Ordinance no. 195/2002 (OUG 195/2002), and in its Implementing Regulation (Regulamentul de aplicare, HG 1391/2006), as they stand today, and I tell you honestly when it’s worth contesting and when it’s simpler to ask for the one-third reduction.

This page is only about the suspension. The fine, the points and what I check on the fine report (proces-verbal de contravenție) are on the page about traffic fines, and the steps at the district court (judecătoria) are on the page about the complaint against a fine (plângere contravențională). You’ll find the other fines under fines and penalties.

How long is a licence suspended?

The road traffic code has four levels, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days, plus the 15-point cases and those that follow a criminal case. You can read the period straight off the fine report, because the suspension is imposed in the same document as the fine (art. 96(1)).

Periods add up. If the same fine report has two offences that carry a suspension, the periods are added together (art. 104^1(1)), and a new offence committed while you still hold a replacement document (dovadă înlocuitoare) that lets you drive is served after the first one, with no overlap (art. 104^1(2)). The period is automatically extended by 30 days if you commit another offence carrying a suspension within 6 months of the end of the previous suspension (art. 103(2)), if alcohol, driving the wrong way or prohibited manoeuvres on the motorway caused an accident with damage (art. 103(9)), and if you don’t hand in your licence on time (art. 103(7), art. 118(7)).

How many points before your licence is suspended?

At 15. Lighter offences carry 2, 3, 4 or 6 points (art. 108(1)), and each point is cancelled 6 months after the offence was recorded (art. 103(4)). When you reach 15, the traffic police service that has you on its records notifies you in writing within 15 days of the last points, and you hand in your licence to the police for your domicile within 5 days of the notice (art. 103(3) and (6)). The suspension starts on the day after you hand it in, but no later than 30 days from the last points, and it wipes out all the points collected up to then (art. 103(3) and (5)).

Something few people know: if you file a complaint against any of the fine reports that make up the 15 points, the 6-month period stops running for all the points until the final judgment (art. 103(4)). So a complaint can keep points alive that would otherwise have been cancelled. That’s why, before you contest, I look at the date of each offence.

When does the suspension start, and what is the replacement document for?

Usually the officer retains your licence on the spot and gives you a replacement document (art. 111(1)(c) and (2)). For running a red light, failing to give way, overtaking and speeding by more than 50 km/h, the document lets you drive for 15 days (art. 111(5)); for alcohol, speeding by more than 70 km/h and 15 points, it doesn’t let you drive at all (art. 111(3)). The suspension starts when the document expires, or earlier, on the day you hand it in yourself at any traffic police service (art. 111(8)). Those 15 days are also your window for the complaint: if you register it and take proof of that to the police before the document expires, you get your licence back until the judgment (art. 118(2) and (3)).

What the “new law” changed

The 30, 60, 90 and 120-day periods haven’t changed since 2022. What has changed is the rules around them.

Government Emergency Ordinance no. 84/2024 (OUG 84/2024), in force since 29 June 2024, rewrote art. 103: the 180-day suspension after a criminal driving case closed without a conviction and the 60 to 150-day suspension after an accident with injured people (art. 103(1)(c) and (d)), the rule that a complaint stops points from being cancelled (art. 103(4)), and the medical exam at the end of a suspension imposed after an offence involving alcohol or drugs (art. 113(1^3) and (1^4)).

Government Emergency Ordinance no. 7/2026 (OUG 7/2026) took effect in three stages. From 27 March 2026, the one-third reduction requires proof that you’ve paid all the traffic fines you owe to the city hall for your domicile (art. 104(1)(c)), and the licence isn’t returned when the period ends if the city hall has suspended your right to drive for unpaid fines (art. 113(1)(a)). From 1 July 2026, under art. 106^2(1), you can take the traffic rules test at any public community driving licence service (serviciu public comunitar regim permise de conducere). From 25 August 2026, a traffic fine not paid within 90 days costs you one day without a licence for every 50 lei owed, but only for fines imposed from that date (art. XVII and art. XLIV of OUG 7/2026).

Can the suspension be cut by one third?

Yes, and I think it’s the option many people miss. At your request, the head of the traffic police for the county where the offence took place reduces the period by one third if you meet all the conditions in art. 104(1): you’ve passed the traffic rules test, you’d held your licence for at least a year before the offence, and you’ve paid all the traffic fines you owe to the city hall for your domicile. 30 days become 20, 60 become 40, 90 become 60.

You don’t get the reduction if you’ve reached 15 points again within 12 months of the last suspension, if the suspension is for alcohol or for one of the 120-day offences, if your period has been extended, or if it’s made up of several periods added together, at least one of which is 90 or 120 days (art. 104(2)). Speeding by more than 50 km/h qualifies for the reduction; speeding by more than 70 km/h and alcohol don’t.

You file the request within the first two thirds of the period, so within the first 20 days of a 30-day suspension or the first 60 of a 90-day one, and you get a written answer within 5 days (art. 220^1(3) and (4) of the Regulation). The test has 15 questions and you pass with at least 13 correct answers (art. 219(4)). Since 1 July 2026 you can take it at any public community driving licence service (art. 106^2(1) of OUG 195/2002); the Regulation still refers to weekly test days set at the traffic police service (art. 219(5)), so ask where to book. I prepare the request and tell you in advance if an exception applies to you.

Getting your licence back: the test, the medical exam and where to collect it

The licence is still yours and is returned to you when the period ends (art. 113(1)(a) of OUG 195/2002), at your request, by the head of the traffic police service that has you on its records (art. 219(1) of the Regulation). If your domicile is in Cluj, that’s the Traffic Police Service of the Cluj County Police Inspectorate (Serviciul Rutier, IPJ Cluj). If the suspension came after a criminal case, you collect the licence from the traffic police service for the area where the offence happened (art. 219(2)). A short request for its return and your ID are usually enough.

Not everyone has to take the test to get their licence back. The law requires it, by the end of the period, when the suspension was for alcohol below the criminal threshold, for an accident with damage caused by failing to give way, overtaking, running a red light or driving on the wrong side of the road, and for 180-day suspensions (art. 106^1(1) and (2)). If you don’t turn up or don’t pass, the period is automatically extended by 30 days (art. 106^1(3)). For the other offences, including 15 points and speeding, you take the test only if you ask for the one-third reduction. The medical exam comes up in one case only, the 180-day suspension after an offence involving alcohol or psychoactive substances: if you don’t have proof of it when the period ends, the licence is withdrawn until you present it (art. 113(1^3) and (1^4)).

Can you contest a licence suspension?

Yes, with a complaint against the fine report, filed within 15 days of it being communicated to you, at the district court for the place of the offence or for your domicile. The rules are in art. 118(1) of OUG 195/2002 and art. 31(1) of Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 (OG 2/2001). For an offence in Cluj-Napoca, or if you live here, the complaint goes to the Cluj-Napoca District Court (Judecătoria Cluj-Napoca). You can work out your last day with the fine deadline calculator.

Once it’s registered, the complaint suspends enforcement of the fine and of the licence suspension (art. 118(2); art. 32(3) of OG 2/2001). You take or send the proof of registration, a document from the court or a printout from portal.just.ro, to the police unit of the officer who fined you, and your retained licence is returned to you in person or through a representative (art. 118(3)). The suspension can’t be challenged separately from the fine report: the same district court reviews the complementary sanctions too (art. 32(2) of OG 2/2001).

If the complaint is finally rejected or only partly upheld, the suspension resumes from 00:00 on the day after you hand in your licence, and you have 30 days from the judgment to hand it in; if you don’t, the period is extended by 30 days (art. 118(4) and (7)).

When is it worth contesting, and when isn’t it?

I’ll tell you honestly once I’ve read the fine report. It’s worth it when one of the details whose absence makes the report void is missing (art. 17 of OG 2/2001), when your objections weren’t recorded (art. 16(7)), when the radar’s type approval and metrological verification aren’t stated (art. 109(2) of OUG 195/2002), when the act described isn’t what happened, or when you have photos and witnesses that tell a different story from the officer’s. It’s also worth it when the stakes are high: 90 or 120 days without a licence for someone who drives to work.

I don’t think it’s worth it just to buy time. A complaint with no basis gives you your licence back for a few months, but the suspension resumes after the judgment, and in the meantime your points stop being cancelled (art. 103(4)). When the offence is clear and qualifies for the reduction, asking for the one-third reduction gets you back behind the wheel sooner than a court case. We can also combine the two, keeping a close eye on the calendar.

Over the alcohol limit or no licence: a different route

Above 0.80 g/l of pure alcohol in the blood, under the influence of psychoactive substances or at the wheel without a licence, the act is no longer a minor offence (contravenție) but a criminal offence, and your licence is retained with a replacement document that doesn’t let you drive (art. 111(1)(b) and (3)). I wrote about this in my article on driving offences (in Romanian). If the criminal case is closed without a conviction, the 180-day suspension in art. 103(1)(c) follows, with a mandatory test and, for alcohol or drugs, a medical exam. For help with the criminal case, see the page about criminal driving offences.

What to send me

• the fine report and the replacement document, even a photo taken on your phone;
• the envelope or the acknowledgement of receipt, if it came by post;
• the notice about the 15 points, if that applies to you;
• photos, videos and the names of witnesses, if you have them;
• the date you got your licence and the status of your traffic fines at the city hall.

The consolidated texts are on legislatie.just.ro: OUG 195/2002, the Implementing Regulation, HG 1391/2006 and OG 2/2001. If the police have taken your licence or you’ve had the notice about points, write to me or call me. In a few minutes I’ll tell you how long the suspension lasts, whether you can ask for the reduction and whether it’s worth contesting.