Traffic Fines and Contraventions in Romania

A Romanian traffic fine arrives as a contravention report (proces-verbal de contravenție). From the day it is handed to you or delivered, you have 15 days to pay half of the legal minimum fine and the same 15 days to challenge it before the first-instance court (Judecătoria). Do neither and the full fine becomes enforceable without any further step.

What is in the fine notice and what makes it void?

The report must state, among other things, the officer’s name and institution, your identification data, the act with its date, time and place, the legal provision breached, the half-minimum payment option and the deadline and court for a challenge (art. 16 alin. (1) OG 2/2001). If the officer’s name, your name, your personal numeric code where you have one, the act, its date or the officer’s signature is missing, the report is void, and the court notes this of its own motion (art. 17). If you were not present or refused to sign, a witness must confirm it, unless the scene was video-recorded (art. 19).

Two more time limits: the sanction must be applied within 6 months of the act (art. 13 alin. (1)), and if the report is not communicated to you within two months of the sanction being applied, it can no longer be enforced (art. 14 alin. (1)). Communication is by post with acknowledgment of receipt or by posting at your door (art. 27 alin. (1)).

Should I pay half of the minimum within 15 days?

Within 15 days of receiving the report you may pay half of the minimum fine set by law for that offence, not half of the amount the officer wrote (art. 28 alin. (1) OG 2/2001). Traffic fines are expressed in fine points: one point is 5% of the gross national minimum wage (art. 98 alin. (2) OUG 195/2002), and each offence falls into a class, from class I (2 or 3 points) to class IV (9 to 20 points) (art. 98 alin. (4)). Paying does not stop you challenging the report in the same 15 days. The fine and deadline calculator gives the amount and your last day.

How do I contest a traffic fine in Romania?

The remedy is a challenge to the fine (plângere contravențională):

1. Deadline. 15 days from the day the report was handed to you or communicated (art. 31 alin. (1) OG 2/2001; art. 118 alin. (1) OUG 195/2002). Days are counted the civil-procedure way: neither the first nor the last day counts, and a deadline falling on a non-working day moves to the next working day (art. 181 Codul de procedură civilă, applicable through art. 47 OG 2/2001).
2. Court. The Judecătoria of the place where the offence was committed or of your domicile (art. 32 alin. (1) OG 2/2001). For an offence in Cluj that is Judecătoria Cluj-Napoca.
3. Effect. Filing the challenge suspends enforcement of the fine (art. 32 alin. (3)).
4. Hearing. The court checks the report’s legality and merits and rules on the fine and any complementary measure (art. 34 alin. (1)).
5. Appeal. The judgment can be attacked only by appeal to the tribunal’s administrative section, and the appeal suspends the judgment (art. 34 alin. (2)).

Typical grounds: missing mandatory details, a wrong description of the act, an unproven speed measurement, a wrong legal classification. More on the Romanian pages on traffic fines and challenging a fine.

What about penalty points and licence suspension?

Besides the fine, most traffic offences carry 2, 3, 4 or 6 penalty points (art. 108 alin. (1) OUG 195/2002). Reaching 15 points suspends your right to drive for 30 days; another 15 within 12 months of the previous suspension ending means 60 days (art. 103 alin. (1) lit. a) and b)). Points expire 6 months after the offence was recorded, and a pending challenge stops that clock (art. 103 alin. (4)).

Some offences suspend the licence directly: 90 days for driving under the influence of alcohol below the criminal threshold and for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km/h (art. 102 alin. (3) lit. a) and e)); 120 days for more than 70 km/h over the limit (art. 102 alin. (4) lit. a)). In these cases the licence is retained on the spot and you receive a replacement document, with or without the right to drive (art. 111 alin. (1) and (2)).

I am a foreign driver or I was in a rental car. What changes?

Licences issued by EU states and by states party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic are valid in Romania (art. 83 alin. (1) OUG 195/2002); other licences need an international driving permit as well, with exceptions set by Government decision for certain countries (art. 83 alin. (2) and (2^1)). Camera-recorded offences allow the report to be drawn up in your absence once the driver is identified (art. 109 alin. (2) and (3)). With a rental car, the company names the driver and the report reaches you later, often after you have left Romania; your 15 days run from the day it is communicated to you, and you can challenge from abroad through a lawyer with a power of attorney. An unpaid, unchallenged report is an enforceable title (art. 37 OG 2/2001).

When does a traffic offence become a crime in Romania?

Driving with more than 0.80 g/l of pure alcohol in the blood is a criminal offence punished with one to five years’ imprisonment and a ban on exercising certain rights (art. 336 alin. (1) Codul penal); below that level it is a contravention with a 90-day suspension (art. 102 alin. (3) lit. a) OUG 195/2002). Driving under the influence of psychoactive substances carries the same penalty (art. 336 alin. (2)), and the High Court has ruled that the substance must be shown capable of affecting your driving, not merely present (Decision no. 25/2025). Driving without ever having held a licence is punished with one to five years (art. 335 alin. (1)). If a criminal file is opened, do not give a statement before speaking to a lawyer.

How working with me looks

1. You photograph the report and the envelope and send them to me with the date you received them.
2. I check the deadline, the mandatory details and the evidence, tell you whether to pay, challenge or both, and represent you at the Judecătoria without you having to travel.

Related pages: the English home page, dealing with Romanian authorities, debt recovery if a fine is already being enforced, employment law if you drive for work. The consolidated text of OG 2/2001 is on legislatie.just.ro. Contact me with the report.