Romania belongs to the Romano-Germanic legal family.
Most of the main branches of law were codified in the second half of the 19th century; some codes from this period are still partially in effect.
In 1950-1980. The Romanian legal system, while maintaining a strong connection with Romano-Germanic law, was part of the socialist legal family.
In the 1990s. Romania's legal system has been largely updated in accordance with the principles and norms of the democratic Constitution of 1991.
The sources of law in Romania are legislative and other normative acts, ratified international treaties, decisions of the Constitutional Court. The hierarchy of normative acts includes the Constitution, constitutional, organic or ordinary laws, decrees of the President, ordinances and decisions of the Government, orders and instructions of ministries, acts of local authorities and self-government.
Romania is a presidential-parliamentary republic.
Head of State is a president elected by the population for a 4-year term.
Executive power
Head of government: Prime Minister, Deputy. Government: Council of Ministers appointed by the Prime Minister.
Legislature - The bicameral parliament consists of the Senate (176 seats) and the Chamber of Deputies (412 seats).
Judicial power - The body of constitutional oversight - the Constitutional Court, the highest court - the High Court of Cassation of Justice, the courts of appeal - the courts of appeal, the courts of first instance - the tribunals, the lowest level of the judicial system - the jurisdictions.
One of the largest sectors of the economy is oil production, Rompetrol occupies a significant market share, however, oil reserves are insignificant and its production is constantly decreasing.
Since the mid-2000s, Romania's oil consumption has been about twice its own production, and this also applies to oil imports and exports.
Romania has reserves and is producing natural gas, but in recent years the country has been forced to import gas to meet its needs.
The leading branch of agriculture is crop production, grain farming. Viticulture is developed. In animal husbandry - sheep and cattle breeding.
Tourism is developing. The largest resort region of the country is the Black Sea coast of Romania.
The main items of Romanian export are mechanical engineering and metallurgical products. Imports are dominated by mechanical engineering products, raw materials, including oil and gas, textiles and products from it. The distribution of the labor force is about 30% in agriculture, 23% in industry, 47% in the service sector.
The main partners in foreign trade are Germany, Italy, France
Romanian legislation provides for the possibility of creating the following organizational and legal forms:
The most popular and common forms are Limited Liability Company (SRL) and Joint Stock Company (SA).
Restrictions for SRL (standard, do not have the right to conduct regulated activities without a license):
All SRLs registered in Romania are treated as resident companies in Romania for tax and corporate purposes, and therefore must comply with the requirements for keeping accounting records and comply with the Law.
The affairs of a limited liability company in Romania are managed by the administrator.
The administrator can only be an individual; the minimum number of administrators is one. The same individual can be both administrator and member.
Romanian limited liability companies are not required to have a company secretary.
The minimum number of shareholders/members in a company is one; they can be individuals or legal entities; there are no statutory requirements as to their residency. The maximum number of members is 50.
An individual or a legal entity can be the sole member of more than one limited liability company (LLC / SRL).
A limited liability company (LLC / SRL) can have another LLC consisting of a single person as its sole shareholder.
The law on the introduction of the Register of Beneficiaries in the country entered into force on July 21, 2019. The law states that legal entities are required to provide the necessary information about their beneficiaries no later than November 1, 2020.
The Romanian National Commercial Registry has issued and is updating a form that must be completed in order to be included in the Registry. This is only information that must be provided under EU common law: full name, date of birth, place of birth, personal digital code, series and number of identity card, citizenship, place of residence or residence.
Access to the Register is available to tax authorities, judicial authorities, persons or organizations that carry out due diligence in relation to money laundering or terrorist financing.
The minimum share capital is RON 200 (appr. EUR 45) divided into shares of min. RON 10 (appr. EUR 3) each. It must be paid up by the time of filing the company for registration.
Bearer shares and no par value shares are prohibited.
Romania has the following requirements for a company name:
Before proceeding with the procedure, the following must be determined:
Each limited liability company must have a name for identification purposes. The company name must be in Romanian using Latin characters and must not be similar to the names of other companies already registered in Romania.
To check whether a name is available, it is necessary to fill out Form 11-10-181. The form can be filled out online and submitted electronically with the corresponding digital signature or submitted in paper form to the Trade Register.
The form must include all identification details from the passport, as well as at least three different name options for the company in order of preference. The order of names is very important because if the first option is available, the other two options will no longer be taken into consideration, so the most desirable option for the client should always be listed first.
The officer assigned to review the company name availability request will verify all the data specified in the form and all proposed names. If all legal requirements are met, a confirmation of the company name availability will be issued, which is valid for up to 3 months from the date of submission of the request.
The confirmation of the company name availability can be extended before its expiration date after all taxes and fees have been paid. As a rule, the first request to extend the validity of the company name availability confirmation is free of charge.
The company name cannot belong to another company; it must be unique and distinct from others. Distinctiveness criteria are considered from a graphical standpoint (written form) as well as from the standpoint of the theme of the words comprising the company name.
The following elements are not considered distinctive:
Clients can obtain a cloud-based digital signature, which is not actually a token (i.e., a cryptographic card embedded in a physical USB device). Clients can purchase the signature in a remote cloud system and undergo the necessary identification process remotely from home using a webcam and microphone, as well as smartphones with a camera and microphone.
Clients do not need to physically come to Romania or receive any packages/parcels to obtain their electronic digital signature because they will not receive any physical device; the entire process is carried out remotely: they will receive all instructions by email, and upon completion of the procedure, clients can sign documents remotely.
Clients are not required to choose only the company Trans Sped. They can find other trusted European partners (according to their preferences), provided (this criterion is mandatory) that these companies comply with the provisions of the Regulation on electronic identification and trust services (eIDAS). To facilitate the search process, they should visit the website.
When traveling to Romania, they will see that the company Trans Sped S.A. is already on the list of trusted partners that comply with the eIDAS Regulation and the provisions for issuing digital certificates to other parties. There are also many firms on the Romanian and European markets that can provide such services to clients (however, they should ensure that these firms are on the list of trusted partners), but in Romania, only Trans Sped S.A. (and possibly Cert Sign S.A.) issue cloud signatures, which is the best option for foreign citizens, as they can obtain their digital signature very securely, quickly, and remotely. The price for issuing the digital signature is not high (~50-60 EUR per year), and the client can use their signature anywhere they need it for an entire year while the signature is valid.
It is also valid for use with any type of contracts, invoices, letters, etc. Clients are directly involved in the entire incorporation process, so they will know exactly every completed and submitted document and form (the consultant fills out all forms and documents, and the client signs everything remotely).
If the client does not have a digital signature, they must authorize someone who does (a lawyer or consultant) to upload documents on their behalf. Consultants are not required to be lawyers, but they must be authorized through a notarized statement by the manager to have the right to carry out all procedures in Romania on their behalf. If the client has their own personal signature, they no longer need to authorize anyone else because they can sign everything themselves without another person's digital signature, while the client can work closely with the Consultant to complete all paperwork, and in the end, they simply sign the documents digitally and submit them online.
If the client refuses the cloud-based digital signature, they have no choice but to go and complete all procedures themselves: personally come to Romania, prepare all necessary documents in Romanian, go to the Trade Register, check the status of the registration request, resolve any issues/problems as they arise, and if everything is in order, they can only personally go and collect the documents or hire lawyers who will do all this on their behalf.
Every Romanian company must establish an office in Romania. There is no requirement for actual use of the office or conducting business (employees, utility bills, etc.); it can be an office without any activity—a virtual address, meaning that this address is intended solely for registration and incorporation purposes.
The general rule is that, depending on where the office is established, the set of documents will be submitted to the Trade Register of the Court of the respective county (administrative-territorial unit). For example, if the company's office is established in Oradea (the main city in Bihor County), all incorporation documents must be submitted to the Trade Register attached to the Bihor Courts.
On the map of Romania below, the main cities and corresponding counties are indicated. If small villages are part of this territorial area, the Trade Register of that county has the right to verify the incorporation documents.
**Word-for-word translation with preserved formatting:**
For example, the city of Aleșd is located approximately 38 kilometers from Oradea and is not directly situated in the main city of Oradea, and if the company's office will be established in the city of Aleșd, then all documents must be sent to the Trade Register attached to the Bihor Court, because this city is located within the territorial area of Bihor County.
If the client registers the office at the lawyer's office address, then the period of staying at this address cannot exceed 1 year, and the manager (director) may face problems if he wants to register his company as a VAT payer, since the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) may not allow registering the company as a VAT payer if its office is located at the lawyer's office address.
Confirmation of the office address will be included in the contract signed by the Lessor and the Company during its incorporation, if the business owner (manager/director) does not have real estate in Romania. Typically, either a lease agreement or a placement agreement (Contract de Comodat) is concluded, which is similar to a lease agreement, but the Lessor permits the business owner to use the address as the office address free of charge for a definite/indefinite period.
For submission, it is necessary to sign all sheets in the places where a signature is required (Semnătura)
Signature options:
- handwritten, first by hand, and then by applying one's digital signature to all PDF files, if it has already been obtained;
- handwritten, by hand, and then by sending a clearly legible scanned copy to an authorized representative (who has their own digital signature), who is also expressly authorized to submit them to the Trade Register on the client's behalf;
- physically submitted to the office of the Trade Register (an electronic signature is no longer required here).
If the documents are to be submitted to the office of the Trade Register (not online), only the nominal person/director can come and ask the clerk to receive the incorporation documents and collect them when the company is registered, or the nominal person, to avoid trips, can also authorize someone else in Romania to carry out this procedure on their behalf by means of a special power of attorney, notarized, or in a power of attorney issued by a lawyer who is registered as a lawyer in the Table of Lawyers maintained by the National Association of Lawyers of Romania.
If the authorized representative is not a lawyer registered in the Table of Lawyers maintained by the National Association of Lawyers of Romania, then from a legal point of view this person is considered an interested party who, by law, may carry out these procedures, but only on the basis of a special power of attorney that is notarized in Romania (or apostilled, certified, translated by an authorized translator approved by the Ministry of Justice, and re-certified in Romania by a Romanian notary, if the representative is a foreigner not residing in Romania).
Regarding the right of an interested party to carry out procedures:
ORDER no. 2594/C from 10 October 2008 for approving the Methodological norms regarding the way of keeping the trade registers, for doing the registrations and share information. Art. 17 All the merchants authorized persons, individual enterprises, family enterprises and legal entities also the legal entities which are expressly specified by the law are required before starting the activity, to ask for the incorporation / registration at the trade register and during the activity and at its ending to ask to the same trade register the mentions regarding acts or facts which registration is prescribed by the law. Art.18 (1) The registration in the Trade Register of the acts and facts prescribed by the law are done, by the case, at the request of persons/legal entities which are required to register, or any other interested persons and ex-officio (automatically). (2) For legal entities, the request is done by the founder, shareholder, administrator (director) / member of the directorate or his own representatives, also by any other interested person, according to the law, by filling, signing, and sending the file to the competent Trade Register where the social office address is established. The aforementioned persons will, personally send the file or will do that through an empowered person, with special and certified power of attorney, power of attorney issued by a lawyer, power of attorney for legal representation by a legal advisor, by case, in original.
If the online submission method is selected, any type of documents, without exception, must be digitally signed with the appropriate electronic signature to enable their submission through the online portal.
The authorized representative, through a special power of attorney, may affix their digital signature to all documents solely for the purpose of uploading them to the online portal - the database of the Trade Register. However, the client will also be required to sign the documents with their own signature, which will then be digitally signed by the authorized representative.
The key and most important advantage of online application submission is that in this case the Trade Register does not request submission of paper originals - only the special apostilled power of attorney in original form will be needed so it can be translated and certified for presentation to translators and notaries. The remaining documents can be easily printed and hand-signed in your country, then sent to the agent in electronic form.
The state portal of all counties (judete) of Romania can accept applications through its online service.
You need to create an account, which can then be used for company registration. "Creați un cont" - Create an account.
You will be asked to enter a valid email address, where a link to activate your account will be automatically sent.
After you click on the link that was sent to the specified email address, a new window will open, and you will be able to create an account.
You should receive a confirmation email at the specified address shortly, and you will be able to log in. Once you have successfully logged in, you should see a message indicating that you are authenticated and your username.
In the next step of registering a limited liability company, you need to look at the left panel and select the option called "Înregistrare în RC și autorizare PJ," which means "Registration and Authorization of a Legal Entity."
Then select "Cerere de înregistrare PJ", which means "request for legal entity registration".
After selecting the "Cerere de înregistrare PJ" option, a message will appear in the next window stating that the user must accept all the necessary provisions regarding the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation or Directive 95/46/ec), as the user will need to provide all their information in the following steps, and Romania must comply with the GDPR regulations as it is a member of the European Union.
The following window presents the registration procedure. We have 9 different tabs (Cerere, Solicitant, Solicitare, Anexe si declarații, Documente, Comunicare, Generare, Semnătură, Finalizare), respectively:
First, we need to select Alegeți o opțiune - the correct territorial Trade Registry according to the location of the social office.
If the office is located in Orade, we will choose the county of Bihor.
You need to check all three boxes next to the establishment and registration, tax registration, and authorization of activities. The legal form (Forma de organizare) will be Societate cu răpsundere limitată, which means a limited liability company and is abbreviated as SRL (known internationally as LLC).
In this window, we must specify the required personal data of the manager:
- First name;
- Last name;
- Country of residence;
- Residential address: street name, house number. If the client lives in an apartment building (not a private house), the apartment number, floor, etc. must be specified;
- Phone number;
- Type of identification document – passport: series and number, issuing authority, passport issue date, personal identification number indicated in the passport;
- Position of the person requesting registration (we select "administrator," which means director).
In the Delegat (representative) section, the authorized person who will carry out all necessary procedures, including the apostilled and certified special power of attorney, must be specified. The personal details of the authorized representative are also entered here, including the county (judet) of residence, city, street name, house number, apartment, floor, etc., exactly as for the client.
- Company name according to the company name availability confirmation obtained from the Trade Register. Since the company is not yet registered, we will need to skip providing data regarding the order number (Numarul de ordine în registrul comerțului) and CUI code (Cod unic de înregistrare), as the company is not yet registered and such data does not currently exist;
- Office address: county (judet), city, street, house number. If the office is located in an apartment building, the apartment number, floor, etc. must be specified, just as for the client and authorized representative. If the postal code is known, it can also be indicated. In the "Completare adresă" field, it is recommended to write the full address of the registered office;
- Phone number (mandatory) – it will be publicly available in the portal’s database. Foreign phone numbers can also be indicated here, not just Romanian ones;
- Fax: not required;
- Email: not required;
- Website: not required.
"Next Step" (Pasul următor):
At this stage, you need to provide information about the establishment of the SRL. The subject of the request must be based on the Constitutional Act (Act Constitutiv). Select "Act Constitutiv" and click the "Add" button (Adaugă).
Check the box next to 4.1, as it is required for company registration.
4.5 will be checked automatically, but you need to select 2. Statement 2 is required to include the company's activities in the subject of the request.
This window will remain locked because there is no need to mark anything during the company establishment process.
Item 5 will need to be ticked to publish the company details in the Official Gazette of Romania. In this window, you need to specify that only an excerpt from the decision should be published in the Official Gazette of Romania.
Item 6 will need to be ticked so that the judge can consider the request without your physical presence, according to Article 242, paragraph (2) of the Civil Procedure Code.
Item VI will be marked to send a notification to the National Administration of Financial Administration (ANAF) that the company will be registered for tax purposes, and a CUI identification code will be provided.
Item VII will remain unmarked because the client is a foreigner, and it will not be possible to find national crimes and criminal offenses in the judicial registry. Instead, the client will need to provide a statement that they have not committed any crimes.
Item VIII will remain unmarked.
Point IX must be ticked, because Annex 2 is required for foreign clients, and this annex will show how much foreign capital has been transferred to Romania to form the company's share capital.
Point X will remain unchecked. It is necessary to ask the Trade Registry to provide copies of Annex 1,2 and Statement No. 2.
Then, click on the next step button (Pasul următor)
In this section (Anexe și declarații), you will need to select the method of submitting the documents: select "Se atașează" to attach the documents, and then select Anexa 1, Anexa 2, and Declarația 2 (Appendix 1, Appendix 2, and Statement 2). Then proceed to the next step (Pasul următor).
At this stage (Documente), it will be necessary to upload all documents that must be digitally signed in order to be uploaded. It is also required to specify the number of files. After this, click "Add" (Adaugă act).
The following documents must be uploaded:
- The Articles of Association (Act Constitutiv);
- A clear copy of the passport, signed to confirm compliance with the original;
- Appendix 1;
- Appendix 2;
- Confirmation of company name availability;
- Agreement to terminate this confirmation, if the confirmation of company name availability was requested by someone other than the manager (director);
- Power of attorney, apostilled, translated into Romanian, and then certified by a Romanian notary;
- Copy of the authorized person's identity document;
- Proof of office address (lease agreement, deed of gift, real estate purchase agreement, placement agreement);
- Declaration by the director/manager and shareholder (if it is the same person) stating that they are not in a position of incompatibility with the role of director/manager and shareholder, have not committed any crimes and have no criminal record, have not been in other circumstances that would be recorded in tax evidence. It should also be noted that this person is not registered for tax purposes in Romania and accepts the appointment as manager/director, as already stated in the Articles of Association;
- Declaration of ultimate beneficial owner. This declaration regarding the company's ultimate beneficial owner must be provided;
- Declaration No. 2, which specifies the type of activities the company will engage in according to the defined CAEN codes;
- Director's signature specimen;
In the next step (Comunicare), the method of submitting official documents to the Trade Registry is specified. If there is an authorized representative, they can personally visit the Trade Registry and collect all the original documents in paper form.
If the procedure was completed online, we can request the following documents:
In the next step (Generare), we will need to download a report that is automatically generated in PDF format. This report contains all the information that was entered in the previous steps. It is presented in a form that needs to be digitally signed.
The signature must be placed next to the word "Semnătura". If there is an authorized representative, they can sign the request with their own digital signature.
After the generated report is digitally signed, it must be uploaded (Alege fișierul) and added to the window (Adaugă).
Finally, after entering the CAPTCHA code, you need to click the "Finalize" button.
After completing all these steps, a green bar should appear: e this means that the request has already been sent to the ONRC database and all entered information will be verified within the next 3 business days.
All documents can be submitted:
If the documents are submitted to the Trade Registry in person, they must be placed in a folder. The folder must not have any handwritten or pencil markings.
All the documents described above (Preparing all the necessary documentation) will be attached to the folder. They should also be numbered in the right-hand corner of each page.
Once the folder is prepared, the representative who will be registering the request will need to visit the Trade Registry building in person. It is recommended to start by checking with the information desk (Informare). Here, you can ask an employee to quickly verify that everything is in order for free. Next, proceed to the registration desk (Depunere).
At the registration desk (Depunere), a Trade Registry employee will take the folder and provide a registration number card that can be used to check the registration status on the ONRC online portal.
Once all the documents have been submitted or provided to the ONRC, it will take 24 hours for a Trade Registry officer to manually review the request and provide a registration number.
After at least one day, go to the "My Requests" section (Cererile mele).
By selecting the date of the documents sent, you can see everything that was sent in this time period.
The request must have the word TRANSMISĂ, (which means SENT). If there is no TRANSMISĂ, it means that ONRC has not received anything. Once we have found our request, we need to search for "Details" (Detalii): you will see a window with all the relevant information about your request. You need to search for Nr / data inregistrare (number, registration date), which means that the Trade Registry employee has included your registration number in the schedule. Copy the number listed in the Nr/data inregistrare line (for example, in the image below, it is 12345/09.12.2021).
You should remember the identification number, go to the left side of the panel, and click Stadiu dosar (Request Stage).
In the Stadiu dosar (Request stage) section, you can find the request and more detailed information. Select the Număr înregistrare (Registration number), select the county where the documents were submitted to the Trade Registry, and enter the number found in the Detalii (Details) section of the request in the Numărul înregistrii (Registration number) field. After entering the registration number, click on Căutare (Search).
After searching the database, the request should appear at the bottom, and you can click on it to see more detailed information about the company's establishment status.
If everything was done correctly, the request status should be "Admis", which means "Approved". Denumire firmă means "official name of the firm", "Număr de ordine în R.C." means "registration number", which can be found in the Trade Registry database attached to the Courts of Bihor, "CUI" means "unique registration code", which can easily identify any firm anywhere.
If the registration status of the company states "Approved" ("Admis"), usually on the next day (or on the date specified in the Termen eliberare in the "Request stage" section) The Commercial Register will issue certificates about the company:
The general period for registering a company in Romania is on average 2 weeks.
Every company in Romania must have a registered office in the country of registration.
Only one company can be registered at one address. Exceptions are office space, which is divided into several separate rooms for separate use.
There are no printing requirements.
The register of administrators / directors and shareholders is filed with the Commercial Register. Information is available to third parties - public.
Information publicly available in the Trade Register:
Price3 850 EUR
(including incorporation tax and state registry fee)
Priceincluded
Price5 090 EUR
(including registered address and registered agent)
Price220 EUR
DHL or TNT, at cost of a Courier Service
Paid-up “nominee director” set includes the following documents
Paid-up “nominee shareholder” set includes the following documents
Compliance fee is payable in the cases of: incorporation of a company, renewal of a company, liquidation of a company, transfer out of a company, issue of a power of attorney to a new attorney, change of director / shareholder / BO (except the change to a nominee director / shareholder), signing of documents
Price350 USD
simple company structure with only 1 physical person
Price150 USD
additional compliance fee for legal entity in structure under GSL administration (per 1 entity)
Price200 USD
additional compliance fee for legal entity in structure NOT under GSL administration (per 1 entity)
Price450 USD
Price100 USD