Debt Recovery in Romania: A Guide for Foreign Creditors

Legal position as at: 2 November 2026

At a glance

• Who this is for: any creditor owed money by a Romanian company. The Romanian procedures (demand, payment order, lawsuit, attachment, enforcement, insolvency claim) are open to creditors from any country, including the UK, the US, Switzerland and India. The European order for payment and the European small claims procedure are EU instruments for cross-border cases.
• First thing to do: check that the debtor is still active and not in insolvency, then send a formal demand in the form the payment order procedure requires (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1015(1)).
• The main deadline: the general limitation period is three years (Civil Code, art. 2517), and a demand letter stops it running only if a claim follows within six months (art. 2540).

A Romanian customer has stopped paying, and you need to know which Romanian procedure will turn your invoices into money and what you must send from abroad. This guide sets out the route in six steps, links to a detailed article for each, and cites the provision behind each rule so that your own lawyers can check it.

Do not sit on a demand letter. A demand interrupts the limitation period only if court proceedings follow within six months of it (Civil Code, art. 2540).

Do you need a Romanian lawyer?

Romanian civil proceedings are conducted in Romanian, and applications and procedural documents are drafted only in Romanian (Civil Procedure Code, art. 18(1) and (4)). A company that does not act through its own legal representative can be represented in court by agreement only through a legal adviser (consilier juridic) or a lawyer (art. 84(1)). For a foreign company without Romanian staff, this means in practice that a Romanian lawyer files and attends for it. The creditor itself does not need to travel: parties may act through a chosen representative unless the law requires them to appear in person (art. 80(3)).

Step 1: check the debtor

Before spending on proceedings, check:

• Company status in the Romanian trade register: active, in dissolution or struck off.
• Insolvency. The Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin (Buletinul procedurilor de insolvență, BPI), published by the National Trade Register Office, is where summonses, notices and procedural documents are published once an insolvency procedure has opened (Law 85/2014, art. 5(1) pt. 6). If proceedings are already open, individual claims and enforcement are suspended (see Step 6), and the route is a claim in the insolvency.
• Assets. Real estate in the land register, vehicles, receivables from other customers, and the bank accounts named in the debtor's invoices or correspondence.

Limitation: three years, with conditions

The three-year period runs as a rule from when the creditor knew or should have known of its right (Civil Code, art. 2523). Filing a claim, filing a claim in insolvency and an acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor interrupt it (art. 2537). Our article on commercial debt prescription in Romania covers suspension and the special terms.

Step 2: the formal demand

Under the Civil Code a debtor can be placed in default by a written notice requesting performance, served through a bailiff or by any means that provides proof of communication (art. 1522(1) and (2)). Between businesses, however, a debtor that fails to pay a sum owed in the course of running a business is in default by operation of law (art. 1523(2) lit. d)), that is, without any notice from the creditor. Late payment interest runs from the due date (Law 72/2013, art. 3(1) and (2)), and a clause making interest depend on a notice of default is unfair by law (art. 14 lit. b)).

The demand still matters. If you may later use the payment order procedure, the demand must give the debtor 15 days to pay and must be sent through a bailiff (executor judecătoresc) or by registered letter with declared contents and acknowledgment of receipt (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1015(1)); proof of that communication is a condition of admissibility (art. 1017(2)). In practice the demand is therefore served in Romania, through a Romanian bailiff or by a Romanian lawyer using registered post with declared contents, so that the proof is in the form the court expects.

Mediation in Romania is voluntary. The Constitutional Court struck down the provisions that made an information session on mediation compulsory before certain claims (Decision 266/2014, Official Gazette no. 464 of 25 June 2014, concerning art. 2(1) and (1^2) of Law 192/2006).

The statutory late payment rate between businesses is the reference rate of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) plus 8 percentage points (Government Ordinance 13/2011, art. 3(2^1)). The reference rate is the BNR monetary policy rate (art. 3(1)); the BNR website, www.bnr.ro, shows the rate in force and its history. Interest, the EUR 40 minimum compensation and recoverable collection costs are explained in Late Payment Interest and Compensation in Romania.

Step 3: choose the procedure

A claim is certain, liquid and due (certă, lichidă și exigibilă) when its existence is not in doubt, its amount is fixed or can be calculated from the documents, and the payment date has passed. The table summarises which court route fits which debt; the sections below link to the detailed articles.

The Romanian payment order

The payment order (ordonanța de plată) applies to certain, liquid and due money claims arising from a civil contract evidenced by a document (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1014(1)). There is no value ceiling. Where the debtor does not contest the claim, the court must issue the order within at most 45 days of filing, not counting service time or delay caused by the creditor (art. 1023). The order is enforceable immediately, even if the debtor applies to annul it, and that application does not suspend enforcement unless the court allows a suspension against security (art. 1024(5) and art. 1025(1)). If the debtor raises a defence that needs evidence beyond the documents, the court rejects the application and the creditor must bring an ordinary claim (art. 1021). Full details: Romanian Payment Order: How It Works.

EU procedures for cross-border claims

The European order for payment is available in civil and commercial matters in cross-border cases (Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006, art. 2(1)), meaning at least one party is domiciled or habitually resident in a Member State other than that of the court seised (art. 3(1)). The debtor has 30 days from service to oppose the order (art. 16(2)); without opposition it is declared enforceable (art. 18(1)). The European small claims procedure covers cross-border claims up to EUR 5,000, excluding interest, expenses and disbursements (Regulation (EC) No 861/2007, art. 2(1)). How these compare with the Romanian payment order, and who can use them, is explained in European Order for Payment and Small Claims.

The ordinary claim

A disputed debt goes to ordinary proceedings. Under the Civil Procedure Code, claims of up to 200,000 lei go to the district court (judecătoria) (art. 94 pt. 1 lit. k)) and larger ones to the tribunal (tribunalul) (art. 95 pt. 1); the general territorial rule is the court of the defendant's registered office (art. 107(1)). Within the EU, a company domiciled in Romania is sued in Romania as a rule (Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, art. 4(1)); in contract matters it may also be sued at the place of performance of the obligation in question (art. 7(1)(a)), and a valid choice-of-court clause gives the chosen court jurisdiction (art. 25(1)). Stages, evidence, language and appeals: How to Sue a Romanian Company. Contract clauses referring disputes to arbitration are covered in our commercial arbitration guide.

Step 4: freeze assets where there is a risk

A precautionary attachment (sechestru asigurător) immobilises the debtor's movable or immovable assets, so that they can be sold once the creditor obtains an enforceable title (Civil Procedure Code, art. 952). The application goes to the court competent for the merits at first instance; the creditor does not have to identify the assets, and the court decides urgently, without summoning the parties, fixing the maximum amount and any security the creditor must deposit (art. 954(1) and (2)).

Where the debtor holds funds in a bank account in another EU Member State, the European Account Preservation Order prevents the transfer or withdrawal of funds up to the amount of the order (Regulation (EU) No 655/2014, art. 1(1)); the creditor must show an urgent need based on a real risk to enforcement (art. 7(1)). Conditions, security and strategy: How to Freeze a Debtor's Assets in Romania Before Judgment.

Step 5: enforcement through a bailiff

Enforcement is possible only on the basis of an enforceable title (titlu executoriu), the document that allows a bailiff to act: enforceable judgments, judgments with provisional enforcement, final judgments and any other judgment or document that the law makes enforceable (Civil Procedure Code, art. 632). A payment order is such a title (art. 1025(1)).

The creditor files a request with a bailiff. Within three days the bailiff asks the enforcement court (instanța de executare), the court that supervises the enforcement, to authorise it, and the court decides within seven days, in chambers and without summoning the parties (art. 666(1) and (2)). The authorisation allows the creditor to use all methods of enforcement the law provides, simultaneously or in turn, and has effect throughout Romania (art. 666(4)). Garnishment of bank accounts and receivables, and the sale of real estate, movables and shares, are described in Enforcement in Romania: Bank Accounts, Real Estate and Shares.

Two time limits matter. The right to enforce is time-barred after three years as a rule (art. 706(1)), running for judgments and arbitral awards from the date they become final (art. 706(2)). The debtor may challenge enforcement, generally within 15 days of learning of the act challenged or of receiving the authorisation or the bailiff's summons (art. 715(1)).

Judgments and awards obtained outside Romania

A judgment given in another EU Member State and enforceable there is enforceable in Romania without any declaration of enforceability (Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, art. 39), that is, without the separate court procedure known as exequatur. The creditor supplies a copy of the judgment and the certificate of the court of origin (art. 42(1)). Judgments from outside the EU and foreign arbitral awards need recognition in Romania first; see Enforcing a Foreign Judgment or Arbitral Award in Romania.

Step 6: if the debtor becomes insolvent

From the date insolvency proceedings open, all court actions, out-of-court actions and enforcement measures to recover claims against the debtor's estate are suspended by law, and creditors can pursue their rights only by filing claims in the insolvency procedure (Law 85/2014, art. 75(1)). Claims against co-debtors and third-party guarantors are not suspended (art. 75(2) lit. b)). A creditor from another EU Member State need not be represented by a lawyer merely to lodge its claim (Regulation (EU) 2015/848, art. 53). Deadlines, ranking and how to file are covered in When a Romanian Debtor Becomes Insolvent.

Documents a foreign creditor should prepare

• The evidence of the debt: contract or general terms, orders, invoices, delivery notes or CMR consignment notes, statements of account and any written acknowledgment by the debtor.
• Translations. Documents in a foreign language are filed as certified copies with a certified translation by an authorised translator (traducere legalizată) (Civil Procedure Code, art. 150(4)).
• Authority to act. A lawyer acts under a Romanian power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială) (art. 151(2)); the person who signs it for your company must have authority, usually shown by a recent extract from your home company register. Depending on the issuing country, foreign documents may need an apostille or other legalisation.
• Proof of service of the demand, in the form required by art. 1015(1) if a payment order is planned.
• Funds for court costs. Court stamp duty, bailiff and expert fees are explained in Court Fees in Romania: Stamp Duty, Costs and Recovery. We describe our collection and litigation work on the pages debt collection in Romania and commercial litigation in Romania.

What can go wrong

• A demand that does not meet art. 1015, which makes a later payment order application inadmissible.
• Choosing the payment order for a disputed debt. The court rejects the application (art. 1021) and the ordinary claim starts later than it could have.
• Waiting. Limitation runs for three years; a demand interrupts it only if a claim follows within six months (Civil Code, art. 2540); and assets can be moved in the meantime.
• Ignoring insolvency notices. Once proceedings open, only a claim filed in the insolvency protects the creditor (art. 75(1)).
• No asset check, which leaves the creditor with a judgment against a company that has nothing left to enforce against.

When to take advice

We act for creditors based outside Romania at every stage described here and coordinate translations and bailiffs. A first e-mail is most useful when it attaches the contract or general terms, the unpaid invoices, the correspondence with the debtor, the debtor's name and Romanian registration number, and any clause on courts or arbitration. Fees are agreed in writing before work starts. To discuss a claim, write to