Court Fees in Romania: Stamp Duty, Costs and Recovery

Legal position as at: 2 November 2026

At a glance

• Who this is for: any creditor considering a claim or enforcement in Romania. The same fees apply to EU and non-EU creditors, and a foreign claimant cannot be asked for security merely because it is foreign, subject to reciprocity (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1085).
• First step: choose the procedure, because it fixes the stamp duty: a payment order costs 200 lei, an ordinary claim is charged on a scale by value.
• Currency: amounts are in lei (RON); check the current exchange rate on the website of the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

Court stamp duty: the main up-front cost

Romanian courts charge a stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) on most claims under Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) No 80/2013. It is paid in advance, with the exceptions provided by law (OUG 80/2013 art. 33(1)).

Money claims: the scale

Claims that can be valued in money are charged on a sliding scale (OUG 80/2013 art. 3(1)):

Worked examples on that scale: a claim of 20,000 lei carries a duty of 1,105 lei; a claim of 100,000 lei carries 3,105 lei; a claim of 500,000 lei carries 8,605 lei. The same scale applies to actions for annulment, termination or rescission of a contract with a patrimonial object, and to actions to establish a patrimonial right (art. 3(2)).

Fixed fees for the fast-track procedures

Several procedures used by creditors carry a fixed fee instead of the scale (OUG 80/2013 art. 6):

• a payment order under the Civil Procedure Code: 200 lei (art. 6(2));
• a European order for payment under Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006: 200 lei (art. 6(2));
• a small claim under the national procedure or Regulation (EC) No 861/2007: 50 lei up to 2,000 lei, and 200 lei above that (art. 6(1)).

This is one reason the payment order and the European order for payment and small claims procedures are attractive for undisputed debts: the fee does not grow with the amount.

Stamp duty on appeals

An appeal (apel), the first appeal on facts and law, costs 50% of the duty due at first instance on the amount contested, but at least 20 lei (OUG 80/2013 art. 23(1)). A second appeal on points of law (recurs) costs 100 lei where only procedural grounds are raised, and 50% of the duty on the amount contested, but at least 100 lei, where the breach or misapplication of substantive law is invoked (art. 24(1) and (2)).

Fees for interim measures, enforcement and insolvency

• Requests concerning precautionary measures (măsuri asigurătorii), such as precautionary attachment (sechestru asigurător), which freezes assets before judgment: 100 lei; the same for a European Account Preservation Order under Regulation (EU) No 655/2014 (art. 11(1) lit. b)). See freezing a debtor's assets.
• Request for court approval of enforcement: 20 lei for each enforceable title (titlu executoriu), the judgment or other document that a bailiff can enforce (art. 10(1) lit. a)).
• Request to suspend enforcement: 50 lei (art. 10(1) lit. b)).
• Challenge to enforcement: calculated on the value of the assets or the debt pursued, whichever is lower, but not more than 1,000 lei (art. 10(2)).
• Requests, objections and contestations in insolvency proceedings: 200 lei (art. 14(1), read with Law 85/2014 art. 340, which redirects references to the former insolvency law to Law 85/2014). See when a Romanian debtor becomes insolvent.

Two worked totals in court fees

• Undisputed invoice of 100,000 lei, payment order route: 200 lei for the payment order, plus 20 lei for approval of enforcement: 220 lei in court fees.
• Disputed invoice of 100,000 lei, ordinary claim: 3,105 lei at first instance; if the full amount is then appealed, 1,552.50 lei for the appeal; plus 20 lei for approval of enforcement: 4,677.50 lei in court fees.

Paying the duty from abroad

The duty is paid into the account of the local budget where the payer has its domicile or registered office (OUG 80/2013 art. 40(1)). A payer with no domicile, residence or registered office in Romania pays into the local budget of the town where the court sits (art. 40(2)). If a claim is filed without the duty or with too little, the court asks the claimant to pay the amount it sets within at most 10 days of receiving the court's notice, and the claimant may ask for payment facilities within 5 days (art. 33(2)). If the duty is still not paid, the claim can be annulled as insufficiently stamped, and duty paid on a claim annulled on that ground is not refunded (art. 45(6)).

When stamp duty is refunded

Stamp duty is refunded on request, within one year (OUG 80/2013 art. 45(3)), in two kinds of cases:

• In full, for example where the duty was not owed or more than the legal amount was paid (art. 45(1) lit. a) and b), 45(2)).
• By half, where the claimant withdraws before the claim is served on the defendant, where the parties end the case by a court-recorded settlement (tranzacție), or where the defendant accepts the claim (art. 45(1) lit. d), i^1) and i^2), 45(2)).

The half refund on settlement is a modest incentive to settle early.

Fee reductions and legal aid

Legal persons may obtain reductions, instalments or deferrals of court fees under the special law on public legal aid (CPC art. 90(4)). In international civil proceedings, foreign nationals benefit from fee exemptions, reductions and legal aid on the same terms as Romanian nationals, subject to reciprocity with their State of nationality or domicile (CPC art. 1084(2)).

The other costs of a case

• Expert fees. Where the court orders an accounting or technical expert report, the expert's fee becomes part of the costs of the case.
• Translations and apostilles. In practice, contracts, invoices and correspondence in another language are filed with a certified translation by an authorised translator, and foreign public documents may need an apostille.

Recovering costs from the losing party

The general rule: the party that loses is ordered, at the request of the winning party, to pay its costs (CPC art. 453(1)). Where a claim is only partly allowed, the judges decide in what proportion each party bears the costs, and may set them off against each other (art. 453(2)). With several claimants or defendants, costs may be ordered equally, proportionally or jointly, depending on their position (art. 455).

Four rules decide whether a winning creditor actually recovers its costs:

Security for costs: not required of foreign claimants

Foreign clients often ask whether a Romanian court will require them to deposit security because they are foreign. Subject to reciprocity, a foreign claimant, whether an individual or a company, cannot be required to provide security or any other guarantee merely because it is foreign or has no domicile or registered office in Romania (CPC art. 1085). Foreign persons have the same procedural rights and obligations before Romanian courts as Romanian persons (art. 1084(1)).

This does not exclude security that the law requires for particular measures regardless of nationality, such as the deposit a debtor must make to suspend enforcement (CPC art. 719(2)). Security connected with interim measures is discussed in our article on freezing a debtor's assets.

Enforcement costs

Once a creditor holds an enforceable title, enforcement is run by a court bailiff, as explained in our article on enforcement in Romania. The cost rules are in CPC art. 670:

• Who advances. The party that requests an enforcement act advances its cost; for acts the bailiff orders on its own initiative, the creditor advances the costs (art. 670(1)).
• If the debtor has nothing. If these costs cannot be recovered from the debtor because it has no assets, they are paid by the creditor, except for the bailiff's fee, and the creditor can recover them later within the limitation period if the debtor's situation improves (art. 670(5)).

The cost of a debtor's challenge. A debtor who challenges enforcement and wants it suspended must first deposit security calculated on the value of the challenge (CPC art. 719(2)):

Where the value of the challenge cannot be expressed in money, the security is 1,000 lei, unless the law provides otherwise (art. 719(3)).

What can go wrong

• Costs not proved in time. Without invoices and proof of payment in the file by the close of the debates on the merits, costs are not awarded (CPC art. 452).
• Claim not stamped in time. It can be annulled, and the duty paid is not refunded (OUG 80/2013 art. 45(6)).
• Debtor without assets. Unrecovered enforcement costs other than the bailiff's fee fall on the creditor (CPC art. 670(5)).

Budgeting a case: a practical sequence

When to take advice

Costs are easier to control at the start than at the end: the choice of procedure fixes the stamp duty, and early decisions on evidence decide which costs you can later recover. If you are considering a claim against a Romanian company, it is worth having the costs and the recovery prospects estimated before filing.

In a first e-mail, send us the contract, the invoices, the correspondence, the other party's name and registration number, and any clause on courts or arbitration. Fees are agreed in writing before work starts.

This article is general information on Romanian law as at 2 November 2026, not advice for a specific case. To discuss your matter, write to us at