Romanian Payment Order (Ordonanța de Plată): How It Works

Legal position as at: 2 November 2026

At a glance

• Who it is for: any creditor, Romanian or foreign (EU, UK, US, Swiss, Indian or other), with an undisputed money claim under a contract with a Romanian debtor, proven by documents. There is no value ceiling.
• First thing to do: send the debtor a demand to pay within 15 days, through a bailiff or by registered letter with declared contents and acknowledgment of receipt (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1015(1)). The form of the demand decides admissibility.
• The main deadline: file the application within six months of the demand, or the demand does not interrupt the limitation period (art. 1015(2), referring to Civil Code, art. 2540). After the order is issued, the debtor has 10 days to apply to annul it (art. 1024(1)).
• Time: the court must issue the order within at most 45 days of filing where the debtor does not contest it, not counting service time (art. 1023). Costs are explained in Court Fees in Romania.

A foreign supplier holding unpaid invoices against a Romanian company usually wants an enforceable title quickly, without a full trial over a debt the buyer has never really disputed. The Romanian payment order (ordonanța de plată) is a document-based procedure for that case, in art. 1014 to 1025 of the Civil Procedure Code (Law 134/2010, republished).

For the overall map of recovery routes, see Debt Recovery in Romania: A Guide for Foreign Creditors.

When the payment order fits

The procedure applies to claims that are certain, liquid and due (certe, lichide și exigibile): the existence of the debt is not in doubt, the amount is fixed or can be calculated from the documents, and the payment date has passed. The claim must consist of an obligation to pay money arising from a civil contract, including contracts between a professional and a contracting authority. The contract must be evidenced by a document, or the amount must be determined under a statute, regulation or other document that the parties accepted by signature or in another way the law allows (Civil Procedure Code, art. 1014(1)).

This covers the typical trade claim: goods or services supplied under a written contract or order confirmation, with invoices showing the amount and due date. Note that:

• There is no value ceiling. Unlike the small claims procedure, which is limited to 50,000 lei (art. 1026(1)), the payment order has no maximum amount.
• Documents decide. The court looks at the papers and the parties' explanations. If the debtor's defence would require witnesses, an expert report or other evidence beyond the documents, the court rejects the application and the creditor must sue in ordinary proceedings (art. 1021(2) and (3)).
• Insolvency excludes it. Claims entered on the list of claims in an insolvency procedure fall outside the payment order (art. 1014(2)). Once a debtor is in insolvency, see When a Romanian Debtor Becomes Insolvent.

Law 72/2013 on late payment between professionals confirms that a creditor facing late payment may obtain an enforceable title through the payment order (art. 16) and that the procedure applies on the same terms to all creditors established in the European Union (art. 17); both articles still use the code's pre-republication numbering.

Step 1: the 15-day demand (somație)

Before going to court the creditor must send the debtor a formal demand (somație) to pay the amount due within 15 days of receiving it. The demand is sent either through a Romanian court bailiff (executor judecătoresc) or by registered letter with declared contents and acknowledgment of receipt (art. 1015(1)).

The form of the demand decides admissibility. The application must be accompanied by proof that the demand was communicated, failing which it is rejected as inadmissible (art. 1017(2)). A demand sent by ordinary e-mail or by a courier without declared contents does not meet the requirement. For a creditor abroad, a reliable course is to have the demand served in Romania through a bailiff or sent by a Romanian lawyer by registered post with declared contents, so that the proof of receipt is in the form the court expects.

The demand also interrupts the limitation period, but only if the creditor brings court proceedings within six months of it (art. 1015(2), referring to Civil Code, art. 2540). The general limitation period is three years (Civil Code, art. 2517); our article on commercial debt prescription in Romania explains how it runs.

Step 2: the application and the competent court

If the debtor does not pay within the 15 days, the creditor files the application with the court that would hear the claim on the merits at first instance (art. 1016). Under the general rules, claims of up to 200,000 lei inclusive go to the district court (judecătoria) (art. 94 pt. 1 lit. k)) and larger claims to the tribunal (tribunalul) (art. 95 pt. 1). Territorially, the general rule is the court of the defendant's registered office (art. 107(1)).

The application must state (art. 1017(1)):

• the creditor's name and registered office;
• the debtor's name and registered office and, where known, its tax identification code, trade register number and bank account;
• the principal amount, its factual and legal basis, the period it covers, the due date and anything else needed to determine the debt;
• the interest or other compensation claimed under the law;
• the creditor's signature.

Attached to it: the documents proving the amount (contract, orders, invoices, delivery notes, acceptance records, statements of account, any acknowledgment of the debt) and the proof that the demand was communicated (art. 1017(2)), in as many copies as there are parties plus one for the court (art. 1017(3)).

What a foreign creditor needs to prepare

• A Romanian lawyer. Proceedings are conducted in Romanian and applications are drafted only in Romanian (art. 18(1) and (4)). A company represented by agreement can be represented in court only through a legal adviser (consilier juridic) or a lawyer (art. 84(1)). The creditor need not attend in person: parties may act through a chosen representative unless the law requires their personal presence (art. 80(3)), and the payment order rules contain no such requirement. A lawyer files the application and attends the hearing.
• Translations. Documents in a foreign language are filed as certified copies with a certified translation by an authorised translator (traducere legalizată) (art. 150(4)). Bilingual invoices that include Romanian may need less translation.
• Certified copies. The party certifies its copies as true to the original; for electronic filing it can do so with an electronic signature (art. 150(2)).
• Authority to act. A lawyer files a Romanian power of attorney (împuternicire avocațială) (art. 151(2)). The signatory for the foreign company must have authority, normally shown by a recent extract from its home register. Depending on the country of origin, documents issued abroad may need an apostille or other legalisation, and a translation.
• Stamp duty. The application is subject to court stamp duty under Government Emergency Ordinance (OUG) No 80/2013. The amount and how it is recovered from the debtor are explained in Court Fees in Romania: Stamp Duty, Costs and Recovery.

Step 3: the hearing

The judge summons both parties under the rules for urgent cases, to obtain explanations and to encourage payment or an agreement on how payment will be made. The summons must reach the parties 10 days before the hearing (art. 1019(1)). The debtor receives a copy of the application and the creditor's documents, and is told that it must file a defence (întâmpinare) at least three days before the hearing; if it does not, the court may treat its silence as acknowledgment of the claim (art. 1019(2) and (3)).

Three outcomes are possible at this stage:

Step 4: the order and the time limits

Where the claim is well founded, the court issues the payment order, stating the amount and the time for payment (art. 1022(1)). If only part of the claim is proven, the order covers that part and the creditor may sue for the rest in ordinary proceedings (art. 1022(2)).

The time for payment set in the order is at least 10 and at most 30 days from communication of the order; the judge may set a different period only if the parties agree (art. 1022(3)).

Where the debtor does not contest the claim by a defence, the order must be issued within at most 45 days of filing. That period does not include the time needed to communicate procedural documents or any delay caused by the creditor, including amendments to the application (art. 1023). The 45 days are a time limit for the court, not a forecast.

Interest follows the contract. If the parties did not fix a rate for late payment, the statutory penalty interest applies, and the reference rate in force on the first calendar day of a half-year applies for the whole half-year (art. 1018(1)). The creditor may also claim additional damages for the costs of recovering the debt (art. 1018(2)). How the statutory rate is calculated between businesses, and where to find the reference rate, is explained in Late Payment Interest and Compensation in Romania.

Challenges: the application to annul

The only remedy against the payment order is an application to annul (cerere în anulare), filed within 10 days of delivery or communication of the order (art. 1024(1)). The creditor may use the same remedy against a ruling rejecting its application, or against an order granted only in part (art. 1024(2)).

The grounds are narrow: failure to meet the conditions of the payment order procedure and, where relevant, causes that extinguished the obligation after the order was issued (art. 1024(3)). The application is heard by the court that issued the order, in a panel of two judges, and its decision is final (art. 1024(4), (6) and (8)).

For the creditor, the key point is that the application to annul does not suspend enforcement. The debtor can obtain a suspension only on request and only by paying a security (cauțiune) fixed by the court (art. 1024(5)).

Enforcement: no need to wait for finality

The payment order is enforceable even while an application to annul is pending, and it carries provisional res judicata (it binds the parties as a decided matter) until that application is decided. It becomes final when no application to annul is filed or when it is rejected (art. 1025(1)). The creditor can therefore instruct a bailiff as soon as the order is communicated and the payment period has expired, without waiting for finality.

In a challenge to enforcement (contestație la executare) against a payment order, the debtor may raise only irregularities of the enforcement procedure and causes extinguishing the obligation that arose after the order became final (art. 1025(2)). Defences on the merits cannot be reopened there.

How bailiffs reach bank accounts, real estate and shares is covered in Enforcement in Romania: Bank Accounts, Real Estate and Shares.

When to choose another route

• The debtor disputes quality, quantity or performance with some substance. The court will reject the application (art. 1021). An ordinary claim is described in How to Sue a Romanian Company.
• The claim is for damages, not a contract price. Amounts that must be assessed are not liquid within art. 1014.
• Your home courts have jurisdiction. Where the courts of your Member State have jurisdiction under the Brussels Ia Regulation (for example as the place of delivery, or under a choice-of-court clause), the European order for payment under Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 may suit you better; the comparison is in European Order for Payment and Small Claims.
• Assets may disappear. The payment order gives no freezing effect before the order issues. A precautionary attachment may be needed first; see How to Freeze a Debtor's Assets in Romania Before Judgment.
• The contract has an arbitration clause. See our commercial arbitration guide before filing anywhere.

What can go wrong

• Sending the demand by e-mail or ordinary post: the application is then rejected as inadmissible under art. 1017(2).
• Filing an application whose figures do not match the invoices and the statement of account, inviting a defence that the claim is not liquid.
• Waiting more than six months after the demand before filing, which means the demand does not interrupt the limitation period (Civil Code, art. 2540).
• Not checking whether the debtor is already in insolvency, where the payment order is unavailable (art. 1014(2)).

When to take advice

We act for creditors based outside Romania in payment order applications and in the enforcement that follows. A first e-mail is most useful when it attaches the contract, 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