RO e‑Transport declaration rules: which leg of the journey you declare
RO e-Transport does not ask for the whole journey of the goods, only for the part on Romanian territory. For each type of operation the law fixes where the declared route starts and where it ends: at a border crossing point, at a customs office or at an address. The diagrams below show each case, with the legal basis next to it.
Checked against the legal text on · Reviewed by Silvia, Chartered Accountant (CECCAR)
The principle: only the Romanian leg is declared
- A monitored transport has, by law, “a departure/entry place on national territory and an arrival/exit point from national territory” (the procedure approved by Order 1,337/1,268/2024, art. 3(3)). What happens beyond the border is not declared.
- That is why the end facing abroad is a border crossing point or a customs office, while the end facing inland is an address: the place where the goods are actually loaded or unloaded.
- For multimodal transport only the road component is declared (art. 3(14) of the same procedure). The loading and unloading places are where the truck picks up and drops off the goods.
- Declared in RO e-Transport
- Leg that is not declared
- Border crossing point
- Customs office
- Address
The declared route, operation by operation
The solid arrow is the leg you declare. The dotted line is the journey outside Romania, which stays out of the declaration.
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(a)
The UIT code is valid for 15 calendar days from the declared start date of the transport (art. 11(2)).
The same shape applies to 12 LHI (processing work, inbound) and 14 SCI (call-off stock, inbound).
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(b)
The same shape applies to 22 LHE (processing work, outbound) and 24 SCE (call-off stock, outbound).
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(c)
Import is the only operation where a customs office may sit at the start. When the goods enter through a road border point, the border crossing point can be declared at the start instead.
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(d)
Export is the only operation where a customs office may sit at the end. If the customs office of export is in another member state, the transport is declared up to the road border crossing point at the exit from Romania (procedure in Order 1,337/1,268/2024, art. 3(10)).
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(e) and (f)
Both ends are addresses. Declared only for high-fiscal-risk goods.
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(g)
Goods in intra-Community transactions transiting Romania. The UIT code is valid for 15 calendar days (art. 11(2)).
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 2(9)(h)
Which transports are in scope: the thresholds
The system monitors international road transports of goods, whatever the goods are, and domestic transports of high-fiscal-risk goods. In both cases the obligation exists only where the vehicle and the load pass the thresholds in Order 1,337/1,268/2024, art. 1(4):
- 2.5 tonnesmaximum authorised mass of the vehicle, at least
- over 500 kgtotal gross weight of the goods carried
- or over RON 10,000total value of the goods carried
The weight and value conditions are alternatives: one of them is enough. The thresholds refer to the goods in at least one consignment on the vehicle. A vehicle under 2.5 tonnes, or a load of no more than 500 kg and no more than RON 10,000 (roughly EUR 2,000), stays outside the system.
Exceptions set by law
Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 16, takes three categories of transport out of the system:
- goods for diplomatic missions, consular offices, international organisations and the armed forces of NATO states, and goods under classified contracts;
- excise goods moving under excise duty suspension, or with excise paid in the member state of dispatch, tracked through EMCS (the e-AD or the simplified e-AD);
- goods carried by postal service providers in postal parcels.
Who declares
The obligation sits with the party that has the commercial interest in the operation, not with the carrier (Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 8 and 8^1):
| Operation | Who declares the data and obtains the UIT code |
|---|---|
| Intra-Community acquisition | The beneficiary in Romania. For a foreign company moving its own goods into a Romanian warehouse, the beneficiary is the company itself, under its Romanian VAT number. |
| Intra-Community supply | The supplier in Romania |
| Import | The consignee named in the import customs declaration |
| Export | The consignor named in the export customs declaration |
| Transit with storage or with forming a new shipment | The warehouse keeper, on unloading and on reloading |
| Call-off stock | The Romanian customer on entry; the Romanian supplier on exit |
| Domestic transport of high-fiscal-risk goods | The supplier in Romania or, for moves between its own locations, the operator that holds the goods |
The carrier fills in the vehicle data and keeps the UIT code with the driver for the whole journey, on paper or electronically, together with the transport document.
When to declare and how long the UIT code lasts
- The data is declared no earlier than 3 calendar days before the declared start date of the transport and, in any case, before the vehicle reaches the border crossing point or the place of import, or before it sets off (Emergency Ordinance 41/2022, art. 11(1)).
- The UIT code is valid for 5 calendar days from the declared start date. For intra-Community acquisitions, for goods in transit unloaded for storage, and for non-transfers and call-off stock, it is valid for 15 calendar days (art. 11(2)).
- Using a UIT code after it has expired is prohibited. If the transport runs past the term, a new code is obtained.
- The description, quantities and value of the goods can still be corrected after the code expires, until the 25th of the month following the one in which the transport ended (art. 11(5)).
How to fill in the two ends of the route
One end, one kind of place
- Each end of the route is either an address, or a border crossing point, or a customs office. Never two at once.
- Border points and customs offices are picked from the ANAF code list. A code that is not on the list gets the declaration rejected.
- The address is free text, which is where most errors come from.
The address: what is required
- The county is given by code, from the list. Bucharest is code 40.
- The city and the street take between 2 and 100 characters each. The number, the building and the rest go in their own fields.
- Write the city by its name, not as it appears in a billing address: “Cluj-Napoca”, not “Cluj Napoca jud. Cluj”.
The mistake that gets the file rejected most often
- Leading or trailing spaces in a field, and double spaces. The ANAF schema requires the “token” type: one extra space, copied from a PDF or from Excel, invalidates the whole file.
- The check is made before sending, field by field. In UITdesk, our application for UIT codes, spaces are cleaned automatically and the kinds of place not allowed for the chosen operation cannot be selected.
Which kind of place is allowed at each end
The table reproduces the validation rules of the ANAF schema (BR-210 to BR-217), the same ones UITdesk runs before sending.
| Operation | At the start | At the end |
|---|---|---|
| 10 AICIntra-Community acquisition | AddressBorder point | AddressBorder point |
| 12 LHIProcessing work (EU), inbound | AddressBorder point | Address |
| 14 SCICall-off stock, inbound | AddressBorder point | Address |
| 20 LICIntra-Community supply | Address | AddressBorder point |
| 22 LHEProcessing work (EU), outbound | Address | AddressBorder point |
| 24 SCECall-off stock, outbound | Address | AddressBorder point |
| 30 TTNTransport within Romania | Address | Address |
| 40 IMPImport | AddressBorder pointCustoms office | Address |
| 50 EXPExport | Address | AddressBorder pointCustoms office |
| 60 DINIntra-Community transaction: inbound for storage or forming a new shipment | AddressBorder point | Address |
| 70 DIEIntra-Community transaction: outbound after storage or forming a new shipment | Address | AddressBorder point |
An address is allowed at either end, for any operation. The prohibitions concern only the border crossing point and the customs office.
Frequently asked questions
01Which leg of an intra-Community acquisition is declared in RO e-Transport?
From the road border crossing point where the truck enters Romania to the unloading place. The journey from the country of departure to the border is not declared. The basis is art. 2(9)(a) of Emergency Ordinance 41/2022.
02For an import, does the route start at the border or at the customs office?
At the place of import, meaning the customs office where the import declaration is lodged, and it ends at the unloading place (art. 2(9)(c)). If the goods enter the country through a road border point, the border crossing point can be declared at the start.
03Does a shipment under 500 kg need a UIT code?
Only if the goods are worth more than RON 10,000. The thresholds are alternatives: over 500 kg gross weight or over RON 10,000 in value, in a vehicle with a maximum authorised mass of at least 2.5 tonnes. Below both thresholds the transport is not declared (Order 1,337/1,268/2024, art. 1(4)).
04Do parcels sent by courier have to be declared?
Postal parcels carried by postal service providers are excepted by art. 16(c) of Emergency Ordinance 41/2022. The exception covers postal parcels as defined by postal services law, not any freight a courier company moves on pallets.
05How long is a UIT code valid?
Five calendar days from the declared start date of the transport. For intra-Community acquisitions, for goods in transit unloaded for storage, and for non-transfers and call-off stock, the term is 15 calendar days (art. 11(2) of Emergency Ordinance 41/2022).
06Who obtains the UIT code when a foreign company brings its goods into a Romanian warehouse?
For an intra-Community acquisition the law puts the obligation on the beneficiary in Romania. When the foreign company moves its own stock, the acquisition is its own, made under its Romanian VAT number, so it declares the transport. In practice the declaration is made by the company or by its mandated agent in the Virtual Private Space, for example the adviser who also files its returns.
Sources and legal basis
- Emergency Ordinance 41/2022 on the national RO e-Transport system, consolidated text (in Romanian) (art. 2(9) (monitored routes), art. 8 and 8^1 (who declares), art. 11 (when to declare and validity of the UIT code), art. 16 (exceptions))
- Joint Order of ANAF and the Romanian Customs Authority no. 1,337/1,268/2024 approving the procedure for using the RO e-Transport system (in Romanian) (Official Gazette no. 597 of 27 June 2024; art. 1(4) (the 2.5 tonnes, 500 kg and RON 10,000 thresholds) and, in the procedure, art. 3(3), (10) and (14))
- RO e-Transport, Ministry of Finance page: legislation, XML schema and validation rules
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