Romania has one of the strictest e-invoicing obligations in Europe. Through the RO e-Factura platform operated by the tax authority ANAF, all VAT-registered businesses must have their invoices validated in real-time before they are legally valid. This is a full pre-clearance CTC model: no approval from ANAF means no valid invoice.

The obligation was introduced in phases:

Foreign businesses that are VAT-registered in Romania are also subject to the obligation. If you hold a Romanian VAT number, you must invoice through RO e-Factura.

RO e-Factura is a pre-clearance system. This means that an invoice is first sent to ANAF, which validates the invoice and applies a digital seal. Only after this step is the invoice legally valid and available to the recipient.

The process step by step:

1. The sender creates an invoice in UBL 2.1 or CII format according to the RO_CIUS specification
2. The invoice is uploaded to the RO e-Factura platform
3. ANAF validates the invoice and assigns a digital seal
4. The recipient receives the validated invoice through the platform

Invoices must be submitted to ANAF within 5 calendar days of the invoice date. Exceeding this deadline results in penalties.

Every invoice that is successfully validated by ANAF receives a digital seal. This seal confirms that the invoice has been verified and accepted by the tax authority. Without this seal, the invoice is not legally valid.

In addition to RO e-Factura, Romania also operates the RO e-Transport system. This is a separate monitoring system for the transport of goods within and to Romania. Businesses that transport goods must report the shipment to ANAF in advance. RO e-Transport is separate from the e-invoicing obligation but forms part of the same digitalisation strategy of the Romanian tax authority.

Romania uses the RO_CIUS (Country Implementation Specification), a national extension of the European standard EN 16931. Invoices are submitted in UBL 2.1 or UN/CEFACT CII, with Romanian additions to the standard.

The system does not use Peppol. All invoice exchange takes place through the national RO e-Factura platform.

The sanctions for non-compliance are significant:

• Up to 15% of the invoice value for failing to submit or late submission of an invoice through RO e-Factura
• Penalties apply to both domestic and foreign VAT-registered businesses

Romania uses a national clearance system without a Peppol connection. eConnect cannot route invoices to Romanian recipients via the Peppol network. For customers who need to invoice in Romania, the following options apply:

• Local integration: connecting to RO e-Factura requires a direct link with the ANAF platform or a local partner that handles the clearance
• Advice and orientation: eConnect can advise you on the requirements and refer you to suitable local parties

For cross-border invoices from the Netherlands to Romanian parties, it is important to know that the Romanian recipient is responsible for the clearance through ANAF.

Want to learn more about invoicing to Romania? Get in touch with our team.

• Continuous reporting and CTC models
• ViDA: VAT in the Digital Age
• What is Peppol and how does the network work?