What information does the Romanian Trade Register hold?

Romania's National Trade Register Office is a public body with legal personality, under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. The Office is responsible for keeping, organising and managing the central computerised business register.

There are a number of Trade Register offices under the authority of the National Trade Register Office, in Bucharest and in each of the 41 counties in Romania. They are responsible for keeping, organising and managing local business registers.

In accordance with Law No 26/1990, the Trade Register contains information relating to the professionals entered in the register, as follows:

• companies;
• national enterprises;
• national companies;
• public corporations;
• cooperative companies;
• cooperative organisations;
• financial institutions;
• economic interest groupings;
• European economic interest groupings;
• European companies;
• European cooperative companies;
• sole traders;
• sole proprietorships;
• family businesses, and
• other persons as expressly provided for by law.

The Trade Register records all documents, acts, mentions and the identity of the professionals concerned, the recording of which is required by law, and any other acts and documents expressly provided for by law.

The Trade Register's website (https://www.onrc.ro/index.php/en/) provides the following:

1. documents;
2. information and services organised into sections and services;
3. information relating to the National Trade Register Office and the Trade Register offices attached to tribunals;
4. various items of public information - free access;
5. forms used by the institution;
6. formalities for entering records in the Trade Register for each category of companies and operations;
7. statistical data regarding the operations recorded.

• History of the institution
• ORC [Trade Register Office] network
• Forms (for professionals, etc.) and formalities
• Charges and fees for ONRC [National Trade Register Office] services
• Services
• Legislation
• Statistical data
• Media

The online services provided by the Trade Register are available through the e-services portal of the National Trade Register Office, which has been developed through the Sectoral Operational Programme 'Increasing Economic Competitiveness', 'Investments for your future!', under project 'Online services (e-Government) provided by the National Trade Register Office to the business community via a dedicated portal'.

The online services provided by the National Trade Register Office via the e-services portal include the following:

• Recom online;
• preliminary checks (availability and/or reservation of name/logo for legal/natural persons, sole proprietorships/family businesses);
• entering records in the Trade Register;
• updating the contact details of the companies entered in the Trade Register;
• accessing up-to-date information regarding a company's past activities, statistical data;
• issuing documents (certificates);
• state of the case;
• notification of applications submitted to the Trade Register;
• decisions postponing applications submitted to the Trade Register;
• statistical data (operations in the central business register, companies with foreign capital).

The 'Recom online' service provides the following information:

• name;
• registered office:
• unique registration number;
• Trade Register number;
• company status;
• telephone;
• telex;
• fax;
• subscribed and paid-in capital;
• main activity declared by the professional;
• secondary activities declared by the professional;
• data regarding the members, natural or legal persons (address/registered office, capital, number and type of shares held, date and place of birth for members who are natural persons, personal identity numbers / unique registration numbers);
• data regarding the administrators (address/registered office, nationality, date and place of birth, powers);
• data regarding branches and subdivisions (registered office, telephone);
• data regarding secondary offices (registered office, telephone);
• data regarding the balance sheet (turnover, average number of employees, gross profit), where such information is available.

Is access to Romania's Trade Register free of charge?

The information provided by the Trade Register can be accessed online via the e‑services portal of the National Trade Register Office. Access is allowed after registration as a user (by creating a username and password), after concluding a customer agreement, following a fee‑based application.

• General information for persons interested in carrying out certain regulated activities, as applicable (professionals, natural persons, legal persons, public bodies and authorities, etc.), is available at https://www.onrc.ro/index.php/en/;
• The fee‑based component of the 'Recom online' service is also available after registering as a user. Access is ensured 24 hours a day;
• The electronic forms can be accessed via the e-services portal of the National Trade Register Office, only after prior registration as a user (by creating a username and password);
• The section regarding the state of applications to enter records in the Trade Register can be accessed free of charge;
• The section regarding the decisions postponing applications to enter records in the Trade Register can be accessed free of charge;
• Certain public information (financial statements, voluntary winding up, mandatory winding up, etc.) can be accessed free of charge;
• All sections of the website https://www.onrc.ro/index.php/en/ can be accessed free of charge and are available 24 hours a day.
• Services available via the portal of the National Trade Register Office are partially free of charge, in accordance with the legislation in force;
• Accessing any service via the e-services portal of the National Trade Register requires authentication.

How to search Romania's Trade Register

The information available free of charge through the Recom online service can be searched using the following criteria:

• company name;
• Trade Register number;
• unique registration number;
• county where the registered office is located;

General information for interested persons available free-of-charge includes:

• company name;
• city and county where the company's registered office is located;
• Trade Register number (issued by the computerised business register);
• unique registration number (issued by the Ministry of Public Finance);
• articles of association;
• former registered office;
• non-exchanged registration certificate;
• subscribed capital under the statutory limit;
• winding up;
• bankruptcy;
• absence of the annual balance sheet at the Trade Register;
• date of last record in the Trade Register.

History of Romania's Trade Register

The Trade Register was set up in 1990, pursuant to Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register.

A dedicated portal providing new online services to the business community and other interested persons was launched in the second half of 2011.

Objectives of the National Trade Register Office:

• informing the business community, public bodies, the media and other interested persons on operations in the Trade Register;
• reducing the time needed to access information;
• reducing congestion at the Trade Register offices;
• reducing the time needed to submit registration documents to the Trade Register;
• simplifying procedures for the registration of professionals, the provision of financial information, and requests for information and documents;
• providing online applicants with real-time information on data in the Trade Register.

To what extent can the documents in the register be relied upon?

The Romanian Trade Register has been set up and operates in accordance with Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended. Authorisation for the establishment of entities subject to the obligation to be entered in the Trade Register, the operation thereof and registrations in the Trade Register, and registration of any amendment to the founding documents, or other aspects expressly provided for, is issued in accordance with Law No 26/1990, Government Emergency Order No 116/2009, Law No 359/2004, and the Implementing rules for keeping business registers, recording operations and providing information. The specific aspects of each type of activity that is subject to the obligation to be entered in the Trade Register are governed by specific legislative acts. The most important are Law No 31/1990, Law No 1/2005, Law No 566/2004, Government Emergency Order No 44/2008, and Law No 161/2003.

The national provisions below state that third parties can rely on the information and documents in the Trade Register, in accordance with Article 3a of Directive 2009/101/EC, as introduced by Directive 2012/17/EU.

1. Article 1(1) of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended, provides that 'before starting an economic activity, the following natural or legal persons shall apply to be registered or entered, as applicable, in the Trade Register: sole traders, sole proprietorships and family businesses, companies, national companies and national enterprises, public corporations, economic interest groupings, cooperative companies, cooperative organisations, European companies, European cooperative companies, and European economic interest groupings with main offices in Romania, and any other natural or legal persons as provided for by law.'
   
   Furthermore, Article 1(2) of the aforementioned Law states that 'in the course of their activity or at the end thereof, the natural and legal persons mentioned in paragraph (1) shall request that mentions relating to documents and acts subject to statutory registration be entered in the same register'.

2. Provision of information entered in the Trade Register and the issuance of copies of related documents take place in accordance with Article 4 of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended:

(1) The Trade Register is publicly available.

(2) The Trade Register Office shall provide, at the expense of the person submitting the request, certified copies of the records in the register and the documents submitted, information regarding the data in the Trade Register and certificates confirming whether a given document or act has been recorded.

(3) The documents referred to in paragraph (2) may also be requested and issued by post.
(4) On request, the documents mentioned in paragraph (1) may be issued in electronic form, sent online, with an extended electronic signature included, attached or linked.

(5) The charges for providing copies and/or information, regardless of the method of delivery, may not exceed the administrative costs incurred for the provision thereof.'

Enforceability of the documents and acts of persons subject to the obligation to be entered in the Trade Register is provided for under Article 5 of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended:

(1) Registration and mentions have effects on third parties as from the date they are entered in the Trade Register or published in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania, or in another publication, as provided for by law.
(2) Persons subject to the obligation to request that a record be entered may not claim enforceability against third parties of unrecorded documents or acts, unless they can prove that the latter were aware of those documents and acts.'

Moreover, companies are subject to special provisions in this respect, i.e. Articles 50-53 of Law No 31/1990 on companies, republished, as amended:

Article 50(1) Documents or acts that have not been publicised as stipulated by the law cannot be enforced against third parties, unless the company can prove that the latter were aware of them.

(2) Any operations carried out by a company before the 16th day from publication in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania of the report of the hearing judge (at present, applications can be decided on by the head of the Trade Register office/person appointed by the Director-General of the National Trade Register Office, in accordance with Government Emergency Order No 116/2009, as amended) shall not be enforceable against third parties, if the latter can prove that it was impossible to know of such operations.

Article 51However, third parties may invoke documents or acts that have not been publicised, unless the fact that they were not publicised cancels their effect.

Article 52(1) In the event of inconsistency between the text submitted to the Trade Register office and the text published in Part IV of the Official Gazette of Romania, or in the newspapers, the company cannot enforce the published text against third parties. Third parties may enforce the published text against the company, unless the company can prove that they were aware of the text submitted to the Trade Register office. (Article 52 in Chapter IV under Title II was amended by Article I(31) of Law No 441/2006 on 1 December 2006)

Article 12(1) of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended, states as follows:

(1) The Trade Register shall consist of a register for recording legal persons that are companies, national companies or national enterprises, public corporations, economic interest groupings, cooperative organisations, European companies, European economic interest groupings, or other legal persons expressly provided for by law with main or secondary offices in Romania, a register for recording legal persons that are cooperative companies or European cooperative companies with main or secondary offices in Romania, and a register for recording sole traders, sole proprietorships and family businesses with professional or secondary offices in Romania. These registers shall be kept in a computerised system (Article 12(1) in Chapter II was amended by Article I(5) of Law No 152/2015 on 16 July 2015).

3. Article 6(1) of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended, in conjunction with Article 1 of Government Emergency Order No 116/2009 on introducing certain measures relating to entering records in the Trade Register, approved with amendments by Law No 84/2010, provides that 'records are entered in the Trade Register based on the decision of head of the Trade Register office/person appointed by the Director-General of the National Trade Register Office or, where applicable, a final court judgment, except where the law provides otherwise'.
   
   
   Article 26(1) of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended, states that 'the date of recording in the Trade Register is the date when the record was actually entered in the Register'.
   
   
   Furthermore, Article 26(2) of the aforementioned legislative act, in conjunction with Government Emergency Order No 116/2009 provides that 'records in the Trade Register are entered within 24 hours of the date of the decision issued by the head of the Trade Register office/person appointed by the Director-General of the National Trade Register Office, and in the case of registration of a professional within 24 hours of the date of the decision authorising the registration'.
   
   
   Under Article 51(2) of Law No 26/1990 on the Trade Register, republished, as amended, 'records in the Trade Register are entered electronically, both at the Trade Register offices attached to tribunals and in the central computerised register'.
   
   
   You can find more information here.

Related links

Official website of Romania's National Trade Register Office

E-services portal of Romania's National Trade Register Office

Related documents

Law No 26/2012  (669 Kb) 

Emergency Order No 116/2009  (255 Kb) 

Implementing Rules of 10 October 2008 on keeping business registers  (1034 Kb) 

Law No 359/2004  (527 Kb)