Romania makes card payment compulsory option

Romanian companies are now obliged to offer customers the possibility to pay for purchased goods and services with credit and debit cards, under new regulations, effective Sunday, June 16.  

The law does not yet specify that a merchant must have a point of sale (POS) payment machine, as there is currently the possibility of using a phone as a POS terminal, enabling bank card payments.

Nevertheless, merchants must now have an account to which money from card payments can be transferred. For each transaction made, sellers are charged a commission. Fines for merchants who do not offer the possibility of electronic payment start from RON 5,000 (EUR 1,005). 

Market stalls are also now obliged to offer customers the option of non-cash payments, although agricultural producers are not included in the new regulations.  

The National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), the revenue service of the Romania government, will soon start checks to see if firms offer cashless payment options. According to the National Bank of Romania, over 21 million cards are active in the country.