Romania

Do not drive in Romania after using any drug - unlike the alcohol limit, there is no legal minimum concentration. Traffic police can require a roadside drug test at any stop. If it reads positive, or you refuse or cannot provide a sample, you must give blood and urine, and the officer takes your licence on the spot and hands you a replacement slip that carries NO right to drive. The samples go to a forensic-medicine institute, which must report the result to the police within a maximum of 72 hours. You get the licence back only on a result establishing absence, or when the 72 hours run out with nothing reported. This is a crime, not a ticket.

This is a criminal offence under art. 336 alin. (2) Cod penal. The prison band was NOT read in official text this run and no figure is stated rather than guessed. Administratively, per OUG nr. 84/2024 (in force 29 June 2024) and OUG nr. 97/2024 art. 1 (Monitorul Oficial, 15 July 2024, quoted verbatim by the Ministry of Internal Affairs): the traffic police withdraw the driving licence, and the forensic-medicine institute must communicate the toxicology result to the requesting Romanian Police structure "in termen de maximum 72 de ore de la momentul finalizarii procedurilor de recoltare a mostrelor biologice" - within a maximum of 72 hours of sampling being completed. The licence is returned on a bulletin establishing absence of the substance, or on expiry of the 72 hours if no bulletin was communicated. The replacement slip issued at the roadside does not confer a right to drive. No foreign-prescription defence is asserted.

Verified Sep 9, 2026

Cannabis is illegal in Romania, and the penalty turns on the form and on whether your own-consumption purpose is accepted. Herbal cannabis, hashish and cannabis oil are "risk drugs": possessing them for your own use carries three months to two years in prison or a criminal fine, but buying or holding the same cannabis carries three to ten years under a separate article if that personal-use purpose is not made out. THC listed on its own, the form typical of vape cartridges and concentrates, sits in the same table as heroin and carries six months to three years with no fine alternative in this law. Bringing cannabis into Romania is a different offence again: five to fifteen years, with no personal-use reduction.

Herbal cannabis, resin or oil for your own use: three months to two years in prison or a criminal fine (art. 4(1)) -- and cultivation for your own use sits in that same sentence. Buying or holding the same cannabis without an accepted own-use purpose: three to ten years plus a ban on certain rights (art. 2(1)). THC listed on its own is a high-risk drug: six months to three years for own use (art. 4(2)), five to fifteen years otherwise (art. 2(2)). Bringing cannabis into or out of the country: five to fifteen years, or ten to twenty for high-risk drugs, plus a ban on certain rights (art. 3). Knowingly making a home or a venue open to the public available for drug use, or tolerating drug use there, carries two to seven years (art. 5). Where the offence is committed in or near a school or university, or a place where young people take part in educational, sporting or social activities, the court may add up to five years to the statutory maximum (art. 13). For a personal-use charge the prosecutor may order an evaluation with a view to an assistance programme, and a defendant who keeps to it may have the penalty waived or deferred, though both steps are discretionary and need your consent (arts. 19-20).

Verified Sep 6, 2026

Some medications legal at home are controlled in Romania even if prescribed; check legality, carry enough for your trip, and bring your prescription and a doctor's letter.

Controlled substances without documentation may result in arrest.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

Romania flatly bans foreigners from bringing in non-lethal weapons that require authorisation - pepper-gas pistols, blank-firing and similar - with narrow exceptions for competitions and cultural events. Hunting and sport firearms need advance clearance from the Border Police. Airsoft, paintball, sport bows and harpoons may be brought in by anyone 18 or over.

Bringing authorisation-class non-lethal weapons into Romania as a foreigner is prohibited outright (art. 62(1)), outside the competition and cultural-event exceptions. Hunting and sport firearms brought without the Border Police "aviz de introducere" are not lawfully introduced. The control authorities are the Inspectoratul General al Politiei Romane and, at the border, the Inspectoratul General al Politiei de Frontiera. Specific fine and imprisonment bands were NOT read this run and no figure is published rather than guessed.

Verified Sep 6, 2026

Declare cash or cheques of EUR 10,000 or more between Romania and non-EU countries; no declaration is needed to/from another EU country.

Fine for non-declaration; undeclared cash may be seized.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

You cannot bring meat, milk, or products containing them into Romania (or other EU states); limited exceptions apply for powdered baby milk, baby food, and medically-required special foods.

Prohibited items will be confiscated.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

Romania drink-driving BAC limit is 0.0 — any detected alcohol can bring a fine and possible imprisonment, and refusing a breathalyser after an accident is itself a criminal offence.

Fine and possible imprisonment; breathalyser refusal is a crime.

Verified Jul 23, 2026

Put the vape away on any bus, tram, metro, train, taxi or ride-hail in Romania - that ban is written into the law. Everywhere else indoors, ask first: Romania's indoor smoking ban is drafted around BURNING tobacco, so it does not automatically catch e-cigarettes, and bars, restaurants, hotels, offices and malls each set their own house rule - expect to be told no. Vaping is banned on school grounds and you must be 18 to buy. Bring your own supply: e-liquid sold in Romania is capped at 20 mg/ml nicotine, 10 ml refill bottles and 2 ml tanks, so the strength you use at home may not be on sale here.

Legea nr. 349/2002 art. 10 lit. a) fines natural persons 100-500 lei for breaching art. 3 alin. (1), (1^1) and (6^3). Legal persons breaching alin. (6^1), (6^2), (6^3) face 10,000 lei plus 30-day suspension, rising to 20,000 lei plus closure on repeat (art. 10 lit. b^1), as amended by Legea 64/2024). Recorded honestly: art. 3 alin. (1^2) - the public-transport e-cigarette ban - is NOT itself listed in art. 10 lit. a), so no fine figure is expressly attached to vaping on transport and none is invented here. Art. 10 lit. b) and art. 10 alin. (2) (added by O.U.G. 128/2024) were not read this run.

Verified Sep 9, 2026

Assume 40 cigarettes - two packs - and declare anything more. Romania is one of only two EU countries that apply the REDUCED tobacco allowance to ALL arriving travellers, including air passengers: 40 cigarettes, or 20 cigarillos, or 10 cigars, or 50 g of smoking tobacco, from age 17. Most travellers assume the standard EU 200 and are wrong by a factor of five.

Tobacco above the allowance is liable to Romanian customs duty, VAT and excise duty. No duty-free tobacco allowance at all for travellers under 17. Because Romania's own published table could not be read this run, treat 40 cigarettes as the working figure and declare rather than assume.

Verified Sep 4, 2026

A road-toll vignette ('Rovinieta') is required to use national roads in Romania; buy it online, at petrol stations, or at border points.

Driving without a rovinieta may bring a heavy fine.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

You need both a valid driver's licence and an International Driving Permit to drive in Romania; driving without an IDP could void your insurance.

Driving without an IDP may void insurance.

Verified Jul 23, 2026

Most airports and military bases in Romania post signs banning photography; if you are not sure whether photography is allowed, ask permission first.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

Leave any signal jammer at home - in Romania, POSSESSING one is itself the offence. ANCOM, the telecoms regulator, prohibits manufacturing, importing, possessing, advertising, placing on the market, making available, switching on and using any radio device designed to cause harmful interference, including mobile-phone and GPS jammers. You do not have to switch it on to be caught; having it counts. Then check your walkie-talkies: US FRS/GMRS frequencies (462/467 MHz) appear nowhere on Romania's licence-exempt list, so they have no exemption to rely on, while European PMR446 sets do. ANCOM ran a national enforcement campaign on walkie-talkies and wireless mics in summer 2025, so this is actively policed.

No fine figure for the jammer contravention is published here. ANCOM's readable penalty page states that where non-conforming equipment causing harmful interference continues to be used, ANCOM may fine USERS "amenzi contraventionale ... cu valori cuprinse intre 500 si 5.000 lei" - but that page addresses non-conforming radio equipment generally, and that figure is deliberately NOT imported onto the jammer offence at art. 51(2) pt. 21 + art. 53(1) of HG 740/2016, which could not be read in official text this run. Widely circulated media figures of 5,000-10,000 lei are not official and are not used. For context only, ANCOM reported roughly 1.6 million lei in fines across more than 700 inspections of non-conforming radio equipment (press release, 26 June 2025). Historic enforcement: ministerial orders 886/2010 and 953/2010 withdrew GSM/3G jammers from the Romanian market and ANCOM forced sale listings off 15 named Romanian sites.

Verified Sep 9, 2026

Same-sex relationships are legal in Romania but not widely accepted; most LGBTQ+ people are not open, and visitors are advised to avoid public displays of affection.

Verified Jul 28, 2026

It is illegal to change money on the street in Romania; exchange only at banks, large hotels, or official bureaux.

Criminal offence; high scam risk.

Verified Jul 28, 2026