Drivers who do not pay their fines/traffic fines within 90 days of the due date risk having their driver's license suspended until the debt is paid. This measure aims to increase budget collection by allowing the police to suspend the right to drive.
Drivers who do not pay their fines risk losing their license. Archive photo
The measure, included by the government in the administration package, states that drivers who do not pay their fines within 90 days will have their licenses suspended. Every unpaid 50 lei will turn into a day without a permit.
GEO 7/2026, published recently, establishes that Romanian drivers will no longer have the right to drive motor vehicles, agricultural or forestry tractors and trams on public roads if they do not pay, within 90 days from the date of handing or communication of the report, the contravention fines that were applied to them for violating the Highway Code.
The period during which they will no longer have the right to drive depends on the amount of unpaid fines. More precisely, one day of suspension will be established for every 50 lei owed. Fractions of suspension days are not taken into account.
Likewise, the effective period of suspension of the right to drive begins at 0:00 on the third working day following the completion of the aforementioned 90-day period and ends at 24:00 on the last day of suspension.
In no more than 30 days after taking into account the arrears in the payment of traffic fines, the local fiscal body is obliged to communicate to the person with unpaid fines a summons regarding the payment obligation, which will also mention: the date on which the 90-day term is fulfilled, as well as the fact that after the fulfillment of this term, a period of suspension of the right to drive is executed; the period of suspension of the right to drive motor vehicles, agricultural or forestry tractors and trams on public roads, indicating the dates and times of its start and end.
On the other hand, if a driver pays their outstanding fines, “within 2 working days from the determination of the complete extinguishment of the obligation to pay the debt that caused the suspension of the right to drive, the local fiscal body implements mentions regarding the regaining of the right to drive”.
From August 2026, the suspension of the license will be applied for non-payment of fines
For this mechanism to work, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will have to adapt and interconnect their IT systems. At the same time, by April 26, the Government will have to come up with rules for applying this mechanism. Also, in the next period, the Regulation on the application of the Road Code will have to be amended.
The mentioned measures enter into force, according to GEO 7/2026, “6 months after the entry into force of this emergency ordinance“, i.e. on August 25. In addition, the ordinance specifies that the mechanism “applies exclusively to claims arising from contravention fines that were applied after its entry into force”.
Thus, the first license suspensions for non-payment of traffic fines could take place towards the end of autumn.
The permit does not pick up physically
There will be no physical pick-up of the driver's license (the driver will not hand over the document) – there is a measure of suspension in the meaning of the right to drive. The person who does not pay the fine will have the right to drive suspended, the measure being implemented by the local public administration authority in the computer records, based on the contravention minutes that have gone through the legal procedure. The maximum implementation period (for entering the measure into the databases) is two days after the expiration of the 90 days.
From that moment, in the situation where the person is spotted by the police driving a vehicle, he is in the situation of committing a criminal act, and the procedure for drawing up a criminal file is triggered.
How will it be possible to recover the right to drive
The sanctioned person can pay the fine at any time. After making the payment and communicating it to the local public administration authority, the institution has the obligation to, within two days, operate in the computer platform the lifting of the suspension measure. The termination of the suspension of the right to drive enters into force at 00:00 of the day following the completion of the term of two days from the date of payment of the fine.
The number of days for which the right to drive is suspended is determined according to the amount of the contraventional sanction applied, one day of suspension being provided for every 50 lei of the amount of the fine.
We remind you that, currently, in Romania, the value of one fine point is 202.5 lei.
