Kazimir Malevich - Suprematism (1915)
When a customer stops paying, the usual instinct is to file an ordinary claim for payment. For a debt that is clear, documented and not seriously disputed, Romanian law offers a shorter route: the payment order (ordonanța de plată). The court decides on the documents alone, without expert reports or witnesses, and the creditor ends up with an enforceable title.
For contracts between businesses, the gateway is Article 16 of Law no. 72/2013 on combating late payment, which transposes Directive 2011/7/EU. If the debtor pays late, the creditor may obtain an enforceable title through the payment order procedure in the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). The law still cites the old numbering (Articles 1,013 to 1,024). Since the Code was republished in 2015, the same rules sit in Articles 1014 to 1025, and those are the ones referred to below. Under Article 17 of the law, any creditor established in the EU can use the procedure on the same terms.
The payment order at a glance
In short: a creditor with written proof of a debt that is due can obtain an enforceable title for a RON 200 court fee, on the documents alone. These are the deadlines and amounts, in the order the creditor meets them.
| Stage or item | What the law sets | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Formal notice | Debtor has 15 days to pay | Art. 1015 CPC |
| Court fee | RON 200, whatever the amount | Art. 6(2) GEO 80/2013 |
| Summons | Served at least 10 days before the hearing | Art. 1019(1) CPC |
| Debtor's defence | Filed at least 3 days before the hearing | Art. 1019(3) CPC |
| Issuing the order, if no defence | Within 45 days of filing, not counting service time | Art. 1023 CPC |
| Payment deadline in the order | 10 to 30 days from service | Art. 1022(3) CPC |
| Application for annulment | 10 days from service; no automatic stay of enforcement | Art. 1024 CPC |
| Late-payment interest | Contract rate, or NBR reference rate + 8 percentage points | Art. 4 Law 72/2013 |
| Flat compensation | EUR 40, on top of recovery costs | Art. 9 and 10 Law 72/2013 |
When can a creditor use a payment order?
Under Article 1014 CPC, the claim must be for a sum of money and must be certain, liquid and due. In plain terms, its existence is not in doubt, the amount is fixed or easy to calculate, and the payment date has passed. It must also arise from a contract evidenced in writing, or be determined under articles of association, internal regulations or another document that the parties accepted by signing it or in another way the law recognises.
Contracts with contracting authorities (public authorities, bodies governed by public law and associations formed by them) are expressly covered. Claims already registered in insolvency proceedings are excluded (Art. 1014(2) CPC). Law 72/2013 also leaves out of its own scope claims subject to an ad hoc mandate, a preventive composition (concordat preventiv) or an out-of-court debt restructuring, as well as contracts with consumers (Art. 1(2)).
In practice, the written-evidence requirement is where applications usually succeed or fail. The ideal file is a signed contract plus invoices the debtor signed or otherwise acknowledged. Where invoices were never signed, the creditor needs other proof that the debtor accepted them, such as emails, a balance confirmation or partial payments made against those invoices.
What can the creditor claim?
The unpaid principal is only part of it. Law 72/2013 attaches several extra amounts to late B2B payments, and Article 1017(1)(d) CPC lets the creditor include interest and other compensation due by law in the same application.
Late-payment interest, from the due date until payment, with no need to put the debtor on notice first (Art. 3(2) and Art. 14(b) of Law 72/2013). If the contract sets no rate, statutory late-payment interest applies: the National Bank of Romania reference rate plus 8 percentage points (Art. 4 of the law; Art. 3(2^1) of Government Ordinance 13/2011). The rate in force on the first day of each half-year applies to the whole half-year (Art. 1018(1) CPC).
A flat EUR 40, paid in lei at the exchange rate on the payment date, as minimum additional damages (Art. 10). It falls due on the same day the interest starts running.
Damages covering all costs the creditor incurred to recover the debt (Art. 9 of the law; Art. 1018(2) CPC).
If the contract sets no payment date, interest starts 30 calendar days after the debtor receives the invoice (Art. 3(3)). Between businesses, a contractual payment term may not exceed 60 calendar days unless the longer term is not abusive towards the creditor (Art. 5(1)). Clauses that exclude late-payment interest, set it below the statutory rate or make it conditional on a formal notice are treated by law as abusive and are void (Art. 14 and 15).
How does the procedure work?
The creditor first gives the debtor 15 days to pay, by a formal notice served through a bailiff or sent by registered letter with declared contents and acknowledgement of receipt (Art. 1015). The notice interrupts the limitation period. Keep the proof of delivery: an application filed without it is dismissed as inadmissible (Art. 1017(2)).
If the debtor still does not pay, the creditor files with the court that would hear the case at first instance, which is the district court or the tribunal depending on the amount (Art. 1016). The application sets out the parties, the principal, its factual and legal basis, the period covered, the due date and the interest claimed, with the supporting documents attached in one copy per party plus one for the court (Art. 1017). The court fee is a flat RON 200, whatever the amount (Art. 6(2) of Government Emergency Ordinance 80/2013).
The court summons both parties under the rules for urgent cases, at least 10 days before the hearing, and sends the debtor copies of the application and documents. The debtor must file a defence at least 3 days before the hearing. If it does not, the court may treat that as an admission of the claim (Art. 1019).
At the hearing, the judge listens to both sides and presses for payment or for an agreement on how to pay (Art. 1019(1)). The case then ends in one of four ways:
the debtor pays, and the court closes the file by a final interlocutory decision (Art. 1020(1));
the parties settle, and the court records the deal in a consent judgment (hotărâre de expedient), which is final and enforceable (Art. 1020(2) and (3));
the court finds the claim justified, in whole or in part, and issues the payment order with a payment deadline of 10 to 30 days from service (Art. 1022); for any part left out, the creditor can still bring an ordinary claim;
the court finds the defence well founded, or sees that it could only be tested with evidence other than documents and the parties' explanations, and dismisses the application; the creditor keeps the right to sue under the ordinary procedure (Art. 1021).
If the debtor files no defence, the order must be issued within 45 days of the application. The time needed to serve documents and any delay caused by the creditor do not count towards that limit (Art. 1023), so the real calendar is longer.
What this looks like in practice
Take a hypothetical case. A supplier in Timișoara is owed RON 80,000 by a retail chain for goods delivered in March. The invoices were signed on receipt, the contract says nothing about late-payment interest, and the buyer never complained about the goods. Three months after the due date, nothing has been paid.
The supplier has a bailiff serve a formal notice and waits the 15 days. It then applies for a payment order claiming the RON 80,000, statutory late-payment interest from the due date, the EUR 40 flat compensation and the bailiff's fee as a recovery cost. The court fee is RON 200. An ordinary claim for the principal alone would have cost RON 2,705 in court fees.
At the hearing, the buyer can pay, agree a schedule that the court turns into an enforceable consent judgment, or say nothing and receive an order to pay within 10 to 30 days. If it then applies for annulment, the supplier can keep enforcing unless the buyer posts security.
What happens once the order is issued?
The payment order is enforceable as soon as it is issued, even if the debtor challenges it. Until the challenge is decided, it carries provisional res judicata (Art. 1025(1)). If the debtor misses the payment deadline, the creditor can take the order to a bailiff and start enforcement.
The only remedy against the order is an application for annulment (cerere în anulare), filed within 10 days of service (Art. 1024). The debtor may argue only that the legal requirements for issuing the order were not met, or that the debt was extinguished after the order was issued, for example by payment. A two-judge panel of the same court decides, and its decision is final. The creditor has the same remedy against a dismissal or a partial order.
Filing for annulment does not suspend enforcement. The court may suspend it at the debtor's request, but only against security (cauțiune) in an amount the court sets (Art. 1024(5)). Once the order is final, a challenge to enforcement (contestație la executare) can raise only irregularities in the enforcement itself or grounds for extinguishing the debt that arose after the order became final (Art. 1025(2)). The debtor cannot reopen the merits at that stage.
When is a payment order the right choice?
For a creditor with a clean paper trail, the procedure is hard to beat on cost. The court fee is a flat RON 200, while an ordinary claim is charged on a sliding scale tied to the amount: on a RON 100,000 claim, that comes to RON 3,105 (Art. 3(1)(e) of GEO 80/2013). The order can be enforced straight away, the formal notice interrupts the limitation period, and a court date often gets a slow payer to pay or settle.
The trade-off is the narrow evidence base. The court looks only at documents and at what the parties say at the hearing. A debtor who raises a genuine dispute about quality, quantity or delivery, the kind that needs witnesses or an expert, will usually get the application dismissed. The creditor then has to start again under the ordinary procedure, having lost time but little money.
The payment order works best against debtors who stay silent or simply cannot pay, where the contract is signed, the invoices are acknowledged and nothing on file shows a complaint. If the debtor has already objected in writing to the goods or services, an ordinary claim is usually the better first move. Before filing, check that the debt is actually due, that each invoice is signed or otherwise accepted, and that proof of delivery of the formal notice is on file.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a payment order take in Romania?
If the debtor files no defence, the court must issue the payment order within 45 days of the application (Art. 1023 CPC). That limit excludes the time needed to serve documents and any delay caused by the creditor. The 15-day formal notice also comes first, so the real timeline is longer.
How much does a payment order cost?
The court fee for a payment order application in Romania is a flat RON 200, whatever the amount claimed (Art. 6(2) GEO 80/2013). Bailiff and legal fees come on top, and the creditor can claim its recovery costs from the debtor (Art. 9 of Law 72/2013; Art. 1018(2) CPC).
Does the creditor have to send a formal notice first?
Yes. Before applying, the creditor must give the debtor 15 days to pay, by bailiff or by registered letter with declared contents and acknowledgement of receipt (Art. 1015 CPC). An application filed without proof of that notice is dismissed as inadmissible (Art. 1017(2) CPC).
Can a company from another EU country use the Romanian payment order?
Yes. Article 17 of Law 72/2013 makes the payment order procedure available, on the same terms, to every creditor established in the European Union.
What happens if the debtor disputes the invoice?
If the debtor's defence is well founded on the documents, or could only be tested with witnesses or expert evidence, the court dismisses the application (Art. 1021 CPC). The creditor can then bring an ordinary claim for the same debt.
Can the debtor stop enforcement by challenging the order?
Not automatically. An application for annulment, filed within 10 days of service, does not suspend enforcement. The court can suspend it only if the debtor posts security in an amount the court sets (Art. 1024(5) CPC).
Legislation referred to
Law no. 72/2013 on measures to combat late payment of sums of money arising from contracts between professionals and between professionals and contracting authorities (version of 18 December 2015)
Civil Procedure Code (Law no. 134/2010, republished), Book VI, Title IX, Articles 1014 to 1025 (version of 16 September 2026)
Government Emergency Ordinance no. 80/2013 on court stamp duties, Articles 3 and 6
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own contract, invoices and correspondence. If you have unpaid invoices and want to know whether a payment order is the right route for you, contact us and we will review your file.
