Drivers who do not pay their road tax in Romania- called rovinieta – will only receive a single fine during the month when they were caught without the rovinieta, the Chamber of Deputies decided.

The Police has to send the paperwork to the driver within 30 days from when the driver was caught without the rovinieta, and during that period, the driver cannot be punished for the same offense.

According to the law initiator, Senator Belacurencu Trifon, the change was necessary because, in reality, many drivers who had not paid a road tax during a certain month received several fines during that month, but they were only notified about them later on, so they had to pay all of them, whereas under the new system, they would pay only once.

Romania has an electronic system for checking whether a car owner has paid a rovinieta. Traffic cameras installed across the country check the car's registration number against a database, and if the road tax is not paid, the system issues a fine that is sent to the driver's address.

The validity of a rovinieta can also be checked online here (in Romanian only).

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com