Customs regulations are applied in a uniform manner throughout the customs territory of Romania insofar as no contrary provisions have been stipulated in the international agreements and conventions to which Romania is a party.

In Romania, the competent authority responsible for the customs activity is the General Customs Directorate operating within the National Agency for Fiscal Administration and carrying out their work through:

• regional customs directorates;
• customs offices.

Customs procedures:

• declaration of goods;
• re-export notification;
• destruction of goods;
• abandonment of goods;
• tariff quotas.

1. Declaration of goods

Goods brought into the customs territory of Romania are presented to customs immediately upon their arrival at the designated customs office or any other place designated or approved by the customs authorities or in the free zone.

How can you lodge the customs declaration?

• in writing
• using a data processing technique
• verbally or by other means

Types of customs declarations:

• Written customs declaration
• Verbal declaration
• Customs declaration by other means

2. Re-export notification

The re-export notification is used where non-Union goods are directly re-exported from a free zone or a temporary storage facility, for which a re-export declaration or an exit summary declaration is not lodged.

The re-export notification is lodged at the customs office of exit by one of the following persons:

• the person who takes the goods out of the customs territory of the Union;
• the person in whose name or on whose behalf the person who takes the goods out of the customs territory of the Union acts;
• the person who assumes responsibility for the carriage of the goods prior to their exit from the customs territory of the Union.

The document is drawn up in two originals, i.e. one for the customs office of exit and one for the person lodging it.

The customs office of exit must:

• register the re-export notification;
• provide the registration number of the re-export notification to the declarant;
• release the goods for exit from the customs territory of the Union, where applicable.

3. Destruction of goods

Only non-Union goods for which the import duty has not been paid can be destroyed. In order to destroy the goods, a written notification must be lodged to the customs authority informing of the intention to destroy the goods concerned. The notification must be lodged in due time so as to enable the customs authorities to supervise the destruction. Where the goods to be destroyed are already subject to a customs declaration, the operator’s records include a reference to the customs declaration.

The destruction of goods must not entail any expenses from the State budget. Customs authorities assisting at the destruction of goods state the nature and quantity of waste, or of the scrap resulting from destruction, in the declaration.

4. Abandonment of goods

Abandonment of goods is one of the means by which customs authorities dispose of goods and applies solely to non-Union goods for which the import duty has not been paid. An abandonment declaration must be lodged to the customs authority in order to abandon goods.

Where the goods to be abandoned are already subject to a customs declaration, the operator’s records include a reference to the customs declaration. The customs authorities invalidate that customs declaration.

5.Tariff quotas

A tariff quota is a volume of goods expressed as a quantity or value, which can be released for free circulation with a favourable tariff treatment consisting in a reduction in or exemption from customs duties. The application submitted in this respect constitutes the declarant’s request to benefit from such a tariff quota by means of a customs declaration for release for free circulation.