Last updated: April 2026
An online store is not simply a physical shop moved onto the internet. Distance contracts come with their own set of legal obligations that do not apply to traditional retail, and ignoring them can lead to fines from ANPC (Romania's consumer protection authority), disputes with customers or, in the worst case, sales contracts that the buyer can cancel outright. This guide covers the obligations that apply specifically to online stores in Romania, with exact references to the legislation in force in 2026.
If you are at the start and want to understand how an online store works before anything else, read our complete guide to launching an online store in Romania.
The right of withdrawal - OUG 34/2014
The right of withdrawal is the obligation Romanian online stores get wrong most often. OUG 34/2014, which transposes EU Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, sets out the full framework.
The essential rules:
- The consumer can withdraw from the contract within 14 calendar days of receiving the goods, without giving a reason and without penalties
- If the trader fails to inform the consumer about this right, the deadline extends automatically to 12 months from delivery
- The trader must refund everything received, including the cost of the original delivery, within 14 days of being notified
- The cost of returning the goods falls on the consumer, but only if the trader said so in advance
Goods with no right of withdrawal (the legal exceptions)
| Product category | Condition for the exception | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Personalised goods | Made to the consumer specifications or clearly personalised | Printed T-shirts, made-to-measure furniture |
| Perishable goods | Deteriorate quickly or have a short shelf life | Fresh food, flowers, medicines close to expiry |
| Sealed goods, for hygiene reasons | The seal was broken after delivery | Underwear, opened cosmetics, in-ear headphones |
| Digital content | Supplied without a physical medium, once delivery has started with the consumer explicit consent | Downloaded software, digital films and music, online courses already accessed |
One warning: the exceptions have to be spelled out before the order is placed. A store that applies them without telling the customer in advance cannot fall back on them later.
The order button - the obligation most often missed
This is one of the most common failures ANPC finds when it checks online stores. OUG 34/2014, Art. 7, transposing Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 8(2), requires the final order button to state clearly that placing the order means the customer has to pay.
Compliant wording:
- "Order with obligation to pay"
- "Place order"
- "Buy now"
- "Pay now"
Non-compliant wording, because it says nothing about payment:
- "Continue"
- "Confirm"
- "OK"
- "Next step"
- "Finish"
What happens if you get it wrong: the customer is not contractually bound by that order. They can cancel it with no penalty at all, even after the goods have been delivered.
Legal guarantee and conformity of goods - OUG 140/2021
OUG 140/2021 transposes EU Directive 2019/771 on sales contracts and changes a few things compared with the older rules:
- Legal guarantee: two years from delivery, same as before
- Presumption of non-conformity: extended from six months to one year. During the first year after delivery, the trader cannot ask the customer to prove the defect existed at the time of delivery
- Order of remedies: repair, then replacement, then a price reduction, then termination of the contract
In practice, if a customer reports a fault in the first 12 months, the burden of proof sits with the trader, who has to show the fault was caused by the customer rather than present at delivery.
Law 190/2025 added specific fines for breaching guarantee rights: RON 5,000 to RON 25,000 for refusing to replace non-conforming goods, with a 30-day replacement deadline.
Unit pricing - HG 947/2000
HG 947/2000, transposing Directive 98/6/EC, requires a unit price to be displayed for goods sold by weight, volume or length. It applies to online stores too, not just to shops on the high street.
Some examples:
- Liquid detergent, 1L - the price per 100ml has to be shown as well
- Coffee, 250g - the price per 100g has to be shown as well
- Oil, 5L - the price per litre has to be shown as well
Fines run from RON 500 to RON 2,500 per non-compliant product. Stores selling food, cosmetics or cleaning products miss this one regularly.
GDPR and cookie consent - what is specific to online
GDPR (EU Regulation 2016/679) applies to any business processing personal data of EU citizens, which for an online store means essentially every interaction with a customer. Setting up cookie consent and Google Consent Mode v2 correctly is part of our standard launch process - there is more on this in our guide to eCommerce integrations.
The cookie consent banner
A consent banner has to be balanced: refusing non-essential cookies must be as easy as accepting them. A prominent "Accept all" button next to a small "Settings" link buried in the corner does not meet the GDPR standard.
Essential cookies, the ones the site needs to work at all, such as session and basket cookies, do not need consent. Marketing, analytics and remarketing cookies do, and it has to be explicit.
Google Consent Mode v2 - required if you use Google Ads or Analytics
If you run Google Ads or Google Analytics, Google Consent Mode v2 has been mandatory since March 2024. Without it, Google cannot measure conversions from your campaigns or personalise ads, which leaves your Google Ads spend flying blind on attribution.
Privacy policy
It has to be reachable from any page of the site, usually from the footer, written in plain language rather than dense legalese, and it has to cover what data you collect, why, how long you keep it, who you share it with, and how the customer exercises their rights: access, rectification, erasure and portability.
Pre-contractual information you have to provide
Directive 2011/83/EU (Art. 6), transposed through OUG 34/2014, requires the consumer to be told clearly, before any online order is completed:
- Who the trader is: full company name, physical address, tax ID, contact details
- The total price: including VAT, all taxes and delivery costs
- The right of withdrawal: that it exists, the deadline and how to use it
- The cost of returns: who pays to send the goods back
- The length of the contract: relevant for subscriptions or fixed-term contracts
- How digital content works: if you sell digital products
This information has to be available before the order is placed - visible in the checkout flow, not just buried in terms and conditions nobody reads.
What ANPC checks when it inspects an online store
ANPC runs periodic checks on online stores, with fines between RON 1,000 and RON 30,000. These are the items that come up most often:
| What is checked | Legal basis | Possible fine |
|---|---|---|
| Incomplete pre-contractual information | OUG 34/2014, Art. 6 | RON 1,000 - 30,000 |
| No returns policy or withdrawal form | OUG 34/2014, Art. 11 | RON 1,000 - 30,000 |
| Non-compliant order button | OUG 34/2014, Art. 7 | RON 1,000 - 30,000 |
| No information about alternative dispute resolution | ANPC Order 449/2022 | RON 1,000 - 5,000 |
| Incorrect prices or missing unit price | HG 947/2000 | RON 500 - 2,500 |
| Unfair terms in the general conditions | Law 193/2000 | RON 200 - 1,000 |
| Refusing to replace non-conforming goods | Law 190/2025 + OUG 140/2021 | RON 5,000 - 25,000 |
Alternative dispute resolution - and the platform that closed down
Worth updating if your store has been running for a few years: the EU Online Dispute Resolution platform was shut down on 20 July 2025. The obligation to link to it ended with the platform itself.
What stays mandatory is informing customers about alternative dispute resolution. In Romania the competent national body is ANPC. Under ANPC Order 449/2022, the store homepage has to display the 250x50 px ANPC dispute resolution badge, linked to the relevant ANPC page.
If your site still links to sol.ec.europa.eu, remove or replace that link - the platform no longer works.
Frequently asked questions about the legal side of online stores
Do I need a lawyer to launch an online store?
Not legally, but it is worth it for drafting your terms and conditions, privacy policy and returns policy. Generic documents downloaded off the internet often contain clauses that do not match Romanian law, or leave out obligations specific to your product category. A consumer law specialist can save you a fine that costs far more than the advice.
Does the right of withdrawal apply to B2B sales?
No. The 14-day right of withdrawal applies only to contracts with consumers, meaning private individuals. Business-to-business sales are governed by the Civil Code and by whatever the two parties agreed. If your store sells to both, the conditions for each have to be clearly separated.
What if a customer returns a damaged product?
The consumer is liable for any loss in value caused by handling the goods beyond what is needed to establish their nature, characteristics and how they work. In practice, if the product has been used rather than simply inspected, the trader can withhold part of the refund in proportion to the loss in value. This has to be stated explicitly in your returns policy.
Does a manufacturer guarantee replace the legal guarantee?
No. The two-year legal guarantee under OUG 140/2021 is a minimum consumer right that cannot be removed or shortened by contract. A commercial guarantee offered voluntarily by the manufacturer or the trader sits on top of it. If the commercial guarantee runs out after one year, the consumer still has another year of legal guarantee.
