General Standards
Romania is a market with excellent potential, a strategic location, and an increasingly solid business climate. While careful evaluation of the market is needed in order to seize business opportunities, exporting to or investing in Romania is gradually becoming less challenging than in previous years in terms of the predictability of the business environment.
When exporting to Romania, the legal basis that should be taken into consideration relates to the European Custom Code. In order to identify the customs value in EU, a transaction value must be indicated in a specific doccument. It regards the international freight, insurances and some other charges. The majority of import declarations are acknowledged in connection with the transaction value method. All evaluations, administrative or judicial, concerning the customs valuation decisions may be appealed at the National Customs Authority in Romania.
The EU Custom Code dictates non-preferential and preferential measures. The non-preferential ones are imposed for various reasons dealing with quantitative restrictions, Most-Favored-Nation tariff quotas, origin marking, contingency measures and government procurement. All preferential measures are applied in accordance with preferential arrangements.
STANDARDS ORGANIZATION
ASRO is the Romanian national institution for standardization. It is a national private legal entity of public interest, non-governmental and apolitical, set up as a national standards body. ASRO is a full member of CEN, CENELEC, ISO and IEC and an observer member of ETSI. ASRO’s main duties include establishing the principles and methodologies of the national standardization, developing and approving national standards, and participating in European and international standardization activities. In addition, the institution is responsible for providing information to the public in the field of standardization, as well as publishing and disseminating standards.
ASRO provides services and products to standards users. Upon request, they grant national conformity marks SR (conformity to Romanian product standards) and SR-S (conformity to Romanian security standards). The Romanian standards collection includes 28,000 currently in-use standards, original Romanian standards and transposed European and international standards. They apply in various domains, such as: management, environment, services, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, construction, chemistry and others.
IMPORT AND EXPORT LICENSE
There are some specific measures to be taken into account when referring to trade policies in Romania – only those applying to agricultural products. Concerning the Romanian import export duty and taxes, the EU imposes some values or quantitative quotas on imports from other countries. It is highly recommended to request an import license before importing such products. Import/export licenses are also mandatory for commodities considered as potentially hazardous to human health or to environment.
LABELING REQUIREMENTS
The country pays a great attention on the FMCG products’ export/import. The following information must be present on the label:
- product type (trademarks, brand names or fanciful names may not substitute the generic/product name, but may be used in addition to the product name);
- list of ingredients preceded by the word “Ingredients” ( The label must show all ingredients in descending order of weight as recorded at the time of their use in the manufacture and designated by their specific name. In the case of those products that may contain ingredients liable to cause allergies or intolerances, a clear indication should be given on the label by the word “contains” followed by the name of the ingredient. However, this indication will not be necessary provided the specific name is included in the list of ingredients);
- net quantity in metric units (liter, centiliter, milliliter);
- date of minimum durability – not required for wine and beverages containing more than 10% alcohol by volume;
- special conditions for keeping or use (if applicable);
- name or business name and address of the manufacturer, packager or importer established by the EU;
- country of origin or provenance;
- alcohol content for beverages containing more than 1.2% by volume;
- lot identification with the marking preceded by the letter "L".
PACKAGING REQUIREMENTS
Before exporting or importing any type of product, the person has to take into account a number of important international regulations. According to the Romanian Packaging and Labeling Regulation, food packages should carry the following information:
1. name of food;
2. list of ingredients;
3. name and complete address of manufacturer;
4. date of manufacture;
5. best before date or use by date or date of expiry;
6. name and address of importer.
The package should not influence badly the country's environment and does not contain any chemical elements, forbiden for peoples' health.
CONTACTS
Asociaţia de Standardizare din România
Address: Str. Mendeleev nr. 21 – 25, 010362 Bucureşti
General Manager – Mr. Mircea Martiş
Phone: +4021 316 32 96
Fax: +4021 316 08 70
Email: asro@asro.ro ; international@asro.ro
Website: www.asro.ro
