Posting of drivers in the road transport industry

Government Ordinance no. 12/2022 amending and supplementing certain normative acts in the road transport industry ("GO 12/2022") was published in the Romanian Official Gazette no. 98 of 31 January 2022, its provisions being currently in force and applicable.

GO 12/2022 transposed Directive (EU) 2020/1057, amending or supplementing several normative acts in the transport sector industry, including Law no. 16/2017 on the posting of employees in the framework of the provision of transnational services ("Law 16/2017").

The following is a summary of the main amendments brought by GO 12/2022 to Law 16/2017.

When are drivers considered posted?

Drivers who carry out international transport or cabotage are considered employees posted to/from Romania.

What are the exceptions to the posting rule?

The drivers performing the following activities are not considered posted:

• bilateral road transport of goods or passengers;
• transit through the territory of a Member State;
• providing additional loading and/or unloading activities besides bilateral transport;
• the initial or final stage of a combined transport operation.

Obligations of the companies posting drivers in Romania:

• to submit a posting notification to the Labour Inspectorate on the day of the posting, at the latest;

The notification shall be filled in using a standard multilingual form linked to the Internal Market Information System (IMI) established by the European IMI Regulation.

• to keep the posting notifications up to date;
• to ensure that the drivers hold several documents, in hard copy or electronic format (such as, a copy of the posting notification, proof of the transport operations, etc.), to be able to provide them to the representatives of the State Inspectorate for Road Transport Control, upon request;
• to provide the Labour Inspectorate, upon request, at the end of the posting, documents such as: those related to the driver's remuneration for the posting period, the driver's employment contract or an equivalent document, time sheets, etc.).

Breaching the above-mentioned obligation is sanctioned with a fine between RON 10,000 (approx. EUR 2,000) and RON 15,000 (approx. EUR 3,000).

For more information, please contact Băncilă, Diaconu și Asociații SPRL team.