On 30 October 2026, the Romanian Government adopted Emergency Ordinance No. 43/2026, whereby it decided to extend the suspension of administrative penalties for issuing tax receipts that do not contain certain mandatory elements, including information that must be included in the form of a QR code.

Consequently, businesses are granted a further transitional period, up to and including 31 October 2027, during which fines ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 lei will not be imposed for the non-compliances specifically covered by this measure.

This legislative amendment comes in the context of the technical and administrative difficulties experienced in implementing the new requirements for electronic fiscal cash registers.

1. What are the legal obligations of businesses regarding the QR code?

The obligation to include certain information in the form of a QR code on tax receipts was introduced by GEO No. 69/2024, which amended Government Emergency Ordinance No. 28/1999 on the obligation of businesses to use electronic fiscal cash registers.

According to Article 4(2¹) of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 28/1999, tax receipts must contain the following information in the form of a QR code:

• the date and time of issue of the tax receipt;
• the identification number of the tax receipt;
• the fiscal serial number of the electronic fiscal cash register.

Furthermore, the legislation provides for the inclusion on the tax receipt of the recipient’s tax identification number, at their request, as well as the tax receipt’s identification number.

The purpose of these requirements is to facilitate the electronic verification of tax documents, increase the transparency of commercial transactions and combat tax evasion.

2. The imposition of fines ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 lei has been suspended until 31 October 2027

Under Government Emergency Ordinance No. 28/1999, issuing tax receipts without certain mandatory details may constitute an administrative offence, punishable by a fine of between 2,000 and 4,000 lei.

Initially, the imposition of these penalties had been suspended until 1 November 2026, by Article IV of GEO No. 68/2025.

However, given the impossibility of completing all the stages necessary to implement the technical requirements, the Government adopted GEO No. 43/2026 on 30 October 2026, amending Article IV of GEO No. 68/2025 and extending by one year the suspension of the application of the penalty provisions until 31 October 2027 inclusive. The suspension covers both the provisions classifying as an administrative offence the issuing of a tax receipt without the recipient’s identification code, the receipt’s identification number and the data provided for in Article 4(2¹) of GEO No. 28/1999 in the form of a QR code, and the provisions establishing the applicable penalty. According to the Government, the purpose of the measure is to provide a reasonable period of time to complete the mandatory implementation stages, without penalising businesses that are not at fault.

Consequently, in the absence of further legislative amendments, the relevant penalty provisions will become applicable from 1 November 2027.

It is important to note that the new regulation does not remove the obligations regarding the information that must be included on tax receipts, but temporarily suspends the application of the provisions which classify the absence of the expressly mentioned elements as an administrative offence and impose penalties.

3. Why was it necessary to postpone the application of the penalties?

According to the explanatory memorandum to the legislative act, the implementation of the QR code on tax receipts involves several mandatory and interdependent stages, which could not be finalised by the previously set deadline.

The main steps required for implementation include:

• amending secondary and tertiary legislation relating to electronic fiscal cash registers;
• the development of software by authorised distributors of electronic fiscal cash registers;
• the testing of all cash register models available on the market at the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest), with a view to obtaining the supplementary technical approval;
• the installation of the new software on all cash registers, an operation that requires service technicians to travel on site.

According to the explanatory memorandum, approximately one million electronic fiscal cash registers require updates. The measure also responds to a request from the employers’ organisation IMM România, which had called for the fines to be postponed for another year, warning of the risk of successive inspections by several institutions empowered to verify the same facts.

Consequently, the extension of the suspension of the application of penalties is justified, thereby granting economic operators a one-year grace period before penalties are imposed in the event of non-compliance regarding the inclusion of the QR code on the tax receipt.

4. What measures should businesses take?

Although the imposition of penalties has been postponed, it is advisable for businesses using electronic fiscal cash registers to begin preparations to comply with the new requirements.

To this end, they should:

1. Check, together with authorised distributors or service centres, that the cash registers they use are compatible with future software updates.
2. Monitor the publication of technical standards and the availability of the approved software required to implement the QR code.
3. Plan any technical interventions, taking into account the number of machines in use and the time required to update them.
4. To keep the documents relating to servicing and updating operations, in order to be able to demonstrate the steps taken to ensure compliance.
5. To continue to ensure compliance with all other legal obligations regarding the use of cash registers and the issuing of tax receipts.

It should also be emphasised that the new regulation does not, in itself, impose a general obligation to replace cash registers immediately. The need to replace or update a particular device must be assessed on the basis of its technical characteristics and the authorised solutions that will become available.

5. Conclusions

Extending the suspension of penalties for the absence of a QR code and the other expressly stipulated identification elements until 31 October 2027 inclusive is an important measure for businesses, particularly those in the retail, services and catering sectors.

The legislative amendment provides the business community with additional time to adapt electronic fiscal cash registers to the new requirements, given that their implementation involves both legislative changes and the development of authorised technical solutions.

However, the postponement of the application of penalties does not amount to the removal of existing tax obligations.

Operators must continue to issue tax receipts in accordance with the law and monitor developments in the regulatory framework so that, upon expiry of the suspension period, they can ensure the compliance of the cash registers in use.