On 1 October 2026 Romania replaced the time-based vignette for trucks with TollRo, a toll charged for every kilometre driven. It applies to every goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes on Romanian motorways, expressways and national roads, whatever country it is registered in.
This guide is written for hauliers and dispatchers who send trucks into or through Romania. It is based on the official texts: the law, the implementing rules published on 30 September 2026 and the road administrator's own announcements. The system is only days old and some rules are still being debated, so the last sections describe the situation as it stands and will be updated.
TollRo in brief
TollRo covers goods vehicles with a maximum authorised mass above 3.5 tonnes, and mixed-use vehicles treated as such. Sections of national road inside municipalities are exempt. The rules are set out in Law no. 226/2023 (in Romanian), which states that the tolls apply without discrimination as to the nationality of the user, the country where the operator is established or the country of registration.
The toll is the rate per kilometre multiplied by the distance driven, in whole kilometres. Rates depend on the vehicle's mass, its emission class and the type of road. The figures below come from the Transport Minister's Order no. 1.925/2025, as published by the Romanian hauliers' association UNTRR, in lei per kilometre, VAT included:
| Vehicle category | Road type | Euro VI | Euro V and IV | Euro III-0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over 3.5 t, up to 7.5 t | Motorways and expressways | 0.17 | 0.19 | 0.22 |
| Over 3.5 t, up to 7.5 t | National roads | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.11 |
| Over 7.5 t, under 12 t | Motorways and expressways | 0.29 | 0.33 | 0.37 |
| Over 7.5 t, under 12 t | National roads | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.19 |
| 12 t and over | Motorways and expressways | 0.48 | 0.55 | 0.62 |
| 12 t and over | National roads | 0.24 | 0.28 | 0.31 |
The toll is set and charged in lei. As a rough guide, at the rate of 5.24 lei to the euro used in UNTRR's estimates, 0.48 lei is about 9 euro cents per kilometre. A Euro VI truck of 12 tonnes or more that drives 500 kilometres of motorway would pay 240 lei, roughly 46 euros. That is our own arithmetic from the official rates, not an official quote; the real amount depends on the route the system calculates.
Two details are easy to miss:
- Trailers change the category. When a truck runs with a trailer or semi-trailer, the category is set by the total mass of the combination, the sum of the maximum authorised masses in the registration documents. The user declares the configuration and is responsible for it.
- Unknown emission class means the highest rate. If the emission class cannot be established from the registration document, the vehicle is treated as Euro 0. Check what class the system shows before the first trip.
Passenger vehicles and goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes are not affected: they continue to use the vignette.
How to pay: two options for now
The law provides three ways to pay: a contract with a toll service provider using an on-board unit, a route ticket, or the road administrator's mobile app. The first does not work yet. Interoperability with the European Electronic Toll Service becomes operational from 15 January 2027, and in early September the road administrator said that registration of providers had not started. An on-board unit you use in other countries will not pay TollRo for now.
That leaves two options, described in the administrator's announcement of 25 September.
The route ticket
A route ticket is paid before the trip, for a fixed route. Under the implementing rules (Order no. 922/2026, Official Gazette no. 832 of 30 September 2026), the ticket:
- is bought at most 24 hours before the declared departure;
- covers a single passage on the declared route: origin, intermediate points, destination;
- is valid for 72 hours from the declared departure and expires even if only part of the route was driven;
- can be cancelled only until its validity starts.
One caution: at the time of writing, the official portal still showed a 72-hour window for buying in advance. The rules published in the Official Gazette say 24 hours.
To issue a ticket you need the country and registration number of the truck, the registration number of the trailer, the emission class, the vehicle identification number, the vehicle category, the total mass, length, height and width of the combination as it travels, the departure date and time, and the route. For vehicles registered in Romania some of this is pulled automatically from national databases; for foreign vehicles it has to be entered by hand, so have the registration documents ready.
Tickets are issued on the etoll.ro portal, which has an English version marked as beta, in the TollRo app, and at the road administrator's offices, including those at border crossings. Online payment is available around the clock. At the offices you can pay in cash or by card during opening hours.
The mobile app
The TollRo app records the distance actually driven using the phone's GPS, and the toll is paid from an electronic wallet. The implementing rules state that the app can be used by Romanian and foreign users and must be available at least in Romanian and English.
The driver has to start the charging session at departure, keep the phone charged with mobile data, location and automatic time enabled, watch for alerts and stop the session at the end of the trip, and also whenever the vehicle configuration changes. The account must hold enough funds at all times. If the app can no longer be used, the rules require the driver to stop, safely, until the cause is fixed or the toll is paid another way. The rules also say the app should store location data locally when there is no connection and send it once the connection returns.
Which one to choose
The ticket suits trips with a known, stable route, such as a planned transit. It cannot be changed once its validity starts, and refunds are limited to three cases: the vehicle did not owe the toll, a higher category was paid than the real one, or the ticket was cancelled in time. For trips where the destination may change on the way, the app is the only practical option.
The rules oblige the road administrator to run a single TollRo help centre, available 24 hours a day, in Romanian and English.
What happens at a check
Checks are made by cameras and by stopping vehicles. What follows depends on where the vehicle is registered.
Roadside checks. If non-payment is found when the vehicle is stopped, the driver receives a payment notice on the spot and can pay immediately by electronic means, including by card. A fine follows only if the driver refuses.
Camera checks, vehicles registered in an EU member state. The keeper receives an information letter by registered post, in an official language of the country of registration, and has 72 hours from receipt to pay the toll due plus the administrative costs of the notification. Payment within the deadline ends the matter.
Camera checks, vehicles registered outside the EU. Unpaid tolls detected by cameras are recorded in the system, and the payment notice for all of them is issued at the first roadside stop, including at border crossings.
The amount requested is the toll calculated on distance or, where the distance cannot be established, a flat 2,000 lei, applied once per 12 hours. If it is not paid, the fine is 10 to 20 times the toll due, or 5,000 lei where the distance cannot be established. The information letter and the payment notice are not fines in themselves.
Getting money back
For route tickets, refunds are limited to the three cases above. The request is made on the form on the administrator's portal, with a copy of the registration certificate; the deadline for a decision is 45 working days, and transfer costs and the payment processor's commission are deducted. A ticket that was not used but not cancelled in time is not refunded.
For the app, you are entitled to a refund if you were charged wrongly because of a fault in the system or the app, established by the administrator, including after your complaint. Keep the documents for every trip: for each ticket and each app session you can download a fiscal document and a document showing the route, the kilometres charged by road type and the amount with VAT.
The situation on 2 October 2026
The platform had problems from day one. The road administrator said that account confirmation emails were being throttled by Gmail and Yahoo, that there were faults in confirming payments, and that it would not sanction users who could not buy TollRo until these were fixed.
UNTRR published a list of 21 problems reported by hauliers in the first hours. Three concern international transport directly:
- at one border crossing, issuing a single ticket at the counter reportedly took almost 11 minutes;
- one border office was reported not to be issuing route tickets;
- hauliers' associations from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine reported that their drivers were not receiving the emails needed to confirm their accounts.
Other reports included routes that could not be completed to the destination, proposed routes unsuitable for trucks, vehicle data that had to be re-entered for every ticket, and the app disconnecting while driving. If you are planning trips in the coming weeks, allow extra time for issuing tickets and create your account before the truck reaches the border.
A legislative proposal in the Romanian Senate would extend the payment deadline after an information letter from 72 hours to at most 30 days. It received a favourable opinion from the Legislative Council, with the remark that the measures cannot apply retroactively from 1 October. According to press reports, the proposal would also suspend fines until 31 March 2027. Until it is adopted, the rules above are the ones in force.
How it compares with neighbouring countries
Distance-based tolling is not new in the region, and Romania's model resembles its neighbours'. Hungary's HU-GO system uses on-board units and route tickets paid before the trip, valid for a single passage. Poland has the e-TOLL PL app and on-board devices. Bulgaria sells route passes through BG TOLL. The difference is that in those countries on-board units already work, so large fleets do not depend on tickets issued one by one. In Romania that option is expected only from January 2027.
A short checklist before your next trip to Romania
- Create the account on the portal or in the app before departure, and confirm it while you still have time to chase a missing email.
- Keep the registration documents for the truck and trailer at hand: you will need mass, dimensions, emission class and identification number.
- Check which emission class the system shows for your vehicle.
- Decide per trip: route ticket for a fixed transit, app for routes that may change.
- If you use a ticket, buy it no more than 24 hours before departure and make sure the truck finishes within 72 hours.
- If you use the app, top up the wallet and give the driver written instructions for what to do if the app disconnects.
- Download and keep the documents for every trip.
Frequently asked questions
Who has to pay TollRo in Romania?
Every goods vehicle with a maximum authorised mass above 3.5 tonnes, and mixed-use vehicles treated as such, on Romanian motorways, expressways and national roads. The toll applies regardless of the nationality of the operator or the country where the vehicle is registered. Passenger vehicles and goods vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes keep paying the time-based vignette (rovinieta).
Can I use my existing EETS on-board unit to pay TollRo?
Not yet. Romanian law makes interoperability with the European Electronic Toll Service operational from 15 January 2027. Until then the toll is paid with a route ticket bought before the trip or through the free TollRo mobile app.
How far in advance can I buy a TollRo route ticket?
At most 24 hours before the declared departure date and time, under the implementing rules (Order 922/2026). The ticket is valid for 72 hours from the declared departure and covers a single passage on the declared route. It can only be cancelled before its validity starts.
How much is the TollRo fine?
First you are asked to pay the toll due: the amount calculated on distance, or a flat 2,000 lei, once per 12 hours, if the distance cannot be established. If that is not paid within 72 hours of receiving the information letter, the fine is 10 to 20 times the toll due, or 5,000 lei where the distance cannot be established.
What happens if the TollRo platform is down?
Under the implementing rules, vehicles that hold a valid route ticket or have an active charging session in the app at the time of a malfunction are not recorded as unpaid, and the toll is settled later at no extra cost. On 1 October 2026 the road administrator CNAIR announced it would not sanction users who could not buy TollRo because of the platform's technical problems.
A new toll is one more task on top of orders, trip documents and customs paperwork. If your office already runs on spreadsheets and phone calls, the place to start is knowing where the time goes. Take the free digital audit to see where your company stands in five minutes.