🇷🇴 Country guide · updated 2026-09
Drone laws in Romania
We have to start this page with what we got wrong.
At a glance
- Registration
- fee not confirmed by the authority
- Registration portal
- Portal UAS AACR
- Maximum height
- 120 m above ground level in the Open category.
- Insurance
- Not required by national law
We could not confirm the exact current fee for Romania against an official published tariff. The figure above is our best reading — check AACR (Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority) before you rely on it.
We have to start this page with what we got wrong. The registration fee we published — around €90 plus VAT — belongs to Romania's pre-EASA national regime, a 2016 transport ministry order, and has been repeated by Romanian blogs ever since; it is not the current fee. What the current fee actually is we could not confirm from the authority, whose website refuses automated access, so we print no figure until we can. Two other things on this page were wrong in the other direction: the Danube Delta is not closed to drones but runs a permit scheme, and Romania does publish fines — large ones — in its Air Code. And the eastern border carries a real flight ban, not just «sensitivity».
Country-specific decision path
Before you choose a launch point in Romania
- Confirm your operator paperwork Registration required — fee not confirmed by the authority. In the EU. One EU/EEA operator registration covers this country. Open Portal UAS AACR
- Check the exact route on the official map ROMATSA drone zones is the national starting point; read every condition covering the complete route, not only the launch pin. Open ROMATSA drone zones
- Apply the local layer EU registrations valid in Romania. Review the Romania zone and nature checks
Registration in Romania
Romania fully implements EU Regulations 2019/947 and 2019/945. The AACR manages drone registration and authorization. Geographic zones have been established for airports, military installations, and protected areas.
We withdrew the figure of around €90 plus VAT. It traces to a 2017 article citing transport ministry order 1338/2016, the national regime replaced by the EU rules in January 2021, and it has been copied forward since. Current Romanian guides give figures from free to about €20 a year, and validity from one year to five, and they disagree with each other. The authority's own site would not load for us — it blocks automated requests — so we cannot settle it, and we would rather print nothing than another wrong number. The registration portal appears to be uas.caa.ro; confirm on caa.ro. An EU or EEA registration is valid here and you should not register again.
What it costs: fee not confirmed by the authority.
In the EU. One EU/EEA operator registration covers this country.
How to register
- If you hold an EU or EEA operator registration, it is valid in Romania — do not register again
- Otherwise register through the authority's UAS portal; confirm the current fee and validity on caa.ro, because we could not
- Take the A1/A3 online training and test if your drone needs it
- Open the ROMATSA UAS map at flightplan.romatsa.ro/init/drones — and note its base layer dates from 2022
- For the Danube Delta, buy the drone overflight permit from the reserve at permise.ddbra.ro
- Stay well clear of the Ukrainian border strip — see below
You register as an operator — not the drone. Registration is required from 250 g, or below 250 g if the drone can transfer more than 80 J of energy, or if it carries a sensor able to capture personal data. CE-marked toys are exempt. Put your operator number on every drone you fly and set it in Remote ID.
Flight rules
- Maximum height
- 120 m above ground level in the Open category.
- Line of sight
- Visual line of sight required.
- Weight classes
- Standard EU weight classifications.
- Night flying
- Night flying is allowed in the Open category. A drone with a class mark must show a flashing green light so it stays visible. You still have to keep it in sight, which is harder after dark, and national geographical zones apply exactly as they do in daylight.
- Weather
- Good weather required. Mountain weather in the Carpathians can be unpredictable.
Class marks C0–C6 have been mandatory since 1 January 2024. The transition period is over: a drone without a class mark may only be flown in A1 (under 250 g) or A3 (under 25 kg).
Where you may not fly
There is no single EU-wide distance from airports. Each country publishes its own UAS geographical zones, so check the national map or app before every flight.
Airports and controlled airspace
Henri Coandă, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara and the other controlled airports have control zones. They are on the ROMATSA UAS map at flightplan.romatsa.ro/init/drones, which offers Excel, shapefile and JSON downloads. The page itself says its zones are valid from September 2021 with one added in February 2022 and gives no later update date, so treat the base layer as old and the separate NOTAM layer as the live one.
Towns and cities
The Air Code, Article 15, prohibits unmanned aircraft over facilities of the national defence, public order and national security system. It defines a category rather than naming buildings; the Parliament Palace and the government quarter in Bucharest are the obvious members of it.
Protected nature
The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve does not ban drones. Its administration runs a permit scheme, and the reserve's own online permit portal at permise.ddbra.ro sells a «small drone overflight permit, under 500 g» for 50 lei alongside its fishing and boat permits. What applies to a drone over 500 g we could not find — possibly a different tariff, possibly no permit — so ask the reserve. We previously called the Delta «heavily restricted» and said Carpathian national parks «may restrict drones»; the first was imprecise and the second we could not source to any park authority, so it is gone.
Government and military sites
Facilities of the national defence, public order and national security system — Air Code Article 15. Military installations, especially in the east.
Border and military restricted areas
Romania has had a restricted zone along its border with Ukraine since May 2022, at first 8 km deep and up to 1,000 m. On 13–14 September 2023, after Russian drone debris fell repeatedly in Tulcea county, the transport and defence ministries expanded it to 20 to 30 km inland from Sulina to Galați, up to 4,000 m, and the announcement was explicit that «in these restricted zones the flight of piloted or unpiloted aircraft is not permitted, with the exception of state aircraft». Emergency flights are excepted.
We have this from the government's announcement as reported by two established Romanian outlets, not from a current NOTAM, and we could not confirm from the authority that the zone stands at exactly these boundaries today. Given that Romania logged 25 airspace incursions by late August 2026 and shot down a drone on 20 August, we would be surprised if it had loosened. Check NOTAMs and the ROMATSA map before flying anywhere in northern Dobrogea.
Separately, Law 73/2025 of May 2025 authorises the armed forces to intervene against, and down, aircraft violating national airspace. It is a defence measure aimed at incursions and changes nothing in the rules for civil operators. Do not read it as a drone regulation.
Other restrictions in Romania
- The Ukrainian border strip carries a flight ban on unmanned aircraft — see below
- We previously listed fortified churches, bear sanctuaries and Bran Castle as restricted. We could source none of them and have removed them
Insurance
Romania requires third-party insurance only above 20 kg. We read the Air Code — Law 21/2020 — and its insurance article, 33, binds aerodrome operators, not drone operators; we found no article adding a national duty for light drones. One caveat: the authority's detailed UAS regulation sits behind a site we could not load, so a narrower provision there cannot be excluded.
Penalties
Romania publishes fines in the Air Code, Law 21/2020, and they are among the largest in Europe: operating a UAS without the required certification or authorisation carries 25,000 to 50,000 lei under Articles 126 and 127, and breaching an airspace restriction 50,000 to 100,000 lei. We read these in a legal database's reproduction of the code, not in the Official Gazette, which we could not reach, so we report the brackets here rather than in our verified table. Figures from Government Decision 912/2010 still circulate — 20,000 to 35,000 lei or imprisonment — and predate the current code.
Whatever the amount, the pattern across Europe is the same: paperwork failures are handled administratively, while flying near aircraft, over crowds, or inside a protected zone is what turns a case into a prosecution.
Visiting Romania with a drone
EU registrations valid in Romania. The country offers excellent value for drone tourism. Rural areas have few restrictions. The Carpathians and Transylvania are highlights.
Commercial work
Specific-category authorisations go through the authority. A figure of €540 plus VAT for a national flight permit circulates; it belongs to the pre-2021 regime, and we found no current fee schedule. We previously said filming at historic sites may need culture ministry permits; we could not source that to drones and have dropped it.
Location planning
These are well-known photographic subjects to research, not recommended launch points or proof that a flight is allowed. Check the exact route against official airspace, nature, land-manager and people restrictions.
- Carpathian Mountains and passes
- Transylvanian countryside and fortified churches
- Maramureș wooden churches region
- Apuseni Mountains
- Black Sea coastline
- Bukovina painted monasteries region
Apps and official maps
- flightplan.romatsa.ro/init/drones — the air navigation provider's UAS restricted-zone map, with Excel, shapefile and JSON downloads. Note the static files it serves are dated February 2022, so check currency before relying on them
- caa.ro — the civil aviation authority's drone pages. The authority runs an online registration platform; we could not confirm its address from an official source and do not print one
Practical tips
- Ignore any registration fee you read for Romania, including the one we used to print. The €90 figure is from 2016 and the authority's site is unreachable to us — confirm on caa.ro
- The Danube Delta is not closed: a drone permit for under 500 g costs 50 lei at permise.ddbra.ro. Ask the reserve about heavier drones
- A 20–30 km strip along the Ukrainian border from Sulina to Galați bans unmanned aircraft up to 4,000 m. Check NOTAMs on the day
- The Air Code fines are large — 25,000 to 100,000 lei brackets — and older figures in circulation are from a repealed decision
- The ROMATSA map's base layer is from 2021–2022; use its NOTAM layer for anything current
- An EU registration is valid here. Do not register again
Questions about flying in Romania
Do I need to register to fly a drone in Romania?
Registration required — fee not confirmed by the authority. In the EU. One EU/EEA operator registration covers this country.
How high can I fly in Romania?
120 m above ground level in the Open category.
Do I need drone insurance in Romania?
Romania requires third-party insurance only above 20 kg. We read the Air Code — Law 21/2020 — and its insurance article, 33, binds aerodrome operators, not drone operators; we found no article adding a national duty for light drones. One caveat: the authority's detailed UAS regulation sits behind a site we could not load, so a narrower provision there cannot be excluded.
Can I fly a drone at night in Romania?
Night flying is allowed in the Open category. A drone with a class mark must show a flashing green light so it stays visible. You still have to keep it in sight, which is harder after dark, and national geographical zones apply exactly as they do in daylight.
What are the penalties for breaking drone rules in Romania?
Romania publishes fines in the Air Code, Law 21/2020, and they are among the largest in Europe: operating a UAS without the required certification or authorisation carries 25,000 to 50,000 lei under Articles 126 and 127, and breaching an airspace restriction 50,000 to 100,000 lei. We read these in a legal database's reproduction of the code, not in the Official Gazette, which we could not reach, so we report the brackets here rather than in our verified table. Figures from Government Decision 912/2010 still circulate — 20,000 to 35,000 lei or imprisonment — and predate the current code.
Official sources
Primary sources used for this guide, checked September 2026. Open the live national source again before flying; geographical zones and temporary restrictions can change between reviews.
- National authority AACR (Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority) — official drone information
- Registration Portal UAS AACR
- Official zones and map ROMATSA drone zones — ROMATSA
- European framework Regulation (EU) 2019/947 — rules and procedures for operating unmanned aircraft
- Official maps directory EASA — national aviation authorities and geographical-zone sources
Rules change, and national authorities publish the current position. Before you fly, check AACR (Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority) — it is linked at the top of this page too.