🇷🇴How to verify a supplier in Romania
To verify a supplier in Romania, look the company up for free in the official ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului) and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns registered name, CUI, trade-register number, legal form (SRL, SA), registered seat, status, and the CAEN activity code. The ONRC extract (certificat constatator) also lists the directors and any registered work point (punct de lucru), which is where an actual factory or warehouse sits.
The official registry
- Registry
- ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului)
- Company ID
- CUI/CIF (fiscal code) and the trade-register number (J.../year)
- Cost
- Free basic lookup
- Active status
- The company must be active (not radiata / dizolvata / in lichidare) AND fiscally active at ANAF: a firm declared Inactiv Fiscal issues invoices that are void for tax, so paying one loses you both the expense deduction and the VAT.
- Two separate checks, both free and both necessary. ONRC (onrc.ro) proves the company legally exists and who runs it. ANAF, the tax authority, proves it is fiscally alive: its free register shows the Inactiv Fiscal flag, VAT-cancelled (TVA anulat) status, and tax debts. A company can be alive at ONRC and dead at ANAF.
- VAT: Romania is in the EU, so validate a RO VAT number for free on VIES. If the invoice shows RO+digits but VIES (or ANAF) says the VAT code is cancelled, the Romanian state can hold YOU liable for the unpaid tax, this is the single most expensive thing to miss.
- The address test separates a maker from a middleman. A real manufacturer has a punct de lucru (operational work point, the factory or warehouse) in its ONRC extract. A firm that claims to manufacture but shows only a registered seat inside an apartment block (Bloc..., Etaj..., Ap...) or a Sediu Social Gazduit (hosted headquarters) is almost certainly a broker, not a factory.
- The phoenix-company tell, specific to Romania: a slick website and a CUI that, on lookup, is under 12 months old, has 0-1 employees and 200 RON of share capital. These are often spun up to run up debt and shed old tax liabilities. Check the administrators history at ONRC for links to liquidated or heavily indebted firms.
- Court and insolvency: portal.just.ro is the free court-record search (look for the company as Parat / defendant under Faliment, bankruptcy), and the insolvency bulletin (BPI) at ONRC shows published insolvency notices. Filed balance sheets are free at mfinante.gov.ro, where a claimed high-volume distributor showing zero revenue and zero assets is the tell.
Verify it in four steps
1. Open the ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului)
ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului) is the official government record of companies in Romania. Basic name or number search is free.
2. Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its CUI/CIF (fiscal code) and the trade-register number (J.../year). If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
3. Confirm it is active, not struck off
The company must be active (not radiata / dizolvata / in lichidare) AND fiscally active at ANAF: a firm declared Inactiv Fiscal issues invoices that are void for tax, so paying one loses you both the expense deduction and the VAT.
4. Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch. For an EU company, also validate the VAT number in the free EU VIES system.
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.
We do this check for you
On every Romania company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine Romania suppliers, not just the loudest.
Related guides
Questions
Is checking a Romania supplier free?
Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului) is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.
What ID does a Romania company have?
Its CUI/CIF (fiscal code) and the trade-register number (J.../year). Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the ONRC (Oficiul National al Registrului Comertului) and check the registered name matches.
How do I know a Romania supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?
The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader. Two separate checks, both free and both necessary. ONRC (onrc.ro) proves the company legally exists and who runs it. ANAF, the tax authority, proves it is fiscally alive: its free register shows the Inactiv Fiscal flag, VAT-cancelled (TVA anulat) status, and tax debts. A company can be alive at ONRC and dead at ANAF.