Romania

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

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Legea audiovizualului nr. 504/2002, as amended by Legea 190/2022, requires providers of audiovisual media services under Romania's jurisdiction, covering both television and radio broadcasters and on-demand services, to make programs that could impair minors' physical, mental, or moral development available only in a way that ensures minors will not normally hear or see them, through measures such as scheduling, age-verification tools, or other technical measures, and bars the commercial processing of minors' personal data collected in doing so.

Romania has no social-media minor-access restriction, app-store age-verification requirement, or age-appropriate design code distinct from the EU's Digital Services Act and Audiovisual Media Services Directive framework.

01

Instruments on record

Legea nr. 504/2002 (Legea audiovizualului), art. 39, Minors Protection in Television, Radio, and On-Demand Audiovisual Media Services

In force

Legea audiovizualului nr. 504 din 11 iulie 2002 art. 39, astfel cum a fost modificat prin Legea nr. 190 din 28 iunie 2022, în forma consolidată

Effective 2022-07-03 · Applies to both

The Audiovisual Law (Legea audiovizualului 504/2002) was adopted 11 July 2002 and remains in force, amended repeatedly since. Legea 190/2022 of 28 June 2022, published in the Monitorul Oficial, issue 651 of 30 June 2022, replaced art. 39 with its present text and repealed art. 39^1. The consolidated text dates both changes to 3 July 2022.

Under art. 39(1), audiovisual media services provided by providers under Romania's jurisdiction that could impair minors' physical, mental or moral development may be made available only in a way that ensures minors will not normally hear or see them.

The measures may include selecting the broadcast time, age-verification tools or other technical measures, and must be proportionate to the potential harm of the program, with the most harmful content, such as unjustified violence and pornography, subject to the strictest measures. The law's definition of an audiovisual media service includes television and radio program services and on-demand audiovisual media services, so the duty covers on-demand providers as well as broadcasters.

Art. 39(2) prohibits the commercial processing of minors' personal data collected or otherwise generated by providers in applying art. 39(1), for purposes such as direct marketing, profiling and behaviorally targeted advertising.

Art. 39(3) requires providers to give the public sufficient information about content that may impair minors' development, using a system that describes the potentially harmful nature of the content, which providers may set up through co-regulation or self-regulation under art. 6^1.

A breach of art. 39 is a contravention, and art. 90(1)(g) names art. 39 among the provisions fined 10,000 to 200,000 lei. Art. 91(1) separately names art. 39(1), for which the Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului (CNA) first issues a notice setting conditions and terms for compliance, and a fine of 5,000 to 100,000 lei applies only if the provider does not comply in that time or violates the provisions again.

Enforcement bodyConsiliul Național al Audiovizualului (CNA, National Audiovisual Council)

Source: Full text of law