AUTHORIZING THE ECONOMIC OPERATORS TO CARRY OUT THE ACTIVITIES OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT OF PASSENGERS AND/OR CARGO BY INLAND WATERWAYS (DECREE NO 37/2014)

Public transport of passengers and/or cargo by Romania’s inland waterways shall be permitted only to the authorized economic operators in this sense, respectively the legal or natural persons of Romanian nationality.

According to this normative act, the transport of passengers and/or goods could carried out if the economic operators have been previously authorized to perform the activities mentioned by the CAEN Code 5030 – Transport of passengers by inland waterways and/or by the CAEN Code 5040 – Transport of cargo by inland waterways.
The authorization to conduct such activities is not sufficient, since it is necessary to have the necessary skills and competencies to enable them to ensure optimum and safety transport.
The foreign legal entities may provide public transportation of passengers and/or cargo by inland waterways of the Romanian state, using ships flying a flag other than the Romanian flag and without prior authorization in this regard, but only in the event that its are found in at least one of the following situations:

  • The vessels shall be registered in one of the EU Member State or possessed a Membership Certificate in the fleet belonging to another EU Member State;
  • The vessels shall be transiting the national waters without making loading / unloading operations in the Romanian ports;
  • The passengers and / or cargo transport in the inland waterways shall be done in direct traffic between a Romanian port and a port of the State whose flag flying by the ships;
  • The vessels shall be transporting passengers for tourism cruise, with stopover in one or more Romanian ports;
  • The foreign legal person which can carry out the economic activities, have obtained from the Ministry of Transport, directly or through the shippers of cargo and/or passengers, the authorization provided by the regulations in force, for the inland waterways transport in direct traffic between a Romanian port and an another State port, with vessels that shall not flying the flag of the State’s port of destination;
  • The express provisions of international agreements and conventions, to which Romania is a party, shall provide in this respect.


Published in the Official Journal of Romania no. 90 of 05.02.2014
The Act has entered into force on 5th of February 2014
Issuer: Ministry of Transport