The practice was widespread: the driver arrives at the warehouse, finds no one to unload, and if they want to leave on time, they unload the cargo themselves. Law no. 100/2026 (Legea nr. 100/2026) puts an end to this situation — and shifts the responsibility to where the cargo is picked up or delivered.
What the law regulates
Law no. 100/2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial al României), Part I, no. 520 of June 24, 2026, regulates the obligations regarding the performance of loading and unloading operations of goods, supports, or packaging moved in road transport of goods for hire or reward.
The scope is clearly defined: vehicles with a maximum authorized mass greater than 12.5 tons. Below this threshold, the law does not apply.
The basic rule
Drivers of road transport vehicles for hire or reward, with a maximum authorized mass of over 12.5 tons, cannot be forced by the beneficiary of the transport, the supplier of the goods, intermediaries, or their representatives to perform loading or unloading operations of goods, supports, or packaging.
The phrasing matters. The law prohibits coercion, not participation. A driver who voluntarily agrees to help does not violate anything — but no one can condition, pressure, or sanction them if they refuse.
The only exception
Drivers can perform unloading operations exclusively in the case of specialized transports, when the nature of the transport requires it, and the individual employment contract or the addendum concluded with their own employer expressly provides for this possibility.
There are two cumulative conditions: the specialized nature of the transport and the contractual clause. The absence of one of them makes the exception inapplicable. For carriers, this means a review of employment contracts, not just an internal memo.
Who is actually targeted
A common mistake is treating the law as a problem only for transport companies. The law establishes responsibilities for the entire logistics chain: carriers, cargo suppliers, transport beneficiaries, and intermediaries — including freight forwarders.
In other words, if your company receives or ships goods using vehicles over 12.5 tons, you are targeted, regardless of whether you own any trucks.
Who monitors compliance
Control and the application of sanctions fall to the Labor Inspection (Inspecția Muncii), through the territorial labor inspectorates, and ISCTR (Inspectoratul de Stat pentru Controlul în Transportul Rutier – State Inspectorate for Road Transport Control) personnel.
Inspectors may request documents certifying the transports and can perform checks both at the operators' headquarters and directly at loading or unloading points — at suppliers, beneficiaries, and intermediaries.
The acts constitute contraventions, and the amount of the fines differs depending on the status of the entity committing the act.
Entry into force
The law entered into force 30 days after its publication in the Official Gazette, therefore in the second half of July 2026.
What you need to do, depending on your role
If you are a beneficiary or a supplier of goods:
- Provide personnel and equipment for loading-unloading at every work point where you receive or ship goods with vehicles over 12.5 tons.
- Review the reception procedure. If your model implicitly assumed the driver unloads, it must be redesigned — including in terms of time and cost.
- Train warehouse staff. Informal pressure on the driver is still coercion.
If you are a carrier:
- Check if you have specialized transports that justify the exception and, if so, insert the clause into individual employment contracts or addenda.
- Inform your drivers about the right to refuse and how to document a refusal.
- Update framework contracts with clients so that the unloading obligation is explicit.
If you are an intermediary or a freight forwarder:
- Clarify in contracts who ensures operations at each end of the transport. Contractual ambiguity turns into contraventional liability.
Why it came to this
The declared motivation for the law relates to the occupational health and safety of drivers and the reduction of work accidents. A driver who drives for hours and then manually unloads several tons of cargo is, statistically, a risk — for themselves and for other road users.
The secondary effect is a clearer delimitation of responsibilities in the logistics chain, in an area where practice relied for years on informal pressure and the absence of a written rule.
Article prepared based on Law no. 100/2026, published in Official Gazette no. 520 of June 24, 2026. The specific amounts of fines should be verified in the text of the law; this article does not constitute legal advice.