Every shop, pharmacy and supermarket in Romania carries a near-identical stack of stickers by the door, and nobody explains them to a newcomer. They are not decoration and not advertising — each one is a legal notice a retailer is required to display. Four of the standard ones, photographed on one door in Craiova.
Headed ‘Guvernul României — Autoritatea Națională pentru Protecția Consumatorilor’, with a phone number under ‘Telefonul consumatorilor’. This is the national consumer-protection authority’s hotline, and every retail unit is legally required to post it. It is who you ring if a trader sells you something faulty, refuses a refund you are entitled to, or overcharges against a posted price — not the shop itself.
The ANPC panel headed ‘Soluționarea alternativă a litigiilor (SAL)’, with two QR codes. This is the EU-mandated alternative dispute resolution notice: if a complaint with the trader goes nowhere, SAL is the free national body for resolving it without going to court, and SOL (the EU’s Online Dispute Resolution platform) is the equivalent for something bought online. Every trader in the EU has to display how to reach both.
The tax authority’s sticker — ‘Vă rugăm solicitați bon fiscal’, citing Legea 64/2002. Issuing a till receipt for every sale is a legal obligation on the seller, and asking for one is not fussy — it is your only proof of purchase for a return or a warranty claim. Romania used to run a receipt lottery, cash prizes for keeping your bon fiscal, as an extra incentive; it was abolished in 2022 once electronic tills started reporting sales to ANAF in real time, so today the receipt is just the law and your paper trail, not a ticket.
The green-bordered notice: ‘Conform Legii nr. 280/2023, femeile însărcinate și persoanele însoțite de copii cu vârsta de până la 3 ani au prioritate la casele de marcat’ — pregnant women and anyone with a child under three get priority at the checkout, by law, not by favour. Worth knowing both ways: it applies to you if it applies to you, and it is why the queue sometimes lets someone straight to the front.