The Romanian “talon”, field by field
What do the letters on a Romanian registration certificate mean?
Tap any field on the specimen below, or type its code however you know it: P2, P.2, I.1, J, X, Y. You get what the Romanian order says, what the EU Directive says, and what it means in practice.
Mandatory in the Directive
P.2Maximum net power
The engine’s maximum power in kilowatts, where known. The certificate does not give horsepower.
In practice
81 kW is about 110 metric horsepower.
Worth knowing
The horsepower figure is a calculation (1 metric hp = 735.5 W), not a field on the certificate. Imperial hp (745.7 W) gives another result.
What the order says
puterea netă maximă (în kW) (dacă este disponibilă)What the EU Directive says
maximum net power (in kW) (if available)An illustration, not a real certificate. The values are fictitious. The arrangement is schematic: the order does not say where each field sits.
First page
România · RO
CERTIFICAT DE ÎNMATRICULARE
UNIUNEA EUROPEANĂ
Inside pages 1 and 2
Page 3: the annex
How the certificate is built#
The talon is the certificat de înmatriculare, the registration certificate, and it has three leaves. The first page carries the country name, the code “RO”, the document title, the issuing authority and the document number. Inside pages 1 and 2 carry the fields, each with a code. Page 3, the annex, is made for periodic technical inspections, at field X.
The codes are not a Romanian invention. They come from annex I of Directive 1999/37/EC, and Order 1454/2006 of the Minister of Administration and Interior puts them into the Romanian model. That is why B means the date of first registration and P.2 the maximum net power in kW on certificates that follow the Directive’s harmonised model.
Romania adds fields that the Directive’s annex does not have: I.1 (the date the document was issued) and Z (the issuing authority); between 2018 and 2023 it also had Y (the series of the vehicle’s identity book). In the other direction, the Directive has more codes, from F.2 to W, that the order does not put on the Romanian model. The annex was last replaced by Order 189/2023, published on 15 December 2023; the fields on this page follow that text. The table at the end keeps the lists apart.
B, I and I.1: three dates, none of them the year of manufacture#
B is the date of the vehicle’s first registration. I is the date of the registration the document refers to. I.1 is the date the document was issued. The three can coincide or differ.
| B | First registration | 14 March 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| I | Registration this document records | 2 August 2021 |
| I.1 | Issue of the document | 9 September 2021 |
An invented example: a vehicle built in 2015, which appears nowhere on the certificate.
Annex 1 of the order has no field for the year of manufacture. A “year of manufacture” field appears only in annex 2, for the separate registration certificate (certificat de înregistrare), where the issuer may add it optionally. On a talon, B cannot be read as a build year: a vehicle can be registered years after it was built.
X and Y: three texts of the same annex#
Annex 1 of the order has had three versions. In 2006 the vehicle identity-book series sat at X. Order 98/2017, in force from 20 May 2018, moved the series to Y and reserved X for the periodic technical inspection, on page 3: proof of passing and the date of the next one. Order 189/2023, published on 15 December 2023, replaced the annex again: Y is no longer among its fields.
The 2018 change follows the Directive: Directive 2014/46/EU added code X to annex I for proof of having passed the roadworthiness test, the date of the next test or the expiry of the current certificate.
A guide that puts the identity-book series at X uses the 2006 annex; one that presents it at Y as a field of the current annex uses the 2018–2023 text. The current annex provides no field for the series. For a certificate already issued, check the fields printed on the document.
F.1 and G: two different masses#
F.1 is the maximum technically permissible laden mass, in kilograms: how much the loaded vehicle may weigh, as set by its maker. G is the mass of the vehicle in service, with bodywork; for a towing vehicle outside category M1 the coupling device is counted too.
The gap between them is not a guaranteed payload. The order does not define “mass in service”; that definition sits in the type-approval acts. Motorcycles have no F.1.
P.1 and P.2: cm³, kW and horsepower#
P.1 is the engine capacity in cm³ and P.2 the maximum net power in kW, where available. The certificate gives no horsepower. The calculator below converts: 1 metric horsepower is 735.5 W.
Calculation: 1 metric hp = 735.5 W. Not a field on the certificate.
Imperial horsepower (hp), used in other countries, is 745.7 W, so the same engine has a slightly different hp figure. The conversion is this page’s calculation, not a field on the document.
Every field in one table#
The first list is the current Romanian model, in the order of annex 1 of the order. The second is the field from the 2018–2023 model that left the annex. The third holds the Directive’s codes that the order does not provide for.
On the Romanian model
| Code | What it is | Unit | In the Directive |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Registration number | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| B | Date of first registration | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| C.1 | Holder of the certificate | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| C.2 | Owner of the vehicle | — | Optional in the Directive |
| C.3 | Someone who may use the vehicle without owning it | — | Optional in the Directive |
| C.4 | Whether the holder is the owner | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| D.1 | Make | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| D.2 | Type, variant and version | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| D.3 | Commercial name | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| E | Vehicle identification number | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| F.1 | Maximum technically permissible laden mass | kg | Mandatory in the Directive |
| G | Mass of the vehicle in service | kg | Mandatory in the Directive |
| H | Period of validity | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| I | Date of the registration this certificate refers to | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| I.1 | Date the certificate was issued | — | Romanian field, not in the Directive’s annex |
| J | Vehicle category | — | Optional in the Directive |
| K | Type-approval number | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| P.1 | Engine capacity | cm³ | Mandatory in the Directive |
| P.2 | Maximum net power | kW | Mandatory in the Directive |
| P.3 | Fuel or power source | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| Q | Power-to-weight ratio | kW/kg | Mandatory in the Directive |
| R | Colour of the vehicle | — | Optional in the Directive |
| S.1 | Number of seats | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| S.2 | Standing places | — | Mandatory in the Directive |
| V.7 | CO₂ emissions | g/km | Optional in the Directive |
| V.10 | CO₂ emission class of heavy-duty vehicles | — | Optional in the Directive |
| Z | Issuing authority | — | Romanian field, not in the Directive’s annex |
| X | Periodic technical inspection (ITP) | — | In the Directive since 2014 (ITP) |
From the 2018–2023 model, absent from the current annex
| Code | What it is | Unit | In the Directive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Y | Series of the vehicle identity book (2018–2023 model) | — | 2018–2023 model, no longer in the current annex |
Directive code, absent from the Romanian model
| Code | What it is | Unit | In the Directive |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.5–C.8 | Personal data changed without a new certificate | — | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| F.2 | Maximum permissible laden mass in the registering State | kg | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| F.3 | Maximum permissible laden mass of the whole vehicle | kg | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| L | Number of axles | — | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| M | Wheelbase | mm | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| N.1–N.5 | Mass on each axle | kg | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| O.1–O.2 | Towable mass of the trailer | kg | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| P.4 | Rated engine speed | min⁻¹ | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| P.5 | Engine identification number | — | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| T | Maximum speed | km/h | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| U.1–U.3 | Sound level | dB(A) | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| V.1–V.6, V.8, V.9 | Exhaust emissions and consumption | — | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
| W | Fuel tank capacity | l | Directive code, absent from the Romanian model |
Sources#
- Order of the Minister of Administration and Interior no. 1454/2006 on the form, dimensions and content of the registration certificate, consolidated text (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
- Order of the Minister of Internal Affairs no. 189/2023, replacing annex 1 (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
- Order no. 98/2017, which amended annex 1 from 20 May 2018, and the original 2006 text (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
- Council Directive 1999/37/EC on the registration documents for vehicles, annex I, consolidated text of 20 May 2018. eur-lex.europa.eu
- Directive 2014/46/EU (code X) and Directive (EU) 2022/362, art. 2 (codes V.7 and V.10), which amend annex I. eur-lex.europa.eu
- Regulation (EU) 2018/858, art. 4: categories M, N, O. Regulation (EU) 168/2013, art. 4: categories L. eur-lex.europa.eu
- Legislative procedure 2025/0096(COD): the Commission’s proposal to replace the Directive. oeil.europarl.europa.eu
The texts were opened and checked on 16 October 2026; the legislation portal refuses automated downloads, so the text of Orders 189/2023 and 1454/2006 was read by a second route and copied into the project archive. A 2025 Commission proposal would replace the Directive; as of this date it is not adopted. The page explains the fields of the model; it checks no real document and asks for no certificate to be uploaded. What a field holds in practice depends on the vehicle and the issuing authority. Next check: April 2027, or on any change to Order 1454/2006 or the Directive.