NATIONAL BANK OF ROMANIA
REGULATION
No. 1 of 9 January 2012
on the organisation and functioning of
the Payment Incidents Register
operated by the National Bank of Romania
Having regard to the provisions of Art. 2 para. (2) letter b, Art. 22 para. (1), Art. 24 and Art. 49 of Law
No. 312/2004 – the National Bank of Romania Act,
In compliance with the provisions of Law No. 58/1934 on the bill of exchange and the promissory note,
as subsequently amended and supplemented, and of Law No. 59/1934 on the cheque, as subsequently
amended and supplemented,
In virtue of Art. 48 of Law No. 312/2004,
The National Bank of Romania issues this Regulation.
CHAPTER I
General provisions
Section 1
Scope and definitions
Article 1 – (1) This Regulation governs the organisation and functioning of the Payment Incidents
Register (hereinafter referred to as the PIR) operated by the National Bank of Romania.
(2) The PIR manages the information on payment incidents for the general public, including for the
specific purposes of users.
Article 2 – For the purposes of this Regulation:
1) Payment incident – non-fulfilment to the letter and in due time of the obligations assumed during
the settlement process of the payment instrument by account holders, and resulting from legal
arrangements, notified to the PIR by the reporting institutions.
2) Major payment incident – the payment incident arising from one of the following situations:
a) for cheques;
a1) cheque issued without the authorisation of the drawee;
a2) cheque rejected when presented for collection before due date because of complete lack of funds;
a3) cheque rejected when presented for collection before due date because of partial lack of funds;
a4) cheque issued with false date;
a5) cheque issued by a drawer suspended from cheque-writing privileges;
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b) for bills of exchange and promissory notes:
b1) bill of exchange/promissory note at sight presented for collection on due date and rejected
because of complete lack of funds;
b2) bill of exchange/promissory note at sight presented for collection on due date and rejected
because of partial lack of funds;
b3) bill of exchange/promissory note with maturity at a certain time after sight, at a certain time after
the issue date or at a fixed date and rejected because of complete lack of funds, when presented for
collection on due date;
b4) bill of exchange/promissory note with maturity at a certain time after sight, at a certain time after
the issue date or at a fixed date and rejected because of partial lack of funds, when presented for
collection on due date.
3) Payment instrument – any of the following cashless means of payment: cheques, bills of exchange,
promissory notes;
4) Suspension of cheque-writing privileges – treatment enforced by a drawee bank on an account
holder to issue cheques for one year, following a major payment incident related to cheques;
5) Payer – resident/non-resident natural/legal entity that by issuing/accepting a payment instrument is
bound to honour the obligation assumed; the entity bound to honour the obligation is the drawer for
cheques, the drawee for bills of exchange and the underwriter for promissory notes.
6) The reporting institutions to the PIR are the following:
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credit institutions – Romanian legal entities, for all the information regarding payment
incidents generated by own account holders or the account holders in their territorial units;
-
foreign bank branches in Romania, for all the information regarding the payment incidents
generated by own account holders.
7) Accredited person is the staff member authorised by the management of the reporting institution to
report to and receive from the PIR information regarding payment incidents.
8) Risky persons – resident/non-resident natural/legal entities listed in the Risky Persons National File
for having generated one or several major payment incidents.
9) Users – reporting institutions, the National Bank of Romania, the Prosecutor’s Office attached to
the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Ministry of Administration and Interior with their
territorial units, courts, and other public institutions with control and supervisory tasks; resident/nonresident natural/legal entities via credit institutions, pursuant to the law.
Section 2
PIR database structure and access to PIR database
Article 3 – The PIR organises and manages a database comprising the following:
a) Payment Incidents National File (PINF) - a file of general interest that includes incidents related to
cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes, having the following structure:
a1) Cheques National File (CNF);
a2) Bills of Exchange National File (BNF);
a3) Promissory Notes National File (PNF).
b) Risky Persons National File (RPNF) is a file supplied automatically by the PINF with information
regarding major payment incidents generated by natural or legal entities.
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Article 4 – (1) In order to access the database, reporting institutions shall appoint five PIR accredited
persons at most. To this end, reporting institutions shall fill in and update the “Payment Incidents
Register accreditation form for the persons authorised to report and receive information regarding
payment incidents” presented in Appendix 1. The form shall be drawn up in two copies and shall
have the following recipients:
a) copy 1 shall be submitted, on a confidential basis, to the National Bank of
Romania department coordinating the PIR activity;
b) copy 2 shall be kept for own records.
(2) Access to the PIR software application by accredited persons shall be granted based on the names
assigned by the National Bank of Romania.
(3) Reporting institutions may access the PIR database on a daily basis.
CHAPTER II
TREATMENT OF INFORMATION REGARDING PAYMENT INCIDENTS
Section 1
Transmission and recording of information regarding payment incidents
Article 5 – Reporting institutions shall submit to the PIR, under the terms and conditions set forth in
this Regulation, information regarding payment incidents.
Article 6 – The flow of information regarding the transmission, recording, organisation and
dissemination of information regarding payment incidents is presented in Appendix 2.
Article 7 – (1) In order to meet the obligation under Article 5, the reporting institution shall submit
information regarding payment incidents to the PIR electronically, via the Interbank Communication
Network.
(2) Where the drawee bank, of the drawee or of the underwriter rejected the cheque, bill of exchange
or promissory note, the reporting institution shall notify the PIR on the refusal of payments related to
cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes the day following the refusal at the latest. The
information shall be submitted via the “Reporting form for the refusal of payments related to
cheques” (F3A), the “Reporting form for the refusal of payments related to bills of exchange” (F3B)
or the “Reporting form for the refusal of payments related to promissory notes” (F3C), where
applicable.
These forms and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 3.
Article 8 – The National Bank of Romania shall provide, at its headquarters, the technical conditions
necessary for the effective and accurate recording, management and dissemination, in electronic
form, of the information regarding payment incidents.
Article 9 – (1) The information submitted by a reporting institution can be recorded in the PIR
database provided it complies with the content standards and the fill-in instructions of the forms
presented in this Regulation.
(2) After the information is recorded in the PIR database, the reporting institution may have access,
via the PIR software application, to the “Registration form for payment refusal related to cheques”
(3A), “Registration form for payment refusal related to bills of exchange” (3B) or “Registration form
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for payment refusal related to promissory notes” (3C), where applicable. The credit institution shall
provide each customer with the information recorded on his name, on the day following the recording
of the payment refusal in the PIR database at the latest.
These forms are presented in Appendix 3.
Section 2
Suspension of cheque-writing privileges
Article 10 – Where a major payment incident related to a cheque that calls for the suspension of
cheque-writing privileges is recorded in the PIR database, the credit institution shall notify the
account holder of his suspension from cheque-writing privileges with a view to preventing further
payment incidents and to sanctioning the account holder that generated the payment incident.
In order to notify the account holder on his suspension from cheque-writing privileges, the credit
institution shall send the account holder a summons, as presented in Appendix 4. The summons shall
comprise the suspension of cheque-writing privileges for one year starting with the date the major
payment incident was recorded in the PIR database and the account holder’s obligation to return
without any delay to the credit institution(s) whose customer he is, the cheques in his possession
and/or in the possession of his representatives. The summons shall be sent to the account holder on
the banking day following the recording of the payment refusal in the PIR database at the latest.
Section 3
Suspension/resumption/cancellation of information regarding
the payment incidents recorded in the PIR database
Article 11 – (1) The lift of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges recorded in the PIR database
shall be enforced by the reporting institutions based on an enforceable court decision.
(2) The lift of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges shall be recorded for each major payment
incident related to a cheque, by using the “Form for the lift/resumption of the suspension of chequewriting privileges” (F5).
This form and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 5.
(3) The lift of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges shall be recorded by the reporting
institution on the day following the submission by the customer of the court decision at the latest.
The reporting institution is not liable for the non-enforcement of the court decisions that it has not
been notified of.
Article 12 – (1) When the reporting institution was notified of the lift of the suspension of chequewriting privileges, following the rejection of the application form for the cancellation of the
suspension of cheque-writing privileges based on an enforceable court decision, the suspension of
cheque-writing privileges shall be resumed for one year, including the time lapsed before the lift.
(2) The suspension of cheque-writing privileges shall be resumed for each major payment incident
related to a cheque whose period of suspension of cheque-writing privileges was lifted previously, by
using the “Form for the lift/resumption of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges” (F5).
(3) The resumption of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges shall be recorded by the reporting
institution on the day following the submission by the customer of a court decision stipulating the
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rejection of the application form for the cancellation of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges at
the latest.
The reporting institution is not liable for the non-enforcement of the court decisions that it has not
been notified of.
Article 13 – (1) The information regarding the payment incidents recorded in the PIR database shall
be cancelled by reporting institutions based on an enforceable court decision.
(2) The information regarding the payment incidents related to cheques, bills of exchange or
promissory notes recorded in the PIR database shall be cancelled by using the “Form for the
cancellation of registration in the PIR database” (F6).
(3) The information regarding payment incidents recorded in the PIR database shall be cancelled by
the reporting institution on the day following the submission by the customer of an enforceable court
decision at the latest.
This form and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 6.
The reporting institution is not liable for the non-enforcement of the court decisions that it has not
been notified of.
Article 14 – Once the information has been recorded in the PIR database, the reporting institution
may have access, via the PIR software application, to the “Application form for the lift/resumption of
the suspension of cheque-writing privileges” (5), “Application form for the cancellation of payment
incidents related to cheques” (6A), “Application form for the cancellation of payment incidents
related to bills of exchange” (6B) or “Application form for the cancellation of payment incidents
related to promissory notes” (6C), where applicable. The credit institution shall put at the disposal of
each customer the information recorded on its name, on the day following the submission to the PIR
at the latest, of the application form for the lift/resumption of the suspension of cheque-writing
privileges or of the application form for the cancellation of the payment incidents related to cheques,
bills of exchange or promissory notes.
These forms are presented in Appendices 5 and 6.
Article 15 – The PIR cannot cancel, suspend/resume or alter the information regarding payment
incidents submitted by the reporting institutions.
Section 4
Organisation and management of the information
regarding payment incidents in the PIR database
Article 16 – (1) The PIR shall record the information regarding payment incidents submitted by
reporting institutions and process this information with a view to obtaining aggregate data for users.
(2) PINF shall be managed in compliance with the PIR own requirements in order to efficiently
provide information regarding the:
a) account holder identification;
b) refusal to payment of cheques, bills of exchange or promissory notes.
(3) The Risky Persons National File shall be managed in compliance with the PIR own requirements
in order to efficiently provide information on:
a) major payment incidents;
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b) resident/non-resident natural/legal entities suspended from cheque-writing privileges.
Article 17 – The information regarding payment incidents are kept in the PIR database for a period of
seven years since registration.
Section 5
Dissemination by the PIR of the information regarding payment incidents
Article 18 – The flow of information regarding payment incidents disseminated by the PIR to users is
presented in Appendix 2.
Article 19 – The PIR may disseminate the information in its database either on its own initiative or at
the request of the users.
Article 20 – (1) The PIR shall send, on its own initiative, to each reporting institution, information
regarding the payment incidents in its database, in compliance with the provisions of this Regulation.
(2) In the situation mentioned in Art. 11, the PIR will send electronically, on the same banking day,
to all reporting institutions the “PIR notification form for the suspension of cheque-writing
privileges” (F7) whereby they are notified that the account holder was declared under suspension of
cheque-writing privileges by a reporting institution.
This form is presented in Appendix 7.
(3) The reporting institutions shall disseminate, on the day following the PIR notification at the latest,
the information regarding the suspension of cheque-writing privileges in their own intrabank system,
in order to avoid new payment incidents from the same account holder.
(4) The credit institution or the territorial unit of the credit institution where the respective
resident/non-resident natural/legal entity has opened an account shall take the necessary measures to
recoup as soon as possible the cheques issued by the respective entity in order to avoid new payment
incidents from the same account holder using such cheques.
(5) In the situations mentioned in Articles 12 and 13, the PIR will send electronically, on the same
banking day, to all the reporting institutions, the “PIR notification form for the lift/resumption of the
suspension of cheque-writing privileges” (F8) whereby they are notified of the lift/resumption of the
suspension of cheque-writing privileges for the account holder in the PIR notification.
This form is presented in Appendix 8.
The reporting institutions shall disseminate this information in their own intrabank system on the day
following the PIR notification at the latest.
(6) In the situations mentioned in Articles 14 and 26, the PIR will send electronically, on the same
banking day, to all the reporting institutions, the “PIR notification form for the suspension of chequewriting privileges” (F7) in order to cancel the information regarding major payment incidents related
to cheques that generate the suspension of cheque-writing privileges.
The reporting institutions shall disseminate this information in their own intrabank system on the day
following the PIR notification at the latest.
Article 21 – (1) The PIR shall provide, at the request of reporting institutions, information regarding
the payment incidents in the database.
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(2) The reporting institutions may submit a PIR database query application on behalf of their own
branches. The latter shall access the database via their head office, based on a name assigned by the
National Bank of Romania.
(3) Where the reporting institutions do not have branches, they may submit a PIR database query
application on behalf of a territorial unit in each county. The latter shall access the database via their
head office, based on a name assigned by the National Bank of Romania.
(4) Where the branch of a reporting institution or a territorial unit loses this quality, the reporting
institution shall submit an application to the PIR to revoke the database query privileges for any such
entity.
(5) The reporting institutions and their entities mentioned under paras. (2) and (3) may request
information from the PIR database on own behalf or on behalf of their customer by using the “Query
form (F9)” and the “Query application form” (9).
These forms and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 9.
(6) The query application form for requesting information shall be put at the disposal of the customer
or his representative, where applicable, by the credit institution to which the query application was
submitted.
Article 22 – (1) Credit institutions shall grant their customers cheque-writing privileges mentioning
them as drawee banks, based on a thorough examination of the risks such activity implies. Therefore,
the credit institution shall run a database query and the information obtained shall be used with a
view to mitigating risks.
(2) In order to mitigate the risk associated with the use of payment instruments, credit institutions
shall issue instructions for their customers on the use by law and according to the applicable
regulations.
Article 23 – The director of the National Bank of Romania department coordinating the PIR activity
may decide to discontinue the dissemination of information regarding payment incidents in the PIR
database in the event of unauthorised access to the database.
CHAPTER III
CORRECTION OF ERRORS
Section 1
Correction of erroneous information not recorded in the PIR database
Article 24 (1) – The PIR shall submit reporting institutions, electronically, on the same banking day,
all information that failed to meet the provisions of Art. 14 para. (1), in order to enter in the PIR
database the “List of errors in the reporting of information regarding payment incidents” (F10).
This form and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 10.
(2) These errors shall be corrected by using forms F3A, F3B, F3C, F5, F6, F9 and F11.
Section 2
Correction of errors for the information recorded in the PIR database
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Article 25 (1) – Where a reporting institution detects errors in the information submitted and
recorded in the PIR database, it may require their correction by using the “Application form for the
correction of information in the PIR database” (F11).
This form and the fill-in instructions are presented in Appendix 11.
(2) The information that can be corrected is shown in Appendix 12 – “The list of information in the
PIR database that can be corrected”.
(3) The reporting institution may have access via the PIR software application to the corrected
application forms 3A, 3B, 3C. The credit institution shall provide each customer with the relevant
application forms, on the day following the submission to the PIR of the “Application form for the
correction of information in the PIR database” (F11) at the latest.
Article 26 – The information regarding payment incidents in the PIR database may be cancelled by
the reporting institutions, on their own initiative, as a result of an error made by the credit institution,
by using the “Form for the cancellation of registration in the PIR database” (F6).
The reporting institutions may have access, via the PIR software application, to the “Application
form for the cancellation of payment incidents related to cheques” (6A), “Application form for the
cancellation of payment incidents related to bills of exchange” (6B) and “Application form for the
cancellation of payment incidents related to promissory notes” (6C), where applicable. The credit
institution shall provide each customer with the information recorded on his name, on the day
following the submission to the PIR of the application form for the cancellation of payment incidents
related to cheques, bills of exchange and promissory notes at the latest.
These forms are presented in Appendix 6.
CHAPTER IV
LIABILITY AND SANCTIONS
Article 27 – The reporting institutions are liable for the accuracy and completeness of the payment
incidents information reported to the PIR.
Article 28 – The PIR shall update its own database with the cheques endorsed by the National Bank
of Romania to be put into circulation.
Article 29 – Where a reporting institution cancels between 1 and 5 payment incidents previously
reported to the PIR, during one calendar month, as a result of an error, it shall be sanctioned with fine
in amount of lei 500. For each new interval between 1 and 5 payment incidents cancelled during the
same calendar month, as a result of an error, the reporting institution shall be sanctioned with fine in
amount of lei 500.
Article 30 – (1) The credit institutions which were late in reporting or failed to report the payment
incidents to the PIR, in compliance with Art. 7 and/or failed to notify the customer of the payment
incidents in compliance with Art. 9 para. (2), Art. 10, Art. 14, Art. 25 and Art. 26 shall be sanctioned
with fines ranging from lei 500 to lei 2,000 for each payment incident, as follows:
a) lei 500 for up to 10 banking days of delay;
b) lei 1,000 for a period of 11 to 30 banking days of delay;
c) lei 2,000 for more than 30 banking days of delay.
(2) The sanction provided under para. (1) shall also be applied, under the same conditions, to the
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credit institutions that are late in disseminating or do not disseminate in their own intrabank system
the PIR notification on the suspension of cheque-writing privileges or the PIR notification on the
lift/resumption of the suspension of cheque-writing privileges mentioned in Art. 20 para. (3).
(3) The credit institutions which fail to apply the enforceable court decisions that have been notified
to them and stipulated in Articles 11, 12 and 13, shall be sanctioned with fine in amount of lei 500 for
each enforceable court decision they failed to apply.
Article 31 – The credit institutions that issued cheques to the account holders suspended from
cheque-writing privileges shall be sanctioned with fine in amount of lei 2,500.
Article 32 – Where credit institutions, due exclusively to their own fault, failed to notify the PIR of a
payment incident previously reported to the National Bank of Romania, thereby avoiding to pay the
fine provided under Art. 29, shall be sanctioned with fine in amount of lei 500.
Article 33 – The National Bank of Romania may adjust the amount of the fines provided for in this
Section.
Article 34 – (1) The breaches of Art. 29 shall be assessed on a monthly basis by the National Bank of
Romania department coordinating the PIR activity, according to the information in its database.
(2) The breaches of Articles 30-32 shall be assessed by the persons in the Supervision Department
empowered by the National Bank of Romania Board.
(3) The sanctions shall be applied by order of the governor, first deputy governor or deputy governors.
The fines shall become government budget revenue.
CHAPTER V
OTHER PROVISIONS
Article 35 – The documents containing information regarding the payment incidents submitted to and
received from the PIR shall be kept by the reporting institutions for a period of seven years.
Article 36 – (1) The PIR shall charge each credit institution connected to the Interbank Communication
Network a monthly commission in amount of lei 1,800 for supplying information.
(2) The commission shall be proportional with the number of banking days starting with which the credit
institution had access to the PIR information, in the month for which the commission is charged.
(3) Where the license of a credit institution is withdrawn by the National Bank of Romania, the
commission shall be calculated proportionally to the number of banking days in the last month during
which the credit institution has functioned.
(4) The commission mentioned in para. (1) shall be collected by the National Bank of Romania on the
last banking day of the month.
Article 37 – The National Bank of Romania may adjust the commission mentioned in Art. 36.
Article 38 – The commissions shall be used by the National Bank of Romania to cover the expenses
with the functioning and development of the PIR.
Article 39 – The reporting credit institutions shall submit the PIR any information requested by the latter
for its own activity.
CHAPTER VI
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FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 40 – Appendices 1-12 are an integral part of this Regulation.
Article 41 – (1) This Regulation shall be published in Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, and
shall become effective on 6 February 2012.
(2) Upon the coming in force of this Regulation, NBR Regulation No. 1/23 February 2001 on the
organisation and functioning of the PIR with the NBR, published in Monitorul Oficial al României,
Part One, No. 120/9 March 2001, as subsequently amended and supplemented, shall be repealed.
Chairman of the National Bank of Romania Board,
MUGUR CONSTANTIN ISĂRESCU
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