In brief
- A channel on YouTube, TikTok or any other video-sharing platform becomes a media service supervised by the CNA if it has at least 100,000 followers, has uploaded at least 24 items in the past 12 months and brings in money, goods or any other benefit. Anyone who meets all the conditions has to notify the CNA.
- The notification deadline is 60 days from 27 September 2026, that is by 26 November 2026, both for channels on platforms and for all on-demand services already operating.
- An individual has to file, in copy, the single tax return for income from posts on social networks, as registered with ANAF. The CNA also keeps and publishes a list of the registered channels.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 718 of 28 August 2026
In force from: 27 September 2026
The National Audiovisual Council brings under regulation a category that until now appeared nowhere: video creators with a large audience who earn money from their channels. Decision no. 116/2026 rewrites the whole licensing and authorisation procedure in the audiovisual field, repeals three decisions that had governed it since 2012, 2013 and 2015, and adds to Title II a new chapter on channels hosted by video-sharing platforms. It is the second piece of regulation of a digital sector published in the same week, after the ANCOM decision on statistical reporting by electronic communications providers.
An on-demand audiovisual media service, also known as video on demand or VOD, is a catalogue of films, clips or recordings that the viewer starts when it suits them, unlike television, where the programme runs to a schedule. Until now the category covered streaming platforms and the catch-up services of television stations. From 27 September it also covers individual channels, if they pass the thresholds in the decision.
The CNA was not the only broadcasting matter of this period: at the head of public television and radio, the CCR struck down the procedure for appointing the boards of Romanian Television and Romanian Radio.
What it changes in practice
The first effect is the definition. Under Article 33, a channel on a video-sharing platform is an on-demand audiovisual media service if it meets five criteria cumulatively: it is a commercial activity; the user has editorial responsibility for the content and controls the selection and the ordering of the programmes; the content is viewed at the individual request of the viewer; the main purpose is to inform, entertain or educate; and it is distributed through the platform.
The second effect is the thresholds. Article 36 adds five conditions, again cumulative: the channel has to be accessible to the public in Romania; the content has to address the public in Romania or Romanians living abroad; the channel has to have at least 100,000 followers or subscribers, on its own or added up across other platforms; it has to have uploaded at least 24 audiovisual items in the past 12 months; and the author has to obtain money, goods, services or any other benefit, whether for themselves or for someone else.
The third effect is the obligation itself. Anyone who meets the criteria and the conditions has to notify the CNA, on the form in Annex no. 5. The notification is filed in person, through a representative or online. A Romanian individual attaches an identity document and the single tax return for income from posts on social networks or platforms, as registered with ANAF. A trader attaches the registration certificate from the trade register, the tax certificate, the updated constitutive act and proof of authority to represent.
The fourth effect is the provision approval. The CNA issues it and it attests the right to provide the service. The approval sets out its number and date, the details of the holder, the type of service, the name of the platform, the address of the page and the name of the channel, together with the geographical area or the audience the service addresses. Anyone with channels on several platforms files a single notification and receives a single approval.
The fifth effect is public transparency. The CNA draws up and keeps updated on its website a register of on-demand service providers and a separate list of channels on platforms, stating the criteria and conditions on the basis of which a user was classified as a provider. The holder, in turn, has to publish on the channel an e-mail address at which they can be contacted.
The sixth effect concerns the rest of the audiovisual sector. Title I rewrites the procedure for granting, amending, extending and transferring the audiovisual licence and the authorisation decision, including for digital terrestrial broadcasting. Title II, Chapter I, keeps the notification for ordinary on-demand services, which has to be filed at least 7 days before the activity begins.
The seventh effect is the calendar. The decision enters into force 30 days after publication, that is on 27 September 2026. From that date a 60-day period runs in which all existing on-demand service providers and all qualifying channels have to notify the CNA, so by 26 November 2026.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
The biggest change is that the category exists at all. CNA Decision no. 320/2012 regulated the provision of on-demand media services, but it knew nothing of individual channels on platforms. A creator with an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers had no registration obligation, however much money they made from the content. From 27 September they do.
The architecture of the procedure has changed as well. Three separate decisions, no. 320/2012 for on-demand services, no. 277/2013 for licences and authorisations and no. 304/2015 for digital terrestrial broadcasting, are repealed and replaced by a single text with three titles. Article I of CNA Decision no. 185/2025 is repealed as well.
What stays outside has been clarified. Article 26 lists what does not fall under the notification procedure: websites where video content is merely incidental, non-commercial communities of interest in which private users exchange material, private correspondence, online gambling, videos in the electronic editions of newspapers and magazines, and search engines. Separately, Article 34(3) takes out of the category the content that public institutions and authorities publish about their own activity.
The way proof that a channel brings in income reaches the CNA has changed too. The decision does not ask for advertising contracts or platform reports, but for a copy of the single tax return filed with ANAF for income from posts. It is the first time an act of the CNA has tied the classification of a service to a tax document belonging to the author.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- The thresholds are figures, not judgement calls: 100,000 followers, 24 items in 12 months, a benefit obtained. You can check whether you are in or out.
- A single notification and a single approval cover all the platforms on which an author publishes.
- The list published by the CNA shows not only who is registered but also the criteria on which they were classified.
- The exclusions in Article 26 and in Article 34(3) settle the position of non-commercial communities, private correspondence and the pages of public institutions.
- Three old decisions merge into a single text, with the same file requirements for every type of service.
- The viewer gets a compulsory contact address on the registered channels.
What remains a problem
- The decision was adopted on 24 February 2026 and published on 28 August, more than six months later, and the people it targets learn about it 30 days before it applies.
- The threshold of 100,000 followers may be added up across platforms, but the decision does not say how overlapping subscribers are counted.
- Neither the moment at which the threshold is measured nor what happens when the audience falls below it after registration is specified.
- A copy of the single tax return from ANAF reaches a content regulator, without the decision saying what becomes of it after the check.
- The criterion of a „commercial activity” in Article 33 and the condition of obtaining a benefit in Article 36 partly overlap, and the text does not say whether they mean the same thing.
- For channels hosted on platforms outside Romania, the decision declares itself applicable if the channel addresses the public in Romania, but does not say how that is established.
Practical advice
- Check your channel against the five conditions in Article 36. If even one is missing, for instance if you have not uploaded 24 items in the past 12 months, you have no notification obligation.
- Count your followers across all the platforms on which you publish, not only the main one. The 100,000 threshold can be reached that way too.
- If you do fall within it, prepare in good time the copy of the single tax return for income from posts, as registered with ANAF. Without it, an individual’s file is not complete.
- Notify by 26 November 2026. The deadline is 60 days from 27 September, the date of entry into force, not from publication.
- If you work through a company or as a self-employed person, the file is a different one: certificate from the trade register, tax certificate, updated constitutive act and proof of authority to represent.
- Put a contact e-mail address on the channel. It is a separate obligation, laid down in Article 42, which applies after registration.
- Tell the CNA within 30 days of any change to the data in the approval or in the documents filed: a change to the name of the channel, to the address of the page or to the legal form.
- If you already run a video-on-demand service on your own website, the notification obligation applies to you as well, again by 26 November 2026.
Frequently asked questions
I have 120,000 followers but earn nothing from the channel. Do I have to notify?
I have several channels, on different platforms. Do I file several notifications?
By when do I have to register?
What documents does an individual file?
Does the town hall’s YouTube page fall under this obligation?
What happens if I do not notify?
Can I sell the channel together with the approval?
Errors and inconsistencies in the published text
- Article 40(2) against Article 46(1)(a). The first text says that „Drepturile prevăzute în aviz nu pot fi transmise către terți”, the rights under the approval may not be transferred to third parties. The second provides that the approval is withdrawn „ca urmare a cedării drepturilor prevăzute în avizul de furnizare către terți”, as a result of the transfer of those very rights, and so treats as a fact producing legal effects exactly the operation that the earlier article forbids. The parallel chapter, the one for ordinary on-demand services, does not have this mismatch: Article 32 forbids the transfer and Article 31(1) does not list it among the grounds for withdrawal. A reader in good faith reaches two different conclusions: either the transfer is possible and leads to withdrawal of the approval, or it is void and point (a) has nothing to attach to.
- Article 49 against Article 9(4) and (5). Article 49 penalises „încălcarea sau nerespectarea prevederilor prezentei decizii de către radiodifuzori sau de către furnizorii de servicii media audiovizuale la cerere”, breach or non-compliance by broadcasters or by providers of on-demand audiovisual media services, with the exception of non-compliance with Article 9(4) and (5), which is penalised under Government Emergency Ordinance no. 202/2008. Neither of the two excepted paragraphs, however, imposes any obligation on broadcasters or providers: paragraph (4) tells the CNA what to take into account when granting and extending licences, and paragraph (5) imposes an obligation to hand over data on the persons and entities designated under international sanctions. The exception is therefore left without an addressee within the category the article covers.
Editorial analysis
The decision solves a problem nobody could ignore any longer. A channel with a few hundred thousand followers, putting out daily content paid for indirectly through advertising and partnerships, has the audience of a local television station and none of its obligations. The preamble says openly why: content on platforms is watched more and more, especially by minors. The choice not to introduce licensing, but only notification and an approval that attests registration, is proportionate.
What is not visible when reading the decision shows up when the date of adoption is placed next to the date of publication. The act was adopted on 24 February 2026 and appeared in the Official Gazette of Romania on 28 August, more than six months later. During that interval the people concerned had no way of knowing that an obligation was being prepared for them, and they now find out 30 days before it takes effect and three months before the notification deadline. The preamble invokes the notification procedure under Directive (EU) 2015/1535, which involves a standstill period for technical regulations and explains part of the gap, but does not excuse it entirely: publication could have been followed by a longer period before application.
The second observation concerns the threshold of 100,000 followers. It is the only figure in the whole chapter, and whether a person falls under the supervision of a regulator depends on it. The decision does not say when it is measured, who measures it, how subscribers who overlap between platforms are treated, or what happens when a channel drops below the threshold after registration. Article 46 lists only two grounds for withdrawing the approval, transfer and the holder’s renunciation; losing the audience is not among them, so a channel that falls to 20,000 followers remains, formally, a provider of audiovisual media services.
The third observation is about the tax document. A copy of the single tax return from ANAF is the proof the decision chooses in order to establish that a channel brings in income. It is a practical solution, but it moves to the CNA a document containing an individual’s complete income, not only what comes from the channel in question, and the decision says neither how long it is kept nor who may consult it. A declaration on the applicant’s own responsibility about the existence of income from the channel would have proved the same thing with far less personal data.
What should be changed
- Aligning Article 40(2) with Article 46(1)(a). Either the transfer is recognised and regulated, or the ground for withdrawal is removed; otherwise the first transaction involving a registered channel will reach a judge without the text saying who is right.
- A reference moment for the threshold of 100,000 followers. The date on which it is measured, the source of the figure and the rule for adding up across platforms. Without them, the same person may be inside or outside the regulation depending on how the counting is done.
- A ground for withdrawal when the qualification is lost. If a channel no longer meets the conditions in Article 36, it should be possible to withdraw the approval on request or of the regulator’s own motion, rather than leaving it hanging on a holder who no longer falls under the rule.
- Replacing the copy of the single tax return with a declaration about income from the channel. It would prove exactly what has to be proved, without a content regulator collecting the full tax position of an individual.
- Rewriting the exception in Article 49. The reference to Article 9(4) and (5) has no addressee among broadcasters and providers; either the correct provision should be indicated, or the exception should be moved to an article dealing with the persons targeted by international sanctions.
Original text of the legal act
The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.
The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania
Official Gazette of Romania no. 718 of 28 August 2026 32 pages PDF, 475 KB the act starts on page 6
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.