01What the law says about a page called terms and conditions
We read four texts on 15 October 2026: Directive 2000/31/EC (e-commerce), Directive 2011/83/EU (consumer rights), Legea 365/2002 on electronic commerce (the republished text hosted by the Romanian data protection authority at dataprotection.ro) and OUG 34/2014 (the consolidation of 8 November 2016, published on e-justice.europa.eu; the ordinance has been amended since, for example in 2022, and its current form is on legislatie.just.ro). None of them tells a website owner to publish a page titled 'terms and conditions'. They regulate information and contracts. The closest thing to a general duty is Article 5 of Directive 2000/31/EC and Article 5 of Legea 365/2002: the provider of an information society service must make certain details available in an easy, direct and permanent way. The Romanian list includes name, registered seat, contact details, registration number, tax code and prices. Article 5(2) of Legea 365/2002 says the duty is met if you show those details clearly, visibly and permanently on the service's own web page. That is a 'who we are' notice, not a terms page. Whether a plain brochure site counts as an information society service under Article 1 point 1 (provided by electronic means, for a financial benefit, at the individual request of the recipient) is a question for a lawyer, and so is everything below.
- None of the four texts names a mandatory 'terms and conditions' page
- Provider details (name, seat, contact, registration number, tax code, prices) must be easy, direct and permanently available (Legea 365/2002, Art. 5(1))
- Showing them clearly on the site's own page meets that duty (Art. 5(2))
- Whether a brochure site is covered at all is a lawyer's call
02What changes when you sell to consumers
OUG 34/2014 applies to any contract between a trader and a consumer (Art. 3(1)), and its preamble says it transposes Directive 2011/83/EU. A consumer is an individual. For customers who are businesses, Article 8(3) of Legea 365/2002 lets the provider and a customer who is not a consumer agree to depart from the pre-order information in paragraphs (1) and (2). For distance contracts, Article 6(1) of the OUG requires the trader to give, clearly and intelligibly and before the consumer is bound, the main characteristics of the product or service, the trader's identity, postal address and contact details, the address for complaints where it differs, and the total price with all taxes. The directive's Article 6(1) goes on to payment, delivery and performance arrangements, withdrawal conditions and complaint handling. Its Article 8(2) adds that key information must reach the consumer directly before the order, and that the order button must read 'order with obligation to pay' or equivalent unambiguous wording, or the consumer is not bound. Article 9 gives 14 days to withdraw, subject to the exceptions in Article 16, which we did not read. Article 8(4) of Legea 365/2002 then asks that the general terms of the proposed contract reach the customer in a way that lets them store and reproduce the text. A terms page is the usual place to keep all of that in one readable document, but a footer link alone is not what the order-button article describes. Which rules cover your products, and whether the OUG has been amended since the copy we read, is for a lawyer.
- A consumer is an individual. For business customers, Legea 365/2002 Art. 8(3) lets both sides agree to depart from the pre-order information in paragraphs (1) and (2)
- Before the consumer is bound: main characteristics, trader identity, address and contact details, address for complaints if different, total price with all taxes (OUG 34/2014, Art. 6(1))
- Directly before the order: key information, and a button that states the obligation to pay (Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 8(2))
- 14 days to withdraw, subject to exceptions (Directive 2011/83/EU, Arts. 9 and 16)
- General terms made available so the customer can store and reproduce them (Legea 365/2002, Art. 8(4))
03Terms and privacy do different jobs
A privacy page tells people what you do with their personal data. A terms page says what the deal is and how the site may be used. Neither stands in for the other, and this article does not cover the privacy side. For a service business, terms are mostly a plain-language record of what you promised. Our own page at /terms is an example of that and nothing more: it is the agreement for PROOF48's services, not terms for a shop. It says we build from a reference website you provide, that standard builds are delivered within 48 hours of scope confirmation and that this is an estimate, that you get a preview before any payment, that no payment is required upfront for standard 48-hour builds while custom or larger projects may require a deposit as agreed, that standard builds include one round of minor adjustments, that our liability is limited to the amount paid for the project, and that you can decline the preview at no cost. Write yours from what your business actually does, not from a template. A page that promises what you do not do helps nobody.
- Privacy page: what you do with personal data (not covered here)
- Terms page: price, payment, timing or delivery, changes and cancellation, how the site may be used
- PROOF48's /terms: our service agreement, with a preview before payment, no upfront payment on standard 48-hour builds and one round of minor adjustments
- Write from your real process, then have a lawyer read it
04A quick test for your own site
Walk through what your site actually does and answer four questions. Does anyone pay you through it? Do you sell to individuals or only to businesses? Do you take bookings, quotes or orders that create an agreement, such as a cancellation rule or a delivery date? Are your company name, address, contact details, registration number and tax code somewhere visitors can find them? Your answers sort the site into groups. A brochure site with no sales and clear company details carries the lightest load in our view: no text we read requires a terms page there, so a short one is optional. A site that takes bookings or quotes is making agreements, and writing the key ones down gives both sides something to point to. A site that sells to individuals falls under the consumer rules described above, and a lawyer should read the checkout flow as well as the page.
- No sales, company details visible: no text we read requires a terms page, so a short one is optional
- Bookings, quotes, deposits: write the agreed rules down in plain language
- Selling to individuals: price, payment, delivery and withdrawal information before the order, and a lawyer reads the checkout
- Selling only to businesses: a lawyer tells you which duties you can agree away (Legea 365/2002, Art. 8(3))
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
PROOF48 builds websites. It is not a law firm. A business website of up to about five pages costs 500 to 2,500 EUR, you see a live preview in 48 hours and you pay only after that, and the terms wording is yours to confirm with a lawyer. Nothing on proof48.com promises a terms page for client builds, so ask for one in the brief and send the text your lawyer approved. We are the wrong choice if you need legal sign-off on the terms before any text goes live: our build-first offer does not fit that order of work. A store with cart and checkout is the case where this topic bites hardest, and it is a separate build at 2,500 to 4,500 EUR on its own timeline, not the 48-hour website. Larger or custom projects may need a deposit, as our terms say.
- A 48-hour website: up to about five pages, 500 to 2,500 EUR, paid after the preview
- Terms wording is for you and a lawyer to confirm
- Wrong choice if you need legal sign-off on terms before launch
- A store is a separate build at 2,500 to 4,500 EUR with its own timeline
- Larger or custom projects may need a deposit, as our terms say
A checkout is where a terms page starts to matter
Rotiseria Baba Novac, a rotisserie in Bucharest, has its own ordering system with a menu, cart, Stripe checkout, pickup slots and an email confirmation on every order. Shoppers there see a price and pay online, which is the kind of flow the consumer rules above are about. The case study does not record which legal pages rotiseria.ro carries, so we state nothing about them, and we did not research whether any exception applies to food orders. It is an ordering system of the kind that costs as much as a store, not the 48-hour website.
See the build: Rotiseria Baba NovacQuestions, answered
Is a privacy policy enough instead of terms and conditions?
They answer different questions. A privacy page covers what you do with personal data. A terms page covers the deal and how the site may be used. Which of the two your site needs, or both, is for a lawyer to confirm.
My site only shows services, an address and a phone number. Do I need terms?
Among the four texts we read, none requires a page titled terms and conditions for that kind of site. Legea 365/2002, Article 5, asks providers of information society services to keep their details easy to find, and a lawyer can say whether your site is one.
Can I copy the terms of another site?
Only as a starting point. Terms describe your price, payment, delivery and cancellation, so they have to match what you actually do. Have a lawyer read the final version.
Does a store have to give withdrawal information?
Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 6(1), lists the conditions, time limit and procedure for withdrawal among the information given to a consumer before a distance contract, and Article 9 sets a 14-day period subject to exceptions. We did not read the exceptions, so a lawyer checks your products.
Does PROOF48 write terms and conditions for the sites it builds?
Nothing on proof48.com promises that, so we claim nothing either way. Ask for a terms page in the brief and send the text your lawyer approved. Our own /terms page is the agreement for our services, not a template for a shop.
Where PROOF48 fits
Among the four texts we read, none requires a page titled terms and conditions on a brochure site that sells nothing. Selling to consumers online brings pre-order information, a clear order button, a 14-day withdrawal right with exceptions and general terms the customer can store. Terms and privacy do different jobs. Write the terms from what your business really does and have a lawyer read them. PROOF48 builds the 48-hour website for 500 to 2,500 EUR, paid after the preview.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.