The guarding plan is the document on which the guarding of any site in Romania is organised. In May 2026, Emergency Ordinance no. 37/2026 amended Law no. 333/2003 and changed how the plan reaches the police. Here is what it must contain and what has changed.
Who draws up the plan
When guarding is provided by a specialised company, the plan is drawn up by that company, on the basis of the service contract and the physical security risk assessment. When an organisation runs its own in-house guarding, the plan is also based on the risk assessment. For sites guarded by the Gendarmerie, the local police or a mixed arrangement, the plan is drawn up together with the commanders or managers of the units providing the guarding.
What it must include
Under Article 5 of Law no. 333/2003, the guarding plan mainly includes:
- the characteristics of the guarded site and of the area where it is located;
- the number of posts and where they are located;
- the security staff required;
- the guarding and alarm installations and technical means;
- the post orders;
- how cooperation with other bodies works and the procedures to follow in the event of an incident;
- the rules for access to the site and the documents specific to the guarding service.
Armed guarding: police approval is still mandatory
For sites with armed guarding, the plan requires the specialist approval of the police, and approval is mandatory for every change to the plan. The implementing rules approved by Government Decision no. 301/2012 provide that the competent local police unit reviews the plan and issues its approval within 30 days of the request being registered.
Unarmed guarding: electronic filing within 15 days
The most important change concerns unarmed guarding. Following Emergency Ordinance no. 37/2026, the head of the organisation sends the guarding plan, together with the risk assessment or the security sheet, electronically to the competent police unit within 15 calendar days of the plan being drawn up. The same applies to any later changes. For sites guarded by the Gendarmerie, police approval is not required.
“A guarding plan is not an archive document. If the site changes and the plan does not, protection exists only on paper.”
The risk assessment underpins the plan
Emergency Ordinance no. 37/2026 introduced into the law a chapter dedicated to physical security risk assessment. The assessment may only be carried out by an assessor listed in the RNERSF, after the contract is signed, and it must be revised:
- within 90 days of a change in the internal or external parameters on which it was based;
- within 60 days of a relevant security incident;
- within 30 days of a change in the architecture of the site or in its activity.
Organisations that have no minimum security requirements set by the implementing rules define their measures in a security sheet.
The documents that go with the guarding service
The implementing rules list the registers in which staff record their activity: the post register, the register of handover reports, the register of personnel access and, where applicable, of vehicle access, the inspection register and the incident register. The documents are registered with the provider and kept for at least two years.
This article is for information only and reflects the legislation at the date of publication. For your specific site, check the consolidated text of Law no. 333/2003 and its implementing rules, or talk to a specialist.