Youth volunteering is not regulated separately from volunteering in general in Romania. Host organisations of volunteers – NGOs or public institutions – have a great autonomy in organising voluntary activities, provided that they are following rules established by the Volunteering Law (Legea no. 78/2014 privind reglementarea activitatii de voluntariat în România). The law states the main rights and obligation of volunteers and host organisations, mainly obligations on correct treatment and safety insurance. The law does not provide for a governmental authority directly responsible for volunteering or youth volunteering.

Beside the Volunteering Law, there is no national policy, programme or strategy dedicated to youth volunteering. However, youth volunteering developing and supporting youth volunteering is a specific objective of the  National Youth Strategy 2024-2027 (approved through the Government Decision nr. 566/2024).

The main instrument used, by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (until 2021) and the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities (since 2022) to encourage youth volunteering according to the Youth Strategy is granting funds for small projects (about 5 000 Euro) to youth NGOs. There are no strong monitoring and evaluation measures and programmes in place to provide enough knowledge on the success of these projects. The National Youth Strategy 2024-2027 set the objective to improve these mechanisms.

National level data, from the Youth Barometer 2022, show that 43% of young people have been participating in volunteering activities, compared to only 13% in 2012. However, in 2022 the number of young volunteer appears lower than in 2020 when 52% of young people declared that they participated in volunteering activities.