The contribution presents a comprehensive  analysis of the Romanian codification approach and judicial practice in the field of day fines. First, it addresses the context in which the penalty of the day fine was introduced, the main categories of offenses for which it can be applied, the mechanism for determining the fine, the general and special limits of the day fines, the method of determining the amount of a day fine, the methods for executing the fine penalty and the hypothesis when the penalty of the fine may be replaced with the penalty of imprisonment. It follows by outlining the special challenges concerning the application of a newly introduced institution as well as the deficiencies of the Romanian system objectified in the absence of studies on the level of acceptance of day fines among the general population or in the lack of statistics on the day fines system.