In brief
- Law No. 163/2026 approves, with nine additional amendments, Government Emergency Ordinance No. 39/2026, which had itself amended the teaching-career bonus and the administrative-staff career bonus scheme in state education.
- The amendments concern in particular the special situation of the 2025-2026 school/academic year: extending the list of beneficiaries to nurseries, military units and units subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, new deadlines for uploading lists, and an extended deadline, until 31 March 2028, for professional training certificates.
- Beneficiaries are teaching, auxiliary teaching and administrative staff in state education, whose bonuses are funded from non-reimbursable external funds, through the Education and Employment Programme 2021-2027.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) No. 647 of 5 August 2026
In force from: 8 August 2026
Parliament has approved, with additions, the emergency ordinance by which the Government adjusted, on the fly, the career-bonus scheme for teachers and administrative staff in schools. Law No. 163/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania No. 647 of 5 August 2026, approves Government Emergency Ordinance No. 39/2026, adopted in May and published in Official Gazette of Romania No. 381 of 6 May 2026. That ordinance had amended Government Emergency Ordinance No. 58/2023, the act that introduced the teaching-career bonus for teaching and auxiliary teaching staff and the professional-career bonus for administrative staff in state education, both funded from non-reimbursable external funds, through the Education and Employment Programme 2021-2027.
The law does not stop at a simple approval: its single article adds nine further amendment points to the version of Emergency Ordinance No. 39/2026 adopted by the Government, all concentrated on the technical mechanism by which beneficiaries are identified, validated and tracked in the dedicated IT application.
On 28 August 2026 the measure received a new procedure, signed by three institutions: MIPE/MEC/STS Order no. 1.315/5.102/430 repeals the July procedure and sets the deadlines for activating and loading the electronic media.
What it changes in practice
The list of beneficiaries for the 2025-2026 school/academic year is explicitly widened. For nurseries with legal personality not attached to an education unit (where the local public authority is the founding legal entity), national military colleges, pre-university education units within the defence, intelligence, public order and national security systems, and pre-university education units subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, school inspectorates must submit the list of final beneficiaries to the Ministry of Education and Research for centralisation.
A firm deadline is introduced for updating the list after the start of the 2026-2027 school/academic year. Within 15 days of the start of classes, the Ministry of Education and Research must enter into the IT application the list of final beneficiaries, supplemented with the institution or education unit where they are actually working in the new school year.
The Special Telecommunications Service is given an explicit technical verification role. Through the IT application, the STS carries out the external checks needed to determine which of the beneficiaries identified in 2025-2026 remain active in 2026-2027 as well, and within 10 days provides the Ministry of Investments and European Projects with both the list of those who remain active and the list of those no longer active, with details from REGES-ONLINE on the status of their employment contract.
The period for using the bonus is extended for beneficiaries who remain active. Those who received the teaching-career bonus in 2025-2026 and continue their activity in 2026-2027 as well may use the amount until the end of the new school/academic year: 31 August 2027 for the school year, or 30 September 2027 for the academic year.
Unused amounts for beneficiaries who leave the system are withdrawn. For those identified as beneficiaries in 2025-2026 but no longer active in education in 2026-2027, any unused amounts from the teaching-career bonus are withdrawn at the end of the 2025-2026 school/academic year.
The deadline for uploading the training certificate is significantly extended. A beneficiary now has a maximum of 5 months from the date the bonus amount was used to purchase the professional training course, but no later than 31 March 2028, to upload to the IT application the certificate proving completion of, or participation in, the course.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
Emergency Ordinance No. 58/2023, in its original form, set out the general mechanism for career bonuses but was silent on borderline situations: what happens to a nursery not attached to a school, to a military education unit, or to staff who change workplace between two consecutive school years while remaining within the system. Emergency Ordinance No. 39/2026, adopted in May, brought the first clarifications in this respect, and Law No. 163/2026 adds a further layer of technical detail, directly tied to the data flow between the Ministry of Education, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Ministry of Investments and European Projects.
The most visible change for beneficiaries is the extension of the deadline for uploading the professional training certificate, from a relatively short deadline to a fixed calendar ceiling: 31 March 2028, regardless of when the bonus amount was actually used. It is a protective measure for beneficiaries, who previously had a deadline strictly tied to the date the money was used, harder to manage administratively on a large scale.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- It explicitly clarifies the situation of certain categories of beneficiaries that were previously not mentioned separately (unattached nurseries, military units, units subordinate to the Ministry of Justice).
- It provides a fixed calendar deadline (31 March 2028) for uploading the training certificate, simpler to track than a relative deadline tied to the date the amount was used.
- It protects beneficiaries who remain active in the system: they can continue using the bonus already received, with an extended deadline, even if they change their education unit.
What remains a problem
- The mechanism remains complex, with three institutions involved (the Ministry of Education, the STS, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects) and cascading deadlines, hard for an individual beneficiary to follow.
- Withdrawing unused amounts for beneficiaries who leave the system may affect people who left education for objective reasons (retirement, illness) without having had time to complete the training course.
- The amendments arrive almost three months after the Emergency Ordinance No. 39/2026 they approve, which left a period of legislative uncertainty for the institutions applying the scheme.
Practical advice
- If you work at a nursery not attached to an education unit, or at a military/public-order education unit or one subordinate to the Ministry of Justice: check with your school inspectorate whether you appear on the list of beneficiaries submitted for centralisation to the Ministry of Education.
- If you received the teaching-career bonus in 2025-2026 and continue your activity in 2026-2027: you have until 31 August 2027 (school year) or 30 September 2027 (academic year) to use the amount, regardless of the unit where you currently work.
- If you have already used the amount for a training course: keep in mind the new single deadline, 31 March 2028, for uploading the certificate proving completion or participation, regardless of when you paid for the course.
- If you left the education system after the 2025-2026 school year: check quickly whether you still have unused amounts from the teaching-career bonus, since these are withdrawn at the end of the 2025-2026 school/academic year.
Frequently asked questions
What does Law No. 163/2026 approve?
Who benefits from the teaching-career bonus?
What happens if I change my education unit between two school years?
Do I lose the bonus if I leave the education system?
By when can I upload the professional training certificate?
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. 647 of 5 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 114 KB the act starts on page 2
Open the official PDFDownload the PDF
The viewer is not shown on small screens. Use the buttons above to open or download the file.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.