In brief

  • The Government has approved the rules for the platform through which companies will obtain the single industrial licence entirely online: electronic application, digitally signed documents, payment of fees through ghiseul.ro and communication with every authority in one place.
  • The platform includes a free simulator that shows, before anything is filed, which authorities are involved, what documents they require and what the approvals cost.
  • Authorities get 10 days to say whether the application has been validly filed, and the applicant has 15 days to complete it, failing which the application is treated as withdrawn. The part governing actual use of the platform, however, enters into force six months after a handover protocol that has no date.
Act: Government Decision no. 681/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 730 of 31 August 2026
In force from: 31 August 2026

An industrial activity is to be authorised from a single account, on a State platform, instead of trips to each institution in turn. Government Decision no. 681/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 730 of 31 August 2026, approves the Regulation on the administration and use of the Electronic Single Point of Contact for Industrial Licences, PCUEL for short. It is the act that puts into operation the mechanism created by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022 on the single industrial licence, approved with amendments by Law no. 98/2023, and it continues this summer’s run of administrative simplifications, after the one by which silence from the Ministry of Culture became consent for works on historic buildings.

The single industrial licence replaces a stack of approvals. Instead of several consents obtained separately, from different institutions, with different deadlines, the company files one application and the system distributes it automatically to the competent authorities. The result is a single electronic administrative act, issued by the Industrial Licence Office.

The platform has six components: public information, the licence simulator, the interface for applicants, the workspace for the competent authorities, the inspection component and the electronic archive. The data is stored in the government cloud. Access is open to any interested person, whatever their nationality, with a single condition for those from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area: they must have set up a company or a branch in Romania, for the whole period of validity of the licence.

The same family of European instruments includes the internal market emergency mode, now transposed for machinery used outdoors.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is that a company learns the cost before it starts. The simulator, which is free, shows on the basis of the type of activity what documentation is needed, which authorities enter the flow and what the estimated costs are. For activities where the fees are calculated by complex methods, the simulator gives only an order of magnitude, and the final figure is established at the clarification stage, with help from the competent authority.

The second effect is the deadlines. The competent authorities have 10 days from receipt of the application to inform the Office of the outcome of their analysis of its validity or to ask for the documentation to be completed. Where the authority does not itself indicate a deadline for completion, the applicant has at most 15 days from the request to upload the documents, failing which the application is treated as withdrawn.

The third effect is that payment enters the same flow. The fees for obtaining the consents are paid electronically, through the national electronic payment system ghiseul.ro or through other processors, or proof of payment is uploaded. There is no longer a separate route for the money.

The fourth effect concerns challenges. If the application is rejected, the applicant may start the process again or may challenge the competent authority’s decision under Administrative Litigation Law no. 554/2004. The preliminary complaint is filed in a dedicated section of the platform, which forwards it automatically to the authority that rejected the application, and the reply comes back through the platform too.

The fifth effect is traceability. Every stage and every request is notified electronically, and the applicant can see the status of the application. Documents travel on paper in three situations only: if they are classified, if their volume or format does not allow electronic upload, or if uploading them would impair their quality.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022 had created the single industrial licence and provided for the electronic point of contact, but Article 19(6) left the regulation on administration and use to a Government decision. Without it the platform had no operating rules: it was not known who administers it, how an applicant enrols, how documents move between institutions or what happens when an authority is late.

The role of the platform changes as well. PCUEL no longer serves the industrial licence alone. The Regulation gives it three further European functions: single point of contact for Regulation (EU) 2024/1.252 on critical raw materials, point of contact for Regulation (EU) 2024/1.735 on net-zero technologies and electronic single point of contact for developers of renewable energy plants, under Government Emergency Ordinance no. 163/2022. The same platform thus becomes the gateway for three categories of industrial project that the European Union treats as a priority.

What does not change straight away is the point from which it can be used. The Regulation enters into force on publication, but with three exceptions. Chapter III, on the administration of the platform, enters into force on the date on which PCUEL is taken over by the Industrial Licence Office through a handover protocol concluded with the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism. Chapter IV, which is precisely the set of rules under which companies use the platform, enters into force six months after that date. Articles 13 to 15, on process analysis, monitoring and the components of the platform, one year after the same date.

Authorisation procedures already under way continue under the old rules, with the option of uploading the consents into the platform from the date on which it becomes operational.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The free simulator allows the documentation, the authorities involved and the costs to be estimated before anything is filed, so the company can decide with full knowledge of the facts.
  • The competent authorities have an express deadline of 10 days for analysing the validity of the application, which previously did not exist in any implementing text.
  • Fees are paid in the same flow as the filing, through ghiseul.ro or other processors.
  • The preliminary complaint is filed and settled through the platform, so the remedy does not leave the electronic system.
  • The same platform also covers the points of contact required by the European regulations on critical raw materials and net-zero technologies, instead of three separate systems being built.

What remains a problem

  • The chapter governing use of the platform by companies enters into force six months after an administrative protocol that has no deadline and whose date is not published anywhere.
  • The Regulation attaches no consequence to a competent authority that exceeds the 10-day deadline, whereas an applicant who exceeds 15 days loses the application.
  • The simulator gives only indicative costs for activities with complex fee calculations, and the real figure emerges only at the clarification stage.
  • Companies from outside the European Union must first set up a company or a branch in Romania, for the whole duration of the licence.
  • The deadlines for validating an application may be extended „cu perioada necesară”, by the period needed, where the actual situation differs from the simulated one, with no maximum limit written into the Regulation.

Practical advice

  1. Use the simulator before filing anything. It is free and it shows the authorities involved, the documents and the estimated costs for the CAEN code and the place of business you have in mind.
  2. Check whether your activity appears among the CAEN codes in annex no. 1 to Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022. The single industrial licence is granted only for the activities listed there.
  3. Get your electronic signature ready. Documents are uploaded in the format required by the platform, after signing, under Article 22(7) of the ordinance.
  4. If you already hold consents issued by competent authorities for that activity, upload them directly. The Regulation expressly provides for this and it shortens the flow.
  5. Reply to requests for clarification within 15 days at the latest, unless the authority has indicated another deadline. Exceeding it automatically means the application is treated as withdrawn, and the system tells you so.
  6. If you use the same consents for several industrial activities, open separate sessions in the platform. The Regulation requires this explicitly.
  7. Keep the e-mail address declared at enrolment. It becomes the official channel of communication for the whole process, and changing it means going through the enrolment steps again.
  8. For procedures started earlier, do not move them into the platform. They continue under the old rules, and uploading the consents into PCUEL is optional.

Frequently asked questions

What is the single industrial licence?
An electronic administrative act that replaces the series of consents needed to carry out one of the industrial activities listed in annex no. 1 to Government Emergency Ordinance no. 140/2022. It is issued through the PCUEL platform, by the Industrial Licence Office.
From when can I file an application online?
The chapter of the Regulation governing use of the platform by applicants enters into force six months after the date on which PCUEL is taken over by the Industrial Licence Office, through a protocol concluded with the Ministry of Economy, Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism. The act sets no date for that protocol.
What does using the platform cost?
The information and the licence simulator are free. Only the competent authorities’ fees for issuing the consents are payable, through ghiseul.ro or other electronic payment processors.
How long do the authorities take to reply?
They have 10 days from receipt of the application to inform the Office of the outcome of their analysis of its validity or to ask for the documentation to be completed. The deadlines for completing the procedure are those in Article 13 of the ordinance.
What happens if I do not reply to a request for clarification?
The application is treated as withdrawn, and the IT system informs you. Where the authority has not indicated a deadline, you have at most 15 days from the date of the request.
Can I challenge a rejection?
Yes. You may start the process again or challenge the competent authority’s decision under Administrative Litigation Law no. 554/2004. The preliminary complaint is filed in the dedicated section of the platform, together with the relevant documents, and the reply is communicated through the platform as well.
Do I need a company in Romania?
If you are from the European Union or the European Economic Area, no: registration, CAEN codes and the legal representative are checked under Article 9 of Law no. 265/2022 on the trade register. If you are from outside those areas, yes: you must set up a company or a branch in Romania, for the whole period of validity of the licence.
Are there still paper documents?
In three situations only: if they fall within the category of classified information or documents, if their volume, size or format does not allow electronic upload, or if electronic upload would impair their quality.

Editorial analysis

The problem the act addresses is old and expensive: to start an industrial activity, a company has to obtain approvals from institutions that do not talk to one another, each with its own form, its own counter and its own deadline. The single industrial licence was designed precisely to take the company out of that circuit, and the regulation published now is the piece that makes the mechanism usable. The detail shows practical thinking: a cost simulator before filing, payment in the same flow, automatic notification at every stage, the remedy inside the platform.

What is not apparent from reading the act end to end is that most of it does not yet apply and that nobody can say when it will. Of the Regulation’s five chapters, two, the third and the fourth, plus three articles of chapter II, have their entry into force tied to a single event: the protocol handing the platform over from the Ministry of Economy to the Industrial Licence Office. Chapter IV, which contains absolutely everything of interest to a company, from enrolment to challenge, comes six months after that protocol. The act sets no deadline for concluding it and no obligation to publish its date, even though half the Regulation becomes applicable only from that point. In practice, an entrepreneur reading the decision on 31 August 2026 cannot work out when they will be able to file an application.

A third observation comes from comparing the two deadlines in Article 29. The competent authority has 10 days to say whether the application has been validly filed. The applicant has 15 days to supply what is asked of them. The difference is not one of length but of consequence: the applicant who misses the deadline loses the application, which is treated as withdrawn, while the authority that exceeds its 10 days bears nothing under the Regulation. The same asymmetry appears in Article 27(4), where the deadlines may be extended „cu perioada necesară depunerii unei documentații complete”, by the period needed to file complete documentation, a formula that leaves the duration to the administration’s judgment.

It is worth noting, finally, what has been added alongside the industrial licence. The same platform takes on three European roles: the single point of contact for critical raw materials, the point of contact for net-zero technologies and the single point for renewable energy developers. Economically that is a sound choice, because it avoids three parallel systems, but it raises the stakes on the calendar: the three European regulations and ordinances have compliance deadlines of their own, and those do not synchronise automatically with the date of an internal protocol between two Romanian institutions.

What should be changed

  • A deadline for the handover protocol, plus an obligation to publish its date. That would turn three unpredictable entries into force into three calculable dates. Without it, the Regulation has one applicable chapter and two suspended ones, and the public has no way of finding out when that changes.
  • A consequence where the competent authority exceeds the 10-day deadline. The simplest would be tacit approval of the validity of the application, a mechanism already used in Romanian legislation for consents. Today the only party penalised for delay is the company.
  • A maximum limit on the extension „by the period needed”. Article 27(4) allows the deadlines to be extended where the actual situation differs from the simulated one. A ceiling, even a generous one, would keep the clause useful without turning it into an open-ended extension.
  • Publication of a dashboard with the actual times per authority. Article 14 gives the Office the task of monitoring compliance with deadlines by the competent authorities. If the result of that monitoring were published, a company would know what to expect from each institution before filing.
  • Alignment of the domestic calendar with the European deadlines. The three roles taken on by the platform come from regulations with application dates of their own. A provision tying the entry into force of chapter IV to the earliest of those dates, and not merely to an internal protocol, would remove the risk of Romania having its point of contact on paper but not in operation.

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. 730 of 31 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 109 KB the act starts on page 4

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.