In brief

  • Law no. 141/2026 introduces a temporary mechanism allowing public construction investments to be accepted “in stages”: the essential works are accepted and paid, and acceptance is suspended only for unfinished auxiliary works, worth at most 5% of the contract value.
  • The mechanism applies to investments financed from EU funds, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the state budget, local budgets or other legal sources, but for all except NRRP it becomes applicable only once the relevant ministries adopt technical instructions, within a maximum of 90 days from the law’s entry into force.
  • Remaining auxiliary works must be completed within a maximum of 120 days from acceptance, and missing deadlines or unlawfully classifying works can trigger fines of up to 500,000 lei.
Act: Law no. 141/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 575 of 13 July 2026
Enters into force: 16 July 2026

A public construction site that is almost finished no longer has to hold up payment for the works just because an unfinished fence or a delayed final electrical connection remains. Law no. 141/2026 on measures to accelerate the implementation of public investments in construction, promulgated by Decree no. 413/2026 of President Nicușor-Daniel Dan, introduces a mechanism allowing the acceptance of buildings financed with public money to take place “in stages”: the acceptance committee approves the essential works, already completed, and suspends acceptance only for the remaining auxiliary works, identified separately in technical and value terms.

The law covers public investments financed from EU funds, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the state budget, local budgets or other legally established sources, ranging from the energy renovation of apartment blocks and public buildings to the construction of new buildings such as schools, hospitals or institutional headquarters. The mechanism is not mandatory: if all works are complete at the acceptance date, the classic, unitary procedure still applies. Partial suspension becomes an exception, applicable only when the remaining works do not affect the safety, quality or functioning of the construction.

What it changes in practice

In practice, the law unblocks payment and the commissioning of public investments that, until now, remained frozen because of minor unfinished works, most often final electrical connections delayed by distribution operators or auxiliary finishes that do not affect the building’s operation. The contracting authority can settle payment for the accepted essential works, and the warranty period for them starts running even while the auxiliary works are still in progress.

For NRRP investments, where the deadlines for absorbing EU funds are tight, the mechanism can save projects at risk of losing funding because of delays on secondary items. For citizens, the indirect effect is that hospitals, schools, nurseries or energy-renovated social housing blocks could be put into use earlier, even if some details, such as the final electrical connection, are completed later through a temporary technical solution.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

  • Acceptance no longer has to be 100% unitary: until now, the general rule required all works to be fully completed before acceptance. The law introduces, as a temporary exception, the possibility of accepting essential works separately, with acceptance suspended only for auxiliary ones.
  • A clear cap for auxiliary works: the value of unfinished works that can remain outside the initial acceptance cannot exceed 5% of the contract value, and they must be identified separately, technically and by value, in a “technical classification note” drawn up before convening the acceptance committee.
  • A firm 120-day deadline: the remaining auxiliary works must be completed within at most 120 days from the acceptance of the essential works, a deadline that can only be extended if the delay comes from utility operators or other causes beyond the control of the beneficiary and the contractor.
  • The role of the State Construction Inspectorate changes: its representatives take part in acceptance only at the very end of the whole process, after the auxiliary works are also finished, and the certificate confirming payment of the legally owed shares is issued only then, not at the partial acceptance.
  • Lack of a final electrical connection no longer automatically blocks acceptance: if a safe temporary technical solution exists and steps toward the final connection are proven, the building can be accepted and, where applicable, put into use.
  • It does not apply to major transport infrastructure: motorways, railways, airports, ports and the metro network run by Metrorex remain outside this mechanism, except for a special rule for rail, which allows phased acceptance by execution stage without amounting to final acceptance.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • It speeds up payment and the commissioning of public investments blocked by minor details, with a direct effect on the absorption of EU and NRRP funds.
  • It introduces clear rules and caps (5% of the contract value, 120 days for completion) that limit the risk of abuse and require the remaining works to be precisely identified.
  • It preserves all quality, safety and fire-safety guarantees: the mechanism cannot be used to bypass fundamental construction quality requirements.

What remains a problem

  • For investments from EU funds, the state budget, local budgets or other sources (except NRRP), the law does not actually apply until the relevant ministries adopt technical instructions, within a maximum of 90 days, which means a period of uncertainty for contracting authorities.
  • Extra administrative complexity: the technical classification note, the expanded acceptance committee and the separate record of auxiliary works add new steps and responsibilities for beneficiaries, designers and site supervisors.
  • Liability for misclassifying works, essential ones passed off as auxiliary, is punished with fines of up to 500,000 lei, which raises the stakes for getting the technical classification note right.

A concrete example of this kind of administrative regularisation: the Government recently registered the infrastructure of Metro Line 5, Eroilor-Râul Doamnei section, as public property, in use since 2020 but only now officially recognised in the state’s records, through Decision no. 549/2026.

Practical advice

  1. Contracting authority or beneficiary of a public investment: before convening acceptance, check whether the remaining works fall within the 5% cap of the contract value and request the technical classification note in good time, with the participation of the designer, the project checker and the site supervisor.
  2. Contractor on a project financed from public funds other than NRRP: find out whether the relevant ministry has already issued the technical implementing instructions, because without them the phased acceptance mechanism cannot be used on your project.
  3. Site supervisor or designer involved in acceptance: document rigorously the physical and value status of the auxiliary works, because liability for an incorrect classification is explicit and can lead to disciplinary or administrative sanctions.
  4. Citizens waiting for a public building to be finished (school, hospital, social housing block): an announced partial acceptance does not necessarily mean the building is ready for use; the construction can only be put into service if the essential works allow it, under the law.

Frequently asked questions

What is Law no. 141/2026?
A law that temporarily and as an exception introduces a mechanism allowing public construction investments to be accepted “in stages”: the acceptance committee approves the essential works, fully completed, and suspends acceptance only for unfinished auxiliary works, identified separately.
Who does the law apply to?
To public construction investments financed from EU funds, NRRP, the state budget, local budgets or other legally established sources, including energy renovation works and the construction of new buildings. It does not apply to national transport infrastructure (road, rail, air, naval) or the Metrorex metro network, which have their own rules.
What does “auxiliary works” mean under the law?
Works that do not affect the fundamental quality requirements in construction, the building’s functionality or its use according to the approved purpose, and which can be completed after the essential works are accepted. Their value cannot exceed 5% of the contract value.
How long do the remaining auxiliary works have to be completed?
Within at most 120 days of signing the acceptance report for the essential works, a deadline that can only be extended in objectively justified situations, for example delays caused by utility operators.
Since when does the mechanism actually apply?
The law entered into force on 16 July 2026, 3 days after publication in the Official Gazette of Romania. For NRRP investments, the mechanism applies immediately. For those financed from EU funds, the state budget, local budgets or other sources, application depends on the relevant ministries adopting technical instructions, within a maximum of 90 days from the law’s entry into force.
What happens if the auxiliary works are not ready on time?
Missing the 120-day deadline can trigger a fine of 0.5% to 2% of the value of the unfinished auxiliary works, while unlawfully classifying essential works as auxiliary is punished with fines of 1% to 5% of their value, not exceeding 500,000 lei. Until full completion, the building cannot be registered in the land register and no completion certificates can be issued for it.

Also in the summer of 2026, the state opened the National Programme for Consolidating High Seismic Risk Buildings to a new category of properties: apartment blocks damaged by explosions or fires, for which the state budget can cover demolition, reconstruction and rent for evacuated tenants.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official published form.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 575 of 13 July 2026 8 pages PDF, 79 KB the act starts on page 2

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, we recommend consulting a specialist (lawyer, designer, site supervisor) or the official text published in the Official Gazette.

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