In brief

  • Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1814 replaces in full the lists of qualifications in Annex V to Directive 2005/36/EC; for Romania, only one point changes, 5.7.1, which covers architects’ qualifications.
  • Universitatea din Oradea (University of Oradea) appears in the table for the first time, Universitatea „Politehnică” din Timișoara moves to the reference academic year 2010/2011, and the „diploma de arhitect” (architect’s diploma) is once again awarded to students who started their training in 2024/2025 at Ion Mincu, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca and Iași.
  • Romania’s entries for doctors of medicine, specialist doctors, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists are identical to those in Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187.

Who is affected: graduates and students of Romanian architecture programmes who want to practise in another Member State, the Romanian Order of Architects (Ordinul Arhitecților din România) and the universities that train architects.

Act: Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1814 of 24 July 2026 (notified under document C(2026) 5051)Published: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 9 November 2026Takes effect: upon notification to the Member States, under Article 297(2) TFEU; published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 November 2026

The European Commission has once again updated the list of evidence of formal qualifications that benefits from automatic recognition across the Union, a year after Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187. The new act, Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1814, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 November 2026, rewrites over 119 pages the lists of qualifications in Annex V to Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, the same directive that sets the European training threshold for nurses responsible for general care trained in Romania. For Romania, the only substantive change concerns architects: the table in point 5.7.1 adds Universitatea din Oradea, corrects the reference academic year of Universitatea „Politehnică” din Timișoara and records that four universities are again awarding the „diploma de arhitect” to students who started their training in the 2024/2025 academic year.

The decision is adopted under Article 21a(4) of the directive, which empowers the Commission to update the titles of qualifications notified by the Member States, the bodies that award them and the certificates that accompany them. The recitals state that „Several EU countries” have notified the Commission of their national provisions, without naming them. The same act corrects an old error: the Italian title „Biochimica”, added to point 5.1.3 in 2021 by Delegated Decision (EU) 2021/2183, is removed because, in line with the explanations from Italy, it should not have been added.

What it changes in practice

Annex V has one decisive effect: a qualification listed there is recognised automatically in the other Member States. Under Article 21(1) of Directive 2005/36/EC, each Member State recognises the evidence of formal qualifications as an architect set out in point 5.7.1 and gives it, for access to and pursuit of the profession, the same effect as the qualifications it awards itself. Where required, the qualification must be accompanied by the certificate indicated in the annex. For Romania, that certificate remains the „Certificat de dobândire a dreptului de semnătură și de înscriere în Tabloul Național al Arhitecților” (certificate granting the right to sign and of entry in the National Register of Architects).

The reference academic year has a legal function of its own. Article 21(5) of the directive provides that evidence of formal qualifications as an architect under point 5.7.1 that is subject to automatic recognition „proves completion of a course of training which began not earlier than during the academic reference year referred to in that Annex”. The year in the last column determines from which intake of students automatic recognition begins for the qualification and the university in that row.

In concrete terms, the effects for Romanian architecture graduates are as follows:

  • graduates of Universitatea „Politehnică” din Timișoara who started their studies in 2010/2011 and received the „diploma de arhitect” are now covered by automatic recognition; the 2025 table gave 2011/2012 for the same university;
  • students who started their training in 2024/2025 at Universitatea de Arhitectură și Urbanism „Ion Mincu” (Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism), at Timișoara, at Universitatea Tehnică din Cluj-Napoca (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca) and at Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași (Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași) will receive the „diploma de arhitect”, and the title is already listed in the annex for them;
  • graduates of Universitatea din Oradea appear in the table for the first time, under the titles „Diploma de licență” (bachelor’s degree) and „Diploma de licență și master” (bachelor’s and master’s degree), but the reference year that applies to them cannot be established with certainty from the published text (see the errors section);
  • nothing changes for doctors of medicine, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, nurses responsible for general care, midwives and pharmacists holding Romanian qualifications: Romania’s entries in points 5.1.1-5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2 are identical to those in Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187.

The decision has no article of its own on entry into force. Article 2 states that „This Decision is addressed to the Member States”, and a decision that specifies its addressees takes effect upon notification to them, under the third subparagraph of Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Publication on 9 November 2026 makes the text available to everyone; the date of notification is not printed in the Official Journal of the European Union.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The decision replaces the same points of Annex V that Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 29 October 2025, had also replaced: 5.1.1-5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1. For Romania, in point 5.7.1 (page 112 of the act, with the footnotes on page 119), the differences are:

  • Timișoara: for the „Diploma de arhitect”, the reference academic year of Universitatea „Politehnică” din Timișoara moves from 2011/2012 to 2010/2011.
  • New footnotes (23)-(25), for Ion Mincu, Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca: the universities awarded the „diploma de arhitect” only to students who started their training in 2010/2011, with diplomas awarded until 2015/2016, and again to those who started their training in 2024/2025.
  • New footnote (26), for Iași: the „diploma de arhitect” was awarded to students who started their training between 2007/2008 and 2010/2011, with diplomas awarded until 2015/2016, and again to those who started in 2024/2025.
  • New footnote (27), for Spiru Haret: the Faculty of Architecture of Universitatea Spiru Haret (Spiru Haret University) awarded the „diploma de arhitect” to students who started their training between 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, with diplomas awarded until 2015/2016. Unlike the other four universities, the footnote makes no provision for a resumption in 2024/2025. In the 2025 act, Spiru Haret was listed under „Diploma de arhitect”, with the year 2009/2010; in the new act it is printed, with footnote (27), against the „Diploma de licență” row.
  • Universitatea din Oradea appears for the first time, under „Diploma de licență” and „Diploma de licență și master”.
  • New footnote (28), for „Diploma de licență și master”: the title covers training started up to the reference academic year 2023/2024, with diplomas awarded until 2028/2029.

Footnote (15), under which qualifications with the denomination „Diploma de licență” were only issued for the class of 2017, and the certificate accompanying the qualification remain unchanged.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The intake that started in 2010/2011 at Timișoara now has the correct reference year and is covered by automatic recognition.
  • The return to the „diploma de arhitect” from 2024/2025 is recorded in good time, before the first graduates of the new intake reach the labour market.
  • The footnotes specify, for each university, which intakes received the „diploma de arhitect” and the years in which the diplomas were awarded, information missing from the 2025 table.
  • Architecture graduates from Oradea have, for the first time, their university listed in Annex V.

What remains a problem

  • The „Diploma de licență” row brings together seven entries and three years in a single cell, so the year and the title for Spiru Haret and Oradea cannot be established with certainty.
  • The recitals do not say which states notified changes, so a professional has to compare 119 pages alone to find out whether the act concerns them.
  • The date from which the decision takes effect depends on notification to the Member States, which does not appear in the published text.

Practical advice

  1. If you want to practise as an architect in another Member State, check three things at once in the table on page 112: the exact title on your diploma, the university and the academic year in which you started your studies. Automatic recognition depends on all three.
  2. Keep the „Certificat de dobândire a dreptului de semnătură și de înscriere în Tabloul Național al Arhitecților” together with your diploma; the annex lists it as the accompanying document for all Romanian architects’ qualifications.
  3. Timișoara graduates from the 2010/2011 intake can expressly rely, before the authority of the host state, on point 5.7.1 as worded by Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1814, where the reference year is 2010/2011.
  4. Graduates of Universitatea din Oradea and Spiru Haret graduates from the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 intakes should ask the university and the Romanian Order of Architects for written confirmation of the title and the reference year notified to the Commission for their class, pending any correction of the table.
  5. Students who started their training in 2024/2025 at Ion Mincu, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca or Iași can already check in the university’s regulations that their diploma will bear the title „diploma de arhitect”, the one listed in the annex for their intake.

Frequently asked questions

Does anything change for doctors, nurses or pharmacists in Romania?
No. The decision also rewrites in full the points of Annex V for the medical professions, but Romania’s entries for doctors of medicine, specialist doctors, general practitioners, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists are identical to those in Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187. The only change in those points mentioned in the recitals is the removal of the Italian title „Biochimica” from point 5.1.3.
What does the „reference academic year” mean for an architect?
Under Article 21(5) of Directive 2005/36/EC, architects’ qualifications listed in point 5.7.1 and recognised automatically attest training that began not earlier than the reference year given in the annex. The year therefore indicates the first intake of a university’s students that benefits from automatic recognition for the title concerned.
I started architecture at Timișoara in 2010/2011. What changes for me?
For the „Diploma de arhitect” awarded by Universitatea „Politehnică” din Timișoara, the reference year becomes 2010/2011, compared with 2011/2012 in the 2025 table. Your intake is therefore covered by automatic recognition, provided that you also hold the accompanying certificate required by the annex.
Do Oradea graduates benefit from automatic recognition?
Universitatea din Oradea appears in the table for the first time, under „Diploma de licență” and „Diploma de licență și master”. However, the published table does not show clearly which reference year applies to it for each of the two titles, and the Romanian and French versions use the same layout as the English one. Until this is clarified, ask the university and the Romanian Order of Architects to confirm the title and the year notified for your class.
When does the decision apply?
The decision is addressed to the Member States, so it takes effect upon notification to them, under Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It was adopted on 24 July 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 November 2026; the date of notification does not appear in the published text.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • Annex, point 7 (point 5.7.1 of Annex V to Directive 2005/36/EC), Romania, the „Diploma de licență” row (page 112). In the English version, the reference academic year column contains, in a single cell, three years, 2009/2010, 2024/2025 and 2011/2012, for seven entries: Universitatea Spiru Haret with footnote (27), Universitatea din Oradea, Ion Mincu, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and, a second time, Universitatea Spiru Haret. Footnote (15) to the row states that „The evidence of formal qualifications with the denomination ‘Diploma de licență’ was only issued for the promotion of 2017”, so the reference year 2024/2025 cannot relate to this title, while footnote (27), attached to the first Spiru Haret entry, refers to the „diploma de arhitect”, not to the „Diploma de licență”. The table makes it impossible to establish either under which title and with which year the 2009/2010-2010/2011 Spiru Haret intakes are recognised automatically, or which reference year applies to Universitatea din Oradea. The Romanian and French versions of the act print the same layout, and the XHTML version on EUR-Lex puts the seven entries and the three years in a single table row, so no language version settles the question. In Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187, Spiru Haret was listed under „Diploma de arhitect”, with the year 2009/2010.
  • Same point, the „Diploma de licență și master” row. Universitatea Spiru Haret and Universitatea din Oradea are grouped in a single row, with the reference year 2016/2017. In Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187, Spiru Haret had a row of its own for this title, with no year, in the group that began with Ion Mincu and the year 2011/2012. The new text does not make it possible to establish whether the year 2016/2017 covers both universities or only Universitatea din Oradea, listed for the first time, and therefore from which intake the bachelor’s and master’s qualifications awarded by Spiru Haret are recognised automatically.

Editorial analysis

The decision resolves a real problem with Romanian qualifications: until now, Annex V did not say that the Romanian system for training architects had moved from the „diploma de arhitect” to the „diploma de licență și master” and then back again. The new footnotes make it possible to reconstruct the chronology, and the figures add up. The 2010/2011 intake received its diplomas until 2015/2016, that is, after six academic years; the last bachelor’s and master’s intake starts in 2023/2024 and receives its diplomas until 2028/2029, again after six years. The first intake returning to the „diploma de arhitect” starts in 2024/2025, so the transition leaves no academic year uncovered. The calculation also reveals a consequence that does not appear in the act: if the six-year duration is maintained, the first architect’s diplomas of the new intake will be awarded no earlier than 2029/2030, and between 2016/2017 and 2028/2029 the four universities do not award the title under that name at all.

Where the decision falls short is precisely Romania’s table, the only part that matters to a Romanian architect. In 2025, each university had its own row, with its own year, under „Diploma de arhitect”. Now the „Diploma de licență” row brings together seven entries and three years in a single cell, contradicts its own footnote (15) with the year 2024/2025 and moves Spiru Haret under a title that footnote (27) does not mention. It is precisely the newly listed university, Oradea, whose reference year cannot be read. An authority in the host state applying Article 21(5) has no way of deciding from this table whether an Oradea graduate began training „not earlier than” the reference year.

The second weakness concerns transparency. All the substantive changes affecting Romania fit on a single page out of 119, while the recitals settle for the phrase „Several EU countries”, without saying who notified what. The decision was adopted on 24 July 2026 and published 108 days later, compared with 91 days for Delegated Decision (EU) 2025/2187 (between 30 July and 29 October 2025), an interval consistent with the two-month period within which the European Parliament and the Council may raise objections under Article 57c(5) of the directive. There was, then, time to check Romania’s table.

What should be changed

  • A correction of point 5.7.1 for Romania, with one row per university. Each entry should have its own title and reference year, including Spiru Haret and Oradea; authorities in host states could check a diploma without asking for clarification, and graduates would no longer depend on how a single cell is read.
  • Recitals that name the notifying states and the points amended. An architect or a doctor would find out in a few minutes whether the act concerns them, instead of comparing by hand two annexes of more than 100 pages.
  • Publication by the Romanian authority of the notification sent through IMI. Article 21a(2) requires the notification to include the duration and content of the training programmes; published in Romania, it would show exactly which intakes and which titles were notified for each university, including Oradea.
  • A guidance note from the Romanian Order of Architects for graduates. A simple table, by university and intake, with the title recognised automatically and the documents to be presented in the host state, would spare each graduate from reconstructing the chronology from the footnotes.
  • Printing the date of notification alongside the text. The moment from which the decision takes effect could then be established by anyone reading the Official Journal of the European Union, not only by the addressees.

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 Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/1814, 9 November 2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_del/2026/1814/oj 119 pages PDF, 3.4 MB the act starts on page 112

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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.