In brief
- From 2030, at least 42% of the hydrogen used in industry has to be renewable hydrogen, and from 2035 at least 60%. In transport the share climbs in steps: 0.2% in 2027, 0.5% in 2028, 0.8% in 2029 and at least 1% from 2030.
- The law takes low-carbon hydrogen out of the title and out of the subject matter: only hydrogen from renewable sources remains.
- On the same day, ANRE approves the Hydrogen Code, the first general regulatory framework for the whole chain, from production through to use.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 723 and no. 722 of 28 August 2026
In force from: 31 August 2026 and 28 August 2026 respectively
For the first time, Romania sets binding figures for renewable hydrogen, and it sets them by law rather than by strategy. Law no. 181/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 723 of 28 August 2026 and promulgated by Decree no. 734/2026, rewrites Law no. 237/2023 and Government Emergency Ordinance no. 163/2022. On the same day, in Official Gazette of Romania no. 722, the National Energy Regulatory Authority approves the Hydrogen Code by Order no. 56/2026. The two acts complete each other: the law says how much renewable hydrogen has to be used, the code says who is allowed to produce, transport and sell it, in a field where the rules on what may be built next to a hydrogen station had appeared two days earlier.
The substantive change starts with the title. Law no. 237/2023 was called „privind integrarea hidrogenului din surse regenerabile și cu emisii reduse de carbon”, on the integration of hydrogen from renewable sources and low-carbon hydrogen. The new title keeps only hydrogen from renewable sources. Low-carbon hydrogen, that is, hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon dioxide capture, leaves the subject matter of the law.
For operators, the whole act comes down to three things: what counts as renewable hydrogen, how much of it they have to use, and how they prove they have used it.
The next order from the same authority deals with pipeline gas: ANRE Order no. 57/2026 introduces the first hydrogen limit in natural gas and a ceiling for the calorific value.
What it changes in practice
The first effect is the industrial quotas. Of the hydrogen used for final energy and non-energy purposes, other than hydrogen used as an intermediate product for conventional fuels and biofuels for transport, a minimum of 42% has to be renewable fuel of non-biological origin from 2030, and a minimum of 60% from 2035. Those contributions are reduced by 20% under the conditions in Article 22^8 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 163/2022.
The second effect is the transport quotas. From 2030, every fuel supplier has to secure a minimum share of at least 1% renewable fuels of non-biological origin in final energy consumption in road transport. The climb to it comes in steps: at least 0.2% in 2027, 0.5% in 2028 and 0.8% in 2029. The intermediate steps can, however, be met in another way as well: the text requires a share of renewable fuels of non-biological origin „și/sau”, and/or, of renewable electricity supplied to transport. Only the 1% quota from 2030 is strictly renewable hydrogen.
The third effect is the definition of who is bound. Three new categories appear in the law: the hydrogen supplier, that is, the producer, importer or integrated operator who first places hydrogen on the Romanian market or transfers it to its own unit for consumption; the integrated economic operator, who carries out at least two of the activities of production, import, supply and consumption; and the industrial hydrogen consumer, defined by CAEN codes, sections B, C or F or division 63.
The fourth effect concerns proof. Compliance with the quotas is proved by valid proofs of sustainability, based on a mass balance system, verified by independent audit and registered or claimed in the European Union database for Romania, for as long as that database is operational. A guarantee of origin may be used only to prove the origin of the energy, not for the quotas.
The fifth effect delimits the sector. Transport means, for the purposes of the law, road transport of passengers and goods, including road electromobility. Air transport and maritime transport are expressly excluded, being covered by the European ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime regulations.
The sixth effect comes from the Hydrogen Code. It covers the whole value chain: production, storage and terminal operation, transmission and distribution through systems, supply, trading and use, including the interfaces with natural gas systems. The Code says expressly that it does not extend ANRE’s powers and does not affect the powers of the ministries, of ISCIR, IGSU, INSEMEX Petroșani or of the authorities responsible for construction, the environment, health and safety at work, legal metrology and the transport of dangerous goods.
The seventh effect is transitional. Supply certificates issued before entry into force remain usable until they expire, but only if they are backed by the conformity documents required by the new wording of the law and have not been claimed before. Transfers of guarantees of origin made earlier remain valid.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
The first change is the narrowing of the subject matter. From 2023 until now, the law covered low-carbon hydrogen as well. The new title and the new definitions take it out. For a producer counting on hydrogen from natural gas with capture, the quota obligations can no longer be met with its own product.
The second change is the figures. The 2023 law contained no annual percentages for industry and transport; they came from European law and from implementing acts. Now they are written into the law, with years and thresholds, and the 20% reduction is tied to an express condition in the framework ordinance.
The third change is the system of proof. Compliance with the quotas can no longer be proved with guarantees of origin. It takes proofs of sustainability with a mass balance, independent audit and registration in the Union database. Old certificates survive only if the conformity documentation stands behind them.
The fourth change is the appearance of the Hydrogen Code. Until now, hydrogen was regulated in pieces: the energy law, the ordinance on renewable sources, the national hydrogen strategy approved by Government Decision no. 855/2025. The Code gathers the principles into a single ANRE act and rests them on eight principles, among them technological neutrality, proportionality of requirements, interoperability, and treating new installations separately from existing installations undergoing conversion.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- Investors have, for the first time, figures with years attached in a law rather than targets in a strategy: 42% in 2030 and 60% in 2035 for industry, 1% in 2030 for transport.
- The steps of 0.2%, 0.5% and 0.8% give suppliers a growth curve rather than a jump, and can be met with renewable electricity too, not only with hydrogen.
- Proof through mass balance, independent audit and the European database closes the loophole of guarantees of origin used as a substitute.
- The Hydrogen Code covers the whole value chain and states explicitly what it does not do, which reduces the risk of overlap with ISCIR, IGSU or the environmental authorities.
- Certificates issued under the old regime are not cancelled but stay valid until they expire, if the conformity documents are in place.
What remains a problem
- Taking low-carbon hydrogen out of the subject matter of the law leaves without a framework a category of projects that had been encouraged since 2023.
- The first quota step in transport applies from 2027, so suppliers have around sixteen months to get their mass balance and their audit in place, on a market that is only just forming.
- Proving the quotas depends on a European Union database, and the law itself makes the obligation conditional on that database being operational.
- The Hydrogen Code sets out principles and general requirements but leaves the concrete technical rules to future regulations.
- The two acts appear on the same day, in different editions, and neither cites the other, although they apply to the same operator.
Practical advice
- Industrial hydrogen consumers: check whether your activity falls within sections B, C or F or within division 63 of CAEN Rev. 3. Whether the 42% and 60% quotas concern you depends on that classification.
- Fuel suppliers: get your contracts ready for 2027. The 0.2% step applies from that year, and proof requires a mass balance and an independent audit, both of which have to be organised well in advance.
- Do not rely on guarantees of origin to prove the quotas. The law says expressly that they may be used only to prove the origin of the energy.
- If you hold supply certificates issued before 31 August 2026, check whether you have the conformity documents required by the new wording of Article 6 of Law no. 237/2023. Without them, the certificates can no longer be used.
- If you produce hydrogen from natural gas with carbon dioxide capture, watch what framework this category is given. It leaves the subject matter of Law no. 237/2023.
- Authorising a new production capacity is not a matter for ANRE. The Hydrogen Code recalls expressly that authorisations are issued by the ministry responsible.
Frequently asked questions
What does renewable hydrogen mean for the purposes of the law?
From when do the quotas apply?
Does low-carbon hydrogen still count?
How is compliance with the quota proved?
What is the Hydrogen Code?
Does it apply to aviation or maritime transport?
Editorial analysis
Together, the two acts solve a problem that neither would have solved alone. Since 2023, Romania had a hydrogen law without figures and a strategy with figures but no legal force. It now has quotas in a law and a regulatory code at ANRE. For an investor, the difference between a target in a strategy and a percentage in a law is the difference between an intention and a risk that can be priced.
What does not show when you read the acts from start to finish appears when you put the quotas next to the calendar. The first effective obligation in transport, 0.2%, concerns the year 2027, so it has to be proved for a year that begins four months after publication. A supplier can also cover it with renewable electricity, which leaves a way out, but the system of proof is the same: mass balance, independent audit and registration in the Union database. Compliance infrastructure is put in place over months, not weeks, and the 2030 quota, the 1% one, no longer allows substitution with electricity.
The second observation concerns what has been taken out. Removing low-carbon hydrogen from the subject matter of the law is not a tidying-up of the title. It closes, for every project based on natural gas with capture, the route of selling its output as a contribution to somebody else’s quota. The law does not say what happens to projects launched since 2023 under the old definition, and Article III, the transitional one, deals only with certificates and guarantees of origin, not with this category.
The third comes from putting the two acts together. The law imposes the quotas on industrial consumers and fuel suppliers. The ANRE Code, which regulates the chain, says in Article 4 that it does not extend the Authority’s powers, and in Article 7 that setting up new production capacity falls under the authorisation regime of the ministry responsible, distinct from the authorisation and licensing that belong to ANRE. The result is that the duty to buy renewable hydrogen sits with the operators, while the tap that produces it is in the hands of a ministry which, in neither of the two acts, is given a deadline. The quotas have dates, the capacity does not.
It is also worth noting that the two acts appeared on the same day, in different editions, without citing each other. An operator looking for the rules applicable to hydrogen on 28 August 2026 has to know in advance that two issues of the Gazette need opening.
What should be changed
- A transitional regime for low-carbon hydrogen projects. They were encouraged by the same 2023 law and now leave its subject matter without any provision saying what becomes of the investments already made.
- A deadline for authorising production capacity. The quotas have years; the domestic production that could cover them depends on authorisations without a deadline, issued by the ministry responsible.
- A written solution for the case where the Union database is not operational. The law makes proof conditional on that database being accessible but does not say how the quota is to be proved while it is not working.
- Cross-references between the law and the Hydrogen Code. They were published on the same day and address the same operators; one reference in each would spare the reader the search.
- Publication by ANRE of authorised and operating production capacity. Without that figure, nobody can tell whether the 0.2% target for 2027 can be met from domestic sources or will be covered entirely by imports.
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. 723 and no. 722 of 28 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 119 KB the act starts on page 5
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The other editions cited: nr. 722/2026
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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.