New rules for energy auditors and managers from 12 October: three-year authorisations and an exam with a project

A factory that burns more than 1,000 tonnes of oil equivalent a year and a town of more than 20,000 inhabitants have the same legal obligation: to have a certified energy manager. From 12 October, both the manager and the auditor who checks their installations go through a new filter. Order no. 798/2026 of the interim Minister of Energy was published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 671 of 13 August 2026 and approves two separate regulations, one for the authorisation of energy auditors for industry and processes, the other for the certification of energy managers and of companies providing energy services. It is the ministry’s second intervention in the field this month, after the order that set up the inspection teams for the energy labelling of household appliances.

The legal basis is Law no. 121/2014 on energy efficiency, the act that requires large energy consumers to carry out periodic audits and to appoint an energy manager. The regulations say who is allowed to do this work and how they obtain that right.

The competent authority remains the Ministry of Energy, through its specialist structure for energy efficiency. The administrative side, meaning the registration, printing, issuing and archiving of documents, falls to the Industry Personnel Training Centre in Bușteni. Decisions are taken by a committee made up of ministry specialists and of representatives of the Bușteni centre, of the professional associations and of academia.

Together, the two regulations run to 85 pages and are published in the separate edition no. 671 bis of the Official Gazette of Romania. The main order, the one in edition no. 671, has five articles.

What it changes in practice

The energy auditor gets three types of authorisation, depending on what is being checked. The regulation in Annex no. 1 provides for an authorisation for electrical energy audits, marked AEL, one for thermal energy audits, marked ATE, and one for comprehensive energy audits, marked ACO. The application is filed for the type of audit sought, not for a general qualification.

The authorisation is valid for three years from the date of issue. After that it has to be renewed, for a separate fee, and the regulation deals separately with amending, suspending and cancelling the authorisation and with issuing a duplicate.

The entry conditions are the same for all three types. The applicant must have full legal capacity, a criminal record with no entries and proof of professional training. The minimum experience required is 3 years, gained in teaching, research, design, construction or operation, and the training course in energy auditing is compulsory.

The list of accepted degree fields is exhaustive. The regulation lists energy engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, building services engineering, geological engineering, mining, oil and gas, industrial engineering, environmental engineering, chemical engineering and environmental engineering and protection in the chemical and petrochemical industry, by reference to the nomenclature approved by Government Decision no. 412/2025.

Authorisation can be sought as a natural person, as an authorised natural person or as a legal person. The regulation has separate procedures for each of the three forms, with distinct classes: class I for natural persons, class II for legal persons.

For energy managers there are two different certificates, not one. The regulation in Annex no. 2 provides for a certificate of energy manager for industry and a certificate of energy manager for localities. The first covers economic operators in industry, transport and services, and public institutions and entities, with annual consumption above 1,000 tonnes of oil equivalent. The second covers localities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.

Energy service companies are certified separately and can only take on contracts they can cover with staff. A company may sign energy management contracts with economic operators above 1,000 tonnes of oil equivalent if it has at least one energy manager for industry, with local authorities in localities of more than 20,000 inhabitants if it has at least one energy manager for localities, and with both categories if it has both types of manager.

Certification of the manager runs through an examination and an energy management project, scored against a marking scheme. The regulation sets out the framework content of the project, separately for industry and for localities of more than 20,000 inhabitants, plus the criteria for awarding points. Members of the committee sign declarations of impartiality, confidentiality and availability, and on conflicts of interest.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The order does not amend the old rules point by point, it replaces them. Article 2(2) states that, on the date of entry into force, any provisions to the contrary cease to apply. In practice, the two regulations become the only procedure applicable to the authorisation of energy auditors for industry and to the certification of energy managers.

The transitional rule is what matters for anyone who has already filed an application. Article 3 splits the undecided files into two: complete ones, which met the certification conditions under the acts in force on the date the application was registered, are authorised under the conditions applicable at that time; those that did not meet the conditions and were filed in hard copy are returned to the applicants, within 60 days of the entry into force of the order.

The date of entry into force is itself a change of approach. Orders of this kind usually take effect on publication. Here, Article 2(1) provides for 60 days, that is 12 October 2026, which leaves the ministry time to prepare for implementation and applicants time to complete their files.

The institutional structure of the procedure also changes. The authorisation committee now expressly includes representatives of the Romanian professional associations of energy auditors and energy managers and of academia, alongside the ministry specialists and the Industry Personnel Training Centre in Bușteni.

Finally, the regulation for auditors contains a chapter on the minimum criteria for energy audits, including those carried out as part of energy management systems, and a chapter on the classes and types of audits. The auditor is required to use equipment that complies with the applicable standards, with valid metrological verification or calibration, and to state in the report the type of instrument, its measuring range and the date of verification.

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