In brief

  • Anyone who won salary entitlements in court against the Ministry of Culture or against an institution under it receives the money over five years. 5% of the value of the judgment is paid in the first year, 10% in the second, 25% in the third, 25% in the fourth and 35% in the fifth. For a judgment that became enforceable at the end of 2026, the last payment arrives in 2031.
  • No application is filed and no file has to be assembled. The payment is made by the institution the person worked for, on nominal lists kept separate from the salary lists, into the account the beneficiary indicates. The order asks for no document and lays down no form. A payment date appears nowhere in it.
  • The procedure came out on 18 September 2026, for a year that had begun on 1 January. Other ministries had published the same procedure in February, and the Ministry of Culture itself published it in February when the judgments of 2023 were at stake.
Act: Order of the Minister of Culture no. 3.195/2026 establishing the procedure for the payment of the sums provided for by court judgments that became enforceable in the period 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 and have as their object the granting of salary entitlements, and for the granting of moratory damages in the form of statutory interest for the staggered payment of the sums provided for by enforceable titles having as their object the granting of salary entitlements to the staff of the Ministry of Culture itself and to that of the public institutions subordinated to or coordinated by it
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial), Part I, no. 796 of 18 September 2026, page 6
In force from: 18 September 2026, the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, under Article 6

A museum curator, a librarian or a theatre accountant who won salary differences in court, with a judgment that became enforceable in 2026, receives the money in five annual instalments: 5%, 10%, 25%, 25% and 35%. Order of the Minister of Culture no. 3.195/2026, published on 18 September 2026, does not invent this pace and cannot change it. It takes it from Article XXIII(1) of Law no. 141/2025 on certain fiscal and budgetary measures, and the same five-year scale has already been challenged before the Constitutional Court by a judge, without success, because the plea did not show which article of the Constitution would have been breached. What the minister’s order adds is the route the money takes through the budget and the hand that signs the payment.

The law, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 699 of 25 July 2025 and in force from 28 July 2025, requires in Article XXIII(6) that every principal authorising officer establish the payment procedure by an order of its own. The Minister of Culture is a principal authorising officer and issues orders under Article 11(4) of Government Decision no. 90/2010, and this is the act by which he discharges that obligation for 2026.

The route of the sums is set out on two levels. The financial and accounting departments of the tertiary authorising officers, that is the museums, libraries, theatres and institutes, send the necessary data to the principal or secondary authorising officer that funds them. The secondary authorising officers gather the figures and forward them to the Economic Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, which adds up everything, including the requirement of the ministry itself, and proposes to the Ministry of Finance the budget amendments for the current year and for the draft of the following years. Once the money is secured, the ministry tops up the budgets of the subordinated institutions and transfers the sums to their treasury accounts.

The running money of those theatres has a route of its own, with a five-day deadline: 142.8 million lei were shared out to 75 performing arts institutions, 41.5% less than in June.

The payment itself is made by the employing institution, on nominal lists distinct from those for salaries, into the accounts indicated by the beneficiaries. Compulsory social contributions and tax are withheld from the sum, under Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code and the implementing rules approved by Government Decision no. 1/2016. What actually reaches the account is therefore smaller than the gross percentage of the judgment.

The delay is not free for the State. Statutory remuneratory interest is added to the staggered sums, calculated from the date on which the judgment became enforceable. The order stops at that formula and does not say how the interest is worked out. Under Article 3(1) of Government Ordinance no. 13/2011, the rate of statutory remuneratory interest is the reference rate of the National Bank of Romania, that is the monetary policy rate, held at 6.50% a year at the Board meeting of 10 August 2026. Paragraph (3) of the same article lowers the rate by 20% in relationships that do not arise from the operation of a for-profit undertaking, which would give 5.20% a year. The order does not state which of the two applies, although the equivalent order of the Ministry of Education and Research for the same year, no. 3.226/2026, refers expressly to Article 3(3).

For as long as the staggering runs, any enforcement procedure is suspended by operation of law. A bailiff therefore has nothing to set in motion against the museum or against the ministry, and enforcement costs would be money thrown away. The interest, on the other hand, keeps accruing, whether or not the beneficiary takes any step.

What it changes in practice

The real wait is longer than it looks. If each instalment is paid at the end of the year in which it falls due, the average moment at which the money arrives, weighted by the percentages in the order, is 3.75 years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable, that is 3 years and 9 months. After two years the person holds 15% of what he won, and 85% is still with the State. More than half of the sum, 60%, comes in the last two years.

In figures, on a judgment of 30,000 lei gross. The instalments are 1,500 lei in the first year, 3,000 in the second, 7,500 in the third, 7,500 in the fourth and 10,500 in the fifth. Contributions and tax are withheld from each of them, so in the first year less than 1,500 lei reaches the account on an enforceable title of 30,000.

The interest for the delay is itself paid late. Article 2(2) of the order extends the same five-year staggering to judgments granting moratory damages in the form of statutory interest for staggered payment. Whoever obtains compensation in court for a postponement receives it, in turn, postponed, in five instalments.

Nobody has anything to file, and nobody has anything to rely on either. Nothing is asked of the beneficiary: no application, no form, no evidence, which spares him the trips. At the other end, the only date in the whole act is the date it enters into force. There is no deadline for the institutions to send the data, and none by which the year’s instalment has to be paid.

The payment is made by the employer. For someone who worked at an institution that has been abolished, merged or moved under another authority, the text does not say which structure takes the employer’s place. The wording in Article 4(1), that the payment is made by the employing institution, is written in the present tense and for people who are still at work.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The payment scale has not changed for almost a decade. The same percentages, 5%, 10%, 25%, 25% and 35%, appear in Article 39(1) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 114/2018 for judgments that became enforceable between 2019 and 2021, in Article VI of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 168/2022 for those of 2023 and now in Article XXIII of Law no. 141/2025 for those of 2026. From one year to the next only the reference year changes.

What has changed is how detailed the ministry’s order is. Order of the Minister of Culture no. 2.667/2023, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 160 of 24 February 2023, which did the same job for the judgments of 2023, contained three calculation rules that are missing from the one for 2026: the updating of the sums with the consumer price index set by the National Institute of Statistics, the reference to Government Ordinance no. 13/2011 for calculating the interest where the judgment does not provide otherwise, and the statement that statutory interest is calculated from the date set by the court judgment. The 2026 version keeps only the provisions taken over from the law.

The moment of publication has changed as well. The 2023 order was signed on 16 February and published on 24 February of the same year. The one for 2026 was signed on 14 September and published on 18 September, on day 261 of the 365 it covers, with 104 days left until 31 December 2026.

Set against the other ministries that apply the same law in 2026, the Culture order is the thinnest on detail. The Ministry of Investments and European Projects published its procedure on 10 February 2026, through Order no. 163/2026. The Ministry of Education and Research published its own on 25 February 2026, through Order no. 3.226/2026, with a payment deadline of 31 December 2026, with a separate rule for the instalments outstanding from 2025 and with an annex form in which each unit reports its requirement, person by person and file by file. The General Secretariat of the Government published its procedure on 2 April 2026, through Order no. 264/2026. Nothing in the Culture order concerns the instalments falling due in 2026 under judgments that became enforceable earlier.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The procedure exists and it is public. Until 18 September 2026 the culture institutions had no act of the ministry for this year’s enforceable titles.
  • The beneficiary files no application and pays no fee. He has no papers to gather either. The payment is made ex officio, on the basis of the data reported by the institution.
  • Interest runs from the date on which the judgment became enforceable, without depending on any step by the person, so the administration’s delay does not come free.
  • The suspension of enforcement by operation of law spares the beneficiary enforcement costs that he would not have recovered anyway.
  • The reporting chain is written out, from the tertiary authorising officer up to the Ministry of Finance, so each link can be held to account.
  • The payment is made on nominal lists separate from the salary lists, which makes the sum visible on its own and easier to check.

What remains a problem

  • No deadline appears in the text. Not for reporting the data, not for transferring the money to the institutions, not for paying the year’s instalment.
  • It came out 104 days before the end of the period it governs, after other ministries had published the procedure more than seven months earlier.
  • It does not say how the interest is worked out and does not refer to Government Ordinance no. 13/2011, although the order of the Ministry of Education and Research for the same year does.
  • It has no reporting form, so every institution builds its own records and the sums cannot be compared with one another.
  • It says nothing about former employees and about pensioners, although the wording about the employing institution is written in the present tense.
  • It does not take over the sanction in Article XXIII(7) of Law no. 141/2025, under which failure to observe the staggering is a disciplinary offence for the principal authorising officer and for the head of the financial and accounting department.

Practical advice

  1. Write down the exact date on which the judgment became enforceable. The five years are counted from it and the interest runs from it, and if that date is wrong in the institution’s records, all the instalments move.
  2. Communicate your bank account in writing, with a registration number at the institution. The order says the sums are paid into the accounts indicated by the beneficiaries, but it does not say how that indication is made, so proof of filing remains the only defence.
  3. Ask the financial and accounting department for the calculation broken down by instalment: gross sum, contributions, tax and interest separately. Article 5 places the correctness of the calculation on the authorising officer, so he has to be able to show it.
  4. Check which interest rate the institution used and ask it to state the legal basis. The difference between 6.50% and 5.20% a year is exactly one fifth of the interest due, and over five years that is not a negligible sum.
  5. If your judgment also provides for updating with the consumer price index, rely on the operative part of the judgment. The 2026 order no longer mentions the updating, but a court judgment is enforced as it is written.
  6. Do not start enforcement during the five years. It is suspended by operation of law, and the costs you advance stay with you.
  7. If you worked at an institution that has been abolished or merged, ask in good time, in writing, which structure takes over the payment. The text does not answer that question, so the answer has to be obtained from the principal authorising officer.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to file an application in order to receive the money?
No. There is no application and no list of documents. The payment is made by the employing institution, on nominal lists, on the basis of the data reported by the financial and accounting department. The only thing that depends on the beneficiary is the account he wants the money in, because the sums are paid into the accounts he indicates.
When do I receive the first instalment?
In the first year from the date on which the judgment became enforceable, and it amounts to 5% of the value of the enforceable title. No particular month or day is fixed inside that year, and this is the one piece of information a beneficiary looks for and does not find in the text.
Who pays, the ministry or the institution I work at?
The employing institution makes the payment, under Article 4(1). The Ministry of Culture only tops up the institution’s budget and transfers the sums to its treasury account, after obtaining from the Ministry of Finance the budget amendments needed.
Does it also apply to those who have retired or left the institution?
The right comes from the court judgment, and the staggering in the law concerns the sums in enforceable titles, whatever the capacity held at the time of payment. The order, however, does not treat the situation of former employees separately, and the wording about the employing institution is written in the present tense, so the practical problem remains: who pays when the employer no longer exists.
What interest do I receive for the years of waiting?
Statutory remuneratory interest, calculated from the date on which the judgment became enforceable. Nothing more than that is written. The reference rate of the National Bank of Romania was 6.50% a year on the date of publication, and in relationships that do not arise from the operation of a for-profit undertaking Government Ordinance no. 13/2011 reduces it by 20%, to 5.20%. Which of the two applies does not follow from the order.
Can I send in the bailiff?
No, not for as long as the staggering runs. Article 2(3) says that any enforcement procedure is suspended by operation of law during that period.
Does the order also apply to judgments that became enforceable in 2025 or earlier?
No. Both the title and Article 1 limit the procedure to judgments that became enforceable between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2026. Nothing is said about the instalments falling due in 2026 under older judgments, unlike the order of the Ministry of Education and Research, which expressly regulated the instalments outstanding from 2025.
What happens if the institution does not pay the instalment on time?
No consequence is provided for in the order. Law no. 141/2025 provides, in Article XXIII(7), that failure by the principal authorising officer and by the head of the financial and accounting department to observe these rules is a disciplinary offence and is sanctioned according to the law, but that provision is not reproduced in the order.

Editorial analysis

The order is soundly built and faithful to the law it applies. The percentages match Article XXIII(1) of Law no. 141/2025 and add up to exactly 100%, the legal bases invoked exist and say what is attributed to them, and the wording about remuneratory interest, which looks at odds with the moratory damages in the title, is taken word for word from paragraph (5) of the law, so it is not the ministry’s mistake. The weakness lies in what the order leaves out and in how late it reached paper.

The date says the most. The obligation to issue the order has existed since 28 July 2025, when Article XXIII entered into force. The order was signed on 14 September 2026 and published on 18 September, that is 417 days later and on day 261 of the year it governs. The Ministry of Investments and European Projects had published its procedure 220 days earlier, the Ministry of Education and Research 205 days earlier, the General Secretariat of the Government 169 days earlier. The Ministry of Culture itself published its own on 24 February in 2023. A person with a judgment that became enforceable in January 2026 therefore waited eight months for his institution to learn by what route the payment is made, and of the 365 days of the period governed, 104 are left.

The second thing that only comparison brings out is the calculation of the interest. The 2023 order of the same ministry referred expressly to Government Ordinance no. 13/2011 and stated the date from which the interest runs; the order of the Ministry of Education and Research for 2026 refers to Article 3(3) itself, the paragraph that reduces the rate by 20%. The Culture order gave up both markers, although Article 5 leaves the correctness of the calculation to each authorising officer. The difference between applying that reduction and not applying it is, whatever the level of the rate, exactly one fifth of the interest due, and on a sum awaited for an average of 3 years and 9 months that is not a rounding. Beyond that, in a staggering mechanism built in the same way, the High Court of Cassation and Justice held in Decision no. 75/2020, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 152 of 15 February 2021, that penalty interest can be awarded alongside remuneratory interest for the period before the decisions granting the entitlements were issued. The order had no power to settle the question, but its silence leaves the institutions’ accountants to decide on their own.

Finally, a payment procedure without a single date describes a circuit and nothing more. The only date in the whole act is the date it enters into force. The order requires the institutions to send data, the ministry to add them up and to propose budget amendments, and the employer to pay, without saying by when. The comparison with the order of the Ministry of Education and Research, which sets 31 December 2026 for the year’s instalment and refers to the salary payment dates, shows that the deadline could have been written without effort and without anyone going beyond his powers.

What should be changed

  • A calendar deadline for each instalment. A wording such as the year’s instalment is paid by 31 December, on the date salaries are paid for that month, turns the order from the description of a circuit into a verifiable obligation and gives the beneficiary a date from which he can complain.
  • Deadlines for the internal reporting links. If the tertiary and secondary authorising officers had a date by which they send the data, and the Economic Directorate one by which it forwards them to the Ministry of Finance, the delay could be located at the exact link where it stops.
  • An express reference to Government Ordinance no. 13/2011, stating the applicable paragraph. Every authorising officer would use the same rate, and the difference of one fifth of the interest would not depend on who keeps the museum’s accounts.
  • An annex reporting form, as at the Ministry of Education and Research. With the file number, the year of the judgment, the gross sum, the contributions, the tax and the interest in separate columns, the beneficiary can check his own instalment and the ministry can compare the institutions with one another.
  • A rule for former employees and for institutions that no longer exist. Naming the institution where the beneficiary was employed in the period for which the entitlements were granted, the solution used by the Ministry of Education and Research, removes the question of who pays for a pensioner or for a merged museum.
  • Taking the sanction in Article XXIII(7) of the law into the text of the order. Anyone reading only the order would then learn that failure to observe the deadlines is a disciplinary offence, beyond the question of whether budget appropriations are available.
  • Publication of the procedure in the first weeks of the year it governs. The obligation in the law has no deadline, but the practice of the other ministries shows that February is achievable, and an internal calendar rule would prevent the delay from repeating in 2027.

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. 796 of 18 September 2026, page 6 8 pages PDF, 73 KB the act starts on page 6

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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.