ANRE's 2026 draft Hydrogen Code maps Romania's hydrogen framework. What changes, what remains unresolved and what investors should verify.
ANRE's August 2026 draft Hydrogen Code does not create a complete Romanian hydrogen market or a single permitting route. It organises existing ANRE powers, clarifies current production and licensing layers, and.
Direct answer
ANRE's August 2026 draft Hydrogen Code does not create a complete Romanian hydrogen market or a single permitting route. It organises existing ANRE powers, clarifies current production and licensing layers, and identifies gaps requiring primary legislation or other authorities. Investors must therefore diligence the complete project configuration rather than search for one universal “hydrogen permit”.
Investor decision matrix
| Question | Current position under the draft | Investor implication |
|---|---|---|
| Is the Code final law? | No, it was published for consultation on 13 August 2026 | Verify the final order and later amendments before relying on a filing route |
| Is there one hydrogen permit? | No | Build a multi-authority permit and compliance matrix around the actual configuration |
| Are production activities regulated? | Several establishment, technical and commercial layers already exist | Separate the project company, designers, contractors and operator requirements |
| Are dedicated networks fully regulated? | Not yet through a complete Romanian operator, access and tariff regime | Treat pipeline and network assumptions as a major development and bankability risk |
| Can hydrogen be called renewable? | Only if the applicable qualification methodology is satisfied | Align electricity sourcing, certification, offtake and financing assumptions |
Romania is moving towards a more structured legal framework for hydrogen.
On 13 August 2026, the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority — ANRE — published for consultation a new draft Hydrogen Code, accompanied by an unusually extensive regulatory package comprising the draft order, the Hydrogen Code itself, a regulatory registry and a roadmap identifying areas where further rules remain necessary.
For investors, developers, industrial consumers and lenders considering hydrogen projects in Romania, the development is important.
But the title “Hydrogen Code” can also create the wrong expectation.
The proposed Code does not yet establish a complete regulatory system covering the development, construction, operation, transport, storage and sale of hydrogen in Romania.
Instead, it performs a different — and legally important — function: it consolidates the areas already falling within ANRE's statutory powers, identifies the boundaries between ANRE and other authorities and creates a regulatory architecture upon which a more complete Romanian hydrogen market can subsequently be built.
That distinction matters commercially.
Investor briefing
Romania is developing a hydrogen regulatory framework, but the ANRE Hydrogen Code does not yet create a fully integrated permitting and market-access regime for hydrogen projects.
The draft:
For developers, this means that a Romanian hydrogen project still needs to be analysed as a multi-authority infrastructure project, rather than simply as an ANRE-regulated energy asset.
1. Why Romania needs a Hydrogen Code
Romania does not start from a regulatory vacuum.
Hydrogen already appears across several pieces of Romanian energy legislation, including Law no. 123/2012 on electricity and natural gas, Government Emergency Ordinance no. 163/2022, Law no. 237/2023 and a growing body of ANRE secondary legislation.
For example, Article 156 of Law no. 123/2012 already expressly entrusts ANRE with establishing the general regulatory framework for hydrogen and empowers it to regulate hydrogen terminals and the conditions and standards applicable to hydrogen injection installations connected to existing gas transmission and distribution systems.
Other provisions regulate hydrogen production installations, technical authorisations and commercial operation.
The problem is therefore not the complete absence of law.
The problem is fragmentation.
Different parts of the hydrogen value chain fall under different statutes, regulators and technical regimes. In addition to ANRE and the Ministry of Energy, a project may interact with authorities responsible for environmental protection, construction, fire safety, pressure equipment, explosive atmospheres, occupational health and safety, metrology, water, land and other infrastructure matters.
The new Code attempts to provide an organising framework for this fragmented system.
2. What does the draft ANRE Hydrogen Code cover?
The proposed Code addresses essentially the entire hydrogen value chain:
| Area | Position under the draft Code |
|---|---|
| Hydrogen production | Partially regulated under existing legislation |
| Design and construction | ANRE authorisation framework already applicable |
| Technical operation | Existing legal basis recognised, but further clarification remains relevant |
| Commercial operation | ANRE licensing framework exists |
| Hydrogen storage | Depends heavily on configuration; underground storage remains insufficiently developed |
| Hydrogen terminals | Existing statutory ANRE competence, with further rules possible |
| Dedicated hydrogen transmission | Full operator/access/tariff framework still dependent on primary legislation |
| Dedicated hydrogen distribution | Same — further legislation required |
| H₂ injection into natural-gas networks | Existing ANRE competence recognised |
| H₂/natural-gas blending | Technical limits and quality rules remain an important area for further regulation |
| Hydrogen supply | No new dedicated ANRE supply licence is created by the Code |
| Hydrogen trading | Permitted within applicable competition, contractual, qualification and infrastructure-access rules |
| Guarantees of origin | Separate regulatory framework under renewable-energy legislation |
| Technical standards | May be used according to their legal status; not automatically mandatory |
This is one of the most important aspects of the draft.
The Code is deliberately structured so that it does not manufacture regulatory powers that ANRE does not already possess.
Article 3 of the proposed implementing Order expressly provides that the Order does not create new categories of authorisations or licences, designate operators of dedicated hydrogen networks or establish tariffs, access regimes or technical requirements where primary legislation has not given ANRE the necessary competence.
From a public-law perspective, this is a sensible approach.
From an investor perspective, however, it also reveals how much of the Romanian hydrogen framework remains unfinished.
3. Hydrogen production in Romania: what authorisations apply?
One of the clearer areas of the proposed framework concerns hydrogen production facilities.
The Code separates several regulatory layers that should not be confused.
Establishment of the production capacity
The authorisation for establishing a new hydrogen production capacity is not treated as an ANRE establishment authorisation.
Under the legal allocation of competences identified by the draft, this function belongs to the competent ministry pursuant to Article 102 letter d¹ of Law no. 123/2012.
Design and construction
Companies performing the design and execution of hydrogen production installations fall within the ANRE authorisation framework.
The draft expressly refers to the regime currently established through ANRE Order no. 17/2026, while specialised personnel and project verification are covered through the relevant ANRE professional authorisation and technical-verification rules.
Commercial operation
Commercial operation of hydrogen-production installations is subject to a separate ANRE licence.
The draft identifies Article 119 point 3(g) of Law no. 123/2012 and the licensing regime established by ANRE Order no. 83/2025 as the applicable framework.
This separation is important for project development.
A developer should therefore not treat “the hydrogen licence” as a single regulatory approval. The project may require several different regulatory statuses at different stages of its development and operation.
4. One area still requiring clarification: technical operation
An interesting point emerges when the Hydrogen Code is read together with the accompanying ANRE Roadmap.
The Code recognises the statutory framework applicable to the technical operation of hydrogen production installations and states that it does not itself create a new category of authorisation.
However, the Roadmap separately identifies the technical-operation regime as an area requiring further analysis or clarification, distinct from the licence for commercial operation.
This is more than a drafting point.
For EPC contractors, operators, O&M providers, investors and lenders, it must ultimately be clear:
who may technically operate a hydrogen production facility, under what authorisation, and using which categories of authorised personnel?
Until that framework is fully settled, this should remain part of project-level regulatory diligence.
5. Hydrogen pipelines and dedicated hydrogen networks remain the larger unfinished chapter
The most significant regulatory gap concerns dedicated hydrogen infrastructure.
The proposed Code expressly recognises that it cannot establish, through secondary legislation alone, the complete regime applicable to:
The ANRE Roadmap accordingly identifies the designation and certification of hydrogen transmission operators, hydrogen distribution operators and the rules governing access, capacity and tariffs as matters dependent upon primary legislation implementing the European framework.
That distinction is particularly important for investors considering projects whose business model requires more than onsite production and consumption.
A relatively contained electrolyser + industrial offtaker project may be capable of progressing through existing permitting and contractual structures.
A project depending upon a dedicated regional hydrogen network, regulated third-party access or network tariffs faces a materially different level of regulatory uncertainty.
6. The European Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Package changes the background
The ANRE initiative must also be understood within the wider European legal framework.
Directive (EU) 2024/1788 establishes common rules for the internal markets in renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen, while Regulation (EU) 2024/1789 establishes directly applicable rules concerning those markets and infrastructures.
Among other matters, the European framework addresses hydrogen network operators, unbundling, infrastructure access, tariffs, market organisation and regulatory oversight.
The transposition deadline for substantial parts of Directive (EU) 2024/1788 was 5 August 2026.
This creates a particularly relevant timing issue for Romania.
As of 25 August 2026, the European Commission's EUR-Lex database lists zero national transposition measures communicated for Romania in relation to Directive (EU) 2024/1788. That does not itself prove that no domestic legislative work exists, but it confirms that the Romanian implementation process remains a central issue to monitor.
The ANRE documents themselves recognise this dependency. The Code expressly provides for a future reassessment after the Romanian legislation transposing Directive 2024/1788 enters into force.
Consequently, the current Hydrogen Code should be seen as one layer of a regulatory framework that is still being assembled, rather than its final form.
7. Hydrogen injection and blending into Romania's gas networks
Hydrogen blending into existing natural-gas networks is another commercially important area.
Romanian legislation already requires gas distribution operators to consider the injection of hydrogen and potential future conversion of gas distribution systems. Law no. 123/2012 also empowers ANRE to establish the conditions and standards applicable to hydrogen injection installations.
The proposed Code confirms this competence.
But it also distinguishes between two different questions:
First, how an installation used to inject hydrogen into the gas network must be designed and implemented.
Second, how much hydrogen may actually be injected and what technical and gas-quality parameters the resulting mixture must satisfy.
The second question is more complex.
The draft states that admissible hydrogen/natural-gas composition limits and associated quality parameters must be determined by the competent authorities within their statutory powers, taking into account matters such as:
The accompanying Roadmap confirms that further analysis of composition limits, quality parameters, metering and interoperability remains necessary.
For an investor whose revenue model depends on grid injection, this distinction is fundamental.
Having a legal route for constructing an injection facility is not the same as having a fully defined commercial right to inject a particular hydrogen concentration into the network.
8. Does Romania have a hydrogen supply licence?
Not yet as a new licence created by this Code.
Article 21 of the draft expressly states that the Hydrogen Code does not establish a separate ANRE licence for hydrogen supply.
A new licensing regime may only be introduced if supported by primary legislation.
This is another illustration of the philosophy underlying the draft.
ANRE is trying to organise its existing powers while avoiding an ultra vires expansion of its licensing jurisdiction.
The forthcoming implementation of the EU hydrogen-market framework will therefore be particularly important for the future legal architecture of hydrogen supply and trading in Romania.
9. Renewable hydrogen, low-carbon hydrogen and guarantees of origin
A hydrogen project also needs to distinguish between the physical product and its regulatory attributes.
Producing hydrogen does not automatically entitle a project to describe the output as renewable hydrogen or low-carbon hydrogen.
Those classifications depend upon the applicable European and national methodologies, including rules concerning renewable fuels of non-biological origin, greenhouse-gas-emission savings and other qualification criteria.
Similarly, guarantees of origin represent a separate regulatory layer.
The Romanian renewable-energy legislation provides for a guarantees-of-origin framework covering renewable gases and hydrogen, with ANRE responsible for the relevant secondary regulation. The ANRE regulatory registry identifies 30 September 2026 as the statutory date currently associated with the relevant regulation.
For project finance and offtake contracts, these distinctions can be economically decisive.
A project's value may depend not merely on its ability to produce one kilogram of hydrogen, but on whether that kilogram qualifies for the regulatory status assumed in the project's:
10. Technical standards: an important legal clarification
The proposed Code also contains a useful section on standards.
Hydrogen technology inevitably relies upon a combination of European, international and Romanian technical standards.
The draft correctly distinguishes between the existence of a technical standard and its legal effect.
The mere reference to a standard does not automatically make that standard legally mandatory. Its binding effect must arise from the applicable legislation, regulation, contractual framework or another valid legal source.
This matters in procurement and EPC contracting.
International suppliers frequently present compliance with a particular IEC, ISO, EN or proprietary technical code as if it resolved the entire Romanian regulatory analysis.
It does not.
Technical compliance and legal compliance overlap, but they are not identical.
A foreign technical standard cannot displace mandatory Romanian or EU requirements relating, for example, to pressure equipment, explosive atmospheres, fire safety, construction or product conformity.
11. ANRE is not the only authority that matters
Perhaps the most commercially valuable part of the ANRE package is not the Code itself.
It is the accompanying regulatory registry and roadmap.
Those documents effectively demonstrate how broad the remaining hydrogen permitting landscape is.
Depending on the project configuration, relevant matters may involve authorities responsible for:
The registry itself is expressly described as informative and non-exhaustive and identifies a number of matters that still require confirmation or coordination with other authorities.
This is the key practical lesson.
There is no single “hydrogen permit” and there is no single regulator capable of authorising the whole project.
12. What would the regulatory path look like for a large Romanian hydrogen project?
Consider a project comprising:
renewable electricity generation + a 100 MW electrolyser + hydrogen storage + a hydrogen pipeline + an industrial offtaker.
The regulatory analysis would need to work through several parallel layers.
Electricity and energy sourcing
The developer must determine the legal structure through which electricity is supplied to the electrolyser, including grid connection, onsite or co-located generation, PPAs and any renewable-energy qualification requirements.
Land and development rights
The electrolyser, storage facilities, substations and pipelines require appropriate land rights, planning documentation and construction permitting.
Pipeline corridors may create separate easement and land-access issues.
Environmental permitting
Environmental impact assessment, water requirements, emissions, industrial-risk rules and potentially major-accident legislation must be considered according to the project's specifications and quantities involved.
Hydrogen production authorisation
The statutory authorisation for establishing the new hydrogen production capacity must be obtained from the competent ministry.
ANRE technical authorisations
The entities designing and constructing the installation must hold the appropriate authorisations, and specialised personnel and project verification requirements must be satisfied.
Fire, explosion and pressure safety
Electrolysers, compressors, storage vessels and ancillary facilities must be analysed under the applicable fire-safety, pressure-equipment and ATEX regimes.
Commercial operation
The project must obtain the regulatory status required for commercial operation of the hydrogen production installation.
Hydrogen qualification
If the business case assumes renewable or low-carbon hydrogen, compliance with the applicable qualification methodology becomes part of the project's revenue case.
Storage and transport
The applicable regime depends heavily upon whether the storage is above ground, underground, integrated within the production facility or operated as infrastructure accessible to third parties.
The same applies to transportation: a private project pipeline is legally different from a regulated hydrogen network.
Offtake
The hydrogen sale agreement needs to allocate specifications, quality, certification, measurement, delivery, title, nomination and regulatory-change risk.
The regulatory analysis therefore cannot be performed in isolation from the project's engineering configuration and commercial model.
13. What the Hydrogen Code gets right
The strongest feature of the proposed Code is its discipline around regulatory competence.
ANRE repeatedly recognises that secondary legislation cannot substitute for missing primary legislation.
That is good regulatory practice.
Attempting to create hydrogen transmission operators, access rights, tariffs or entirely new licences through an ANRE order without sufficient statutory authority would produce considerably greater legal uncertainty.
The Code instead tries to identify what already exists, what ANRE can regulate today and what must wait for Parliament, Government, the Ministry of Energy or other authorities.
That creates a sound legal foundation.
14. What remains unresolved
The difficulty is that legal prudence does not automatically produce an investable regulatory framework.
Several issues remain important.
Dedicated hydrogen networks
The complete operator, access, capacity and tariff regime still requires implementation of the European hydrogen-market framework.
Blending limits
The technical and commercial conditions governing actual hydrogen concentrations in existing gas networks require further development.
Technical operation
The precise authorisation regime applicable to technical operation should be clarified.
Hydrogen supply
A dedicated national licensing architecture has not yet been created.
Storage
Certain storage models — particularly underground infrastructure — still require significant legal development.
Multi-authority permitting
Some of the most difficult project issues lie outside ANRE's jurisdiction altogether.
Administrative procedure for ANRE technical endorsements
The draft establishes detailed criteria for the mandatory prior ANRE endorsement of certain technical rules prepared by network operators.
The documentation is extensive and includes legal basis, scope, standards, authority interfaces, safety, interoperability, compliance costs and proportionality.
However, the Code does not itself establish a complete administrative timetable covering matters such as the assessment period, completeness review, suspension of deadlines or number of clarification rounds.
Interestingly, ANRE's own Roadmap acknowledges that a separate administrative procedure may be needed for precisely these issues.
For infrastructure development, procedural certainty can matter almost as much as substantive regulation.
15. From regulation to bankability
For investors and lenders, the relevant question is not merely whether Romania has adopted a Hydrogen Code.
The question is:
- Does the applicable legal framework allow a particular project to be developed, financed, constructed and operated with an acceptable allocation of regulatory risk?
- That requires several questions to be answered early:
Romania is not fully there yet.
But the new ANRE package is an important step toward identifying exactly what remains to be done.
16. The broader significance for Romania's hydrogen market
The draft Hydrogen Code should therefore not be dismissed because it does not regulate everything.
In fact, one of its most valuable features is that it makes the regulatory gaps more visible.
Romania now has:
The next phase will therefore be at least as important as adoption of the Code itself.
Conclusion: Romania has a hydrogen framework, but not yet a one-stop hydrogen regime
ANRE's 2026 draft Hydrogen Code represents an important maturation of Romania's hydrogen regulation.
Its principal achievement is not the creation of an entirely new market architecture.
It is the organisation of the one that already exists.
The Code clarifies existing ANRE powers, separates production, technical activity and commercial operation, establishes principles for infrastructure and technical rules, recognises the importance of European legislation and expressly identifies areas that cannot yet be regulated without further primary legislation.
For investors, however, the practical conclusion is equally important:
a Romanian hydrogen project must still be developed through a coordinated regulatory strategy covering energy law, permitting, infrastructure, technical compliance, product qualification and contractual bankability.
The regulatory direction is becoming clearer.
The full route from electrolyser to market is still being built.
Official sources and publication status
ANRE published the draft Order approving the Hydrogen Code and its supporting package on 13 August 2026. The consultation page links the approval memorandum, draft order, informative regulatory registry, roadmap and proposed Code. The article treats that package as a proposal, not adopted law.
The existing Romanian layer includes Law no. 123/2012, the 2026 authorisation regulation for economic operators, the licensing regulation approved by ANRE Order no. 83/2025 and Romania's National Hydrogen Strategy. The EU market architecture is set by Directive (EU) 2024/1788 and Regulation (EU) 2024/1789. The EUR-Lex transposition record should be checked for current Romanian implementation measures.
Coordinated legal, transaction and technical support
Start with Energy Law and Regulatory and ANRE licensing advice to classify the activity, competent authority and required status. Renewable-project counsel can coordinate land, electricity sourcing, permits and project contracts, while PPAs and energy-contract advice addresses electricity supply and hydrogen offtake. Energy M&A and project-finance counsel can translate unresolved regulation into conditions, warranties, long-stop dates and financing protections.
Legal conclusions must follow the engineering configuration. Development and bankability advisory, technical due diligence and project and construction management can test the electrolyser, power supply, storage, pipeline, safety interfaces, CAPEX and delivery plan. Related reading includes ANRE licensing for renewable-energy investors, entering Romania's renewable-energy market and Romania's alternative-fuels framework.
This article reflects sources available on 25 August 2026. It is general information, not legal, technical or financial advice for a particular hydrogen project.
Frequently asked questions
Does Romania have a Hydrogen Code?
ANRE published a draft Hydrogen Code for consultation on 13 August 2026. It maps the general framework within ANRE's statutory competence, but it is not yet an adopted, complete permitting and market regime for every hydrogen activity.
Who regulates hydrogen projects in Romania?
ANRE regulates important energy activities, while the Ministry of Energy and authorities responsible for construction, environment, fire safety, pressure equipment, occupational safety, metrology, water and land may also have jurisdiction, depending on the configuration.
Is an ANRE licence required to produce hydrogen?
The framework distinguishes establishment of the production capacity, design and execution activities, technical operation and commercial operation. Commercial operation falls within the ANRE licensing framework, while the establishment authorisation identified by the draft belongs to the competent ministry.
Can hydrogen be injected into Romania's natural-gas network?
Romanian law provides a basis for injection installations and ANRE standards. Detailed blending limits, gas-quality parameters, metering, interoperability and the actual commercial injection right still require project-specific and current regulatory verification.
Does Romania have regulated dedicated hydrogen networks?
The complete regime for dedicated transmission and distribution networks, including operators, unbundling, access, capacity and tariffs, still depends substantially on Romanian implementation of Directive (EU) 2024/1788 and the wider EU framework.
Can Romanian hydrogen qualify as renewable hydrogen?
Potentially, but the physical production process alone is insufficient. The project must satisfy the applicable EU and national qualification and greenhouse-gas-emissions methodologies, including RFNBO requirements where relevant.
What should investors verify before developing a Romanian hydrogen project?
The review should cover electricity sourcing, land, grid position, construction and environmental permits, production and ANRE approvals, fire, ATEX and pressure compliance, storage, transport, hydrogen qualification, guarantees of origin and the offtake structure.