ATR validity after ANRE Order 15/2026: the building permit, the establishment authorisation and connection contracts in progress

How long an ATR is valid

Under article 32 of the regulation, an ATR is valid until the connection certificate is issued for the final power approved in it, unless one of the situations in article 33 occurs first. As worded today, article 33 (1) lists them:

• 12 months after issue, if no connection contract has been concluded (letter b));
• when the connection contract to which it is annexed ends (letter c));
• when the approvals, permits or authorisations it was issued on expire, or when their end is established by a final court decision (letters d) and e));
• when the documents in article 14 (1¹), which concern a household customer’s individual home, are annulled by a final court decision (letter f));
• when the building permit or the establishment authorisation is not obtained in time (letter g), which refers to article 36 (6) and (6¹));
• at the holder’s request (letter h));
• when the request to conclude the connection contract, or the completion of its documentation, is not made in time (letter i), which refers to article 34 (1³));
• 6 months after the establishment authorisation ceases to be valid, if ANRE has not granted a new one in the meantime (letter j)).

Order 15/2026 amended letter g), which now also refers to article 36 (6¹), and added letter j). It also added paragraph (4): where the establishment authorisation ceases because it is withdrawn, ANRE may set a term longer than 6 months in the withdrawal decision. An update of the ATR does not extend the 12-month term in letter b) (article 33 (2)).

Before the connection contract

Until the connection contract is concluded, the terms are those explained in the note on reading an ATR: the contract must be requested in writing at least 45 calendar days before the ATR ceases to be valid, and the documentation, if the operator asks for it to be completed, must be completed at least 15 calendar days before (article 34 (1), (1²) and (1³)). Order 15/2026 did not change them.

Points 19 and 20: how long the ATR is valid →

After the contract: the building permit

Once the connection contract is concluded, the holder of a production site, or of a consumption and production site, must obtain the building permit for the project by the date the contract for building the connection installation is concluded, and no later than 12 months after the connection contract was concluded and 18 months after the ATR was issued (article 36 (5)). The term ends on the earliest of these dates. If the holder appointed the certified designer or builder of the connection installation itself, and notified the operator of this in writing before the connection contract was concluded (article 44 (4) b)), the term is no more than 12 months from the signing of the connection contract and 18 months from the issue of the ATR (article 36 (5¹)). The consequence of missing it is set by article 36 (6):

In English: where the building permit for the project is not obtained as paragraphs (5) and (5¹) require, taking paragraph (7) into account, the ATR ceases to be valid and the connection contract ends by law.

The term can be extended once, by up to 12 months, with the network operator’s written consent and with ANRE informed (article 36 (7)). The holder must present documents showing that the delay has reasons beyond its control and, within 5 working days of the operator’s consent, lodge an additional financial guarantee of 5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT. The operator answers within 10 working days; if it does not answer, the term is extended automatically by the length of the delay, up to 12 months. The additional guarantee is returned within 10 working days of the date the holder sends the building permit to the operator (article 36 (8)).

Order 15/2026 changed three things here. Until 25 May 2026, paragraph (5) required the holder “să facă dovada obținerii” (to prove it had obtained) the permit, and paragraph (6) tied the ATR’s cessation to a permit that “nu este transmisă operatorului de rețea” (is not sent to the network operator); the test is now that the permit is obtained, and sending the proof to the operator, “cu celeritate” (promptly), has moved to paragraph (5⁸). The additional 5% guarantee is now calculated on the tariff excluding VAT. Its return within 10 working days is new. The 12-month and 18-month terms are unchanged. Holders who had submitted the building permit before 25 May 2026 get back the additional guarantee constituted under article 36 (7) within 10 working days of that date (article V (7) of Order 15/2026).

New: the establishment authorisation, above 1 MW

Where the power approved for export exceeds 1 MW, the holder must also obtain an establishment authorisation from ANRE for the electricity-generating capacity, including cogeneration and the storage installations at that site, within the same terms: by the date the contract for building the connection installation is concluded, and no later than 12 months after the connection contract and 18 months after the ATR was issued (article 36 (5²) and, where the holder contracts directly, (5³)). The regulation’s threshold is the power approved for export. In the ATR it is read at point 2, the approved power, on the row for the maximum simultaneous power that may be exported, in kW; it is not the installed power, and it is not obtained by converting from kVA. The regulation includes in “production site”, as the case may be, a standalone storage installation (article 2 (1¹)).

The term can be extended in three ways. If ANRE finds, before the term ends, that the application and its documentation are complete, the term is extended by up to 60 days, as needed to issue and communicate the authorisation (paragraph (5⁴)). The network operator may extend it once, by up to 12 months, if the holder presents documents showing that the authorisation cannot be obtained in time for justified reasons not attributable to it (paragraph (5⁵)). The operator answers within 10 working days, and if it does not answer, the term is extended automatically by the length of the delay, up to 12 months (paragraphs (5⁶) and (5⁷)). Unlike the extension for the building permit, the text does not require an additional guarantee here. The holder must send the operator the proof that the authorisations were obtained “cu celeritate” (promptly) (paragraph (5⁸)).

In English: where the establishment authorisation is not obtained as paragraphs (5²) and (5³) require, taking paragraphs (5⁴) to (5⁷) into account, the ATR ceases to be valid and the connection contract ends by law.

The filing term comes from ANRE’s authorisation regulation. As amended by ANRE Order 16/2026, the application file for an establishment authorisation may be filed from the issue of the ATR and no later than 30 days after the connection contract is concluded (article 19 (1)), and on filing the applicant constitutes a financial guarantee of EUR 30 per kW of the installed power in the ATR, for each generating technology (article 19¹ (1)), subject to the exceptions in article II of Order 16/2026. Article 36 (5²) to (5⁸) of the regulation applies to holders who conclude the connection contract from 25 May 2026 (article V (2) of Order 15/2026). The texts do not say whether the 30-day filing limit also concerns contracts concluded before that date.

ANRE: the establishment authorisation and the licence →

Contracts in progress on 25 May 2026

In English: for connection contracts of production sites, or of consumption and production sites, whose power approved for export exceeds 1 MW and which are in progress when the order takes effect, users must obtain establishment authorisations for the electricity-generating capacities, including cogeneration capacities and the storage installations at those sites, within no more than 12 months of the order taking effect.

If the authorisation is not obtained within this term, the ATR ceases to be valid and the connection contract ends by law (article V (5)). The basis is article V (5) of the order, not article 33 (1) g) of the regulation, which refers only to article 36. For contracts concluded in 2026 before 25 May, article V (4) makes the extensions in article 36 (5⁵) to (5⁸) apply.

The text leaves four questions open, which a buyer should put in writing to the network operator. The order does not define a contract “in progress” (“aflat în derulare”). For contracts concluded before 2026, article V does not expressly provide an extension of the 12-month term, and the text does not show whether the operator may grant one. Nor does it show whether the extension of up to 60 days in article 36 (5⁴) applies to this term. The order does not give a calendar date for the last day of the term; it sets a term of no more than 12 months from 25 May 2026. For a transaction, confirm the calculation of the deadline in writing with the network operator and with counsel.

Once the establishment authorisation has been obtained

The establishment authorisation has to stay valid. If it ceases to be valid and ANRE does not grant a new one within 6 months, the ATR ceases to be valid (article 33 (1) j)), and a connection contract for power approved for export above 1 MW ends by law (article 36 (6²)). Where the authorisation is withdrawn, ANRE may set a longer term in the withdrawal decision (article 33 (4) and article 36 (6³)). An authorisation issued before 25 May 2026 can be extended, on an application filed after that date, only if the financial guarantee is constituted (article III (1) of Order 16/2026, published on 25 May 2026).

What the ATRs issued before 25 May 2026 show

None of the seven public ATRs cited in the note on reading an ATR, issued between 2023 and 2025, mentions the establishment authorisation. Order 15/2026 added the situations tied to the establishment authorisation to the framework content (ANRE Order 74/2014, annex 2, point 19 (2)), so an ATR issued from 25 May 2026 should contain them. For an older ATR, the term for the establishment authorisation is not in the ATR but in the order.

Only one of the seven ATRs is above the threshold; the other six approve less than 1 MW for export. The Vrancart ATR, issued by DEER on 13.06.2023, approves a maximum simultaneous power that may be exported of “20125,000” kW, or 20.125 MW, from stage I on 15.06.2023 through the final stage on 15.06.2027 (page 3). The ATR does not say whether a connection contract was concluded. If one was in progress on 25 May 2026, article V (3) would apply to it, although the ATR does not mention the establishment authorisation.

What to request

• the ATR and each update of it, with its issue date;
• the connection contract, with the date it was concluded, and its addenda;
• the contract for building the connection installation, with the date it was concluded, or the contract concluded directly with the designer or builder;
• the building permit and the proof that it was sent to the operator;
• the power approved for export at point 2 of the ATR, to know whether it exceeds 1 MW;
• the application for the establishment authorisation, with its filing date, the proof of the guarantee and any communication from ANRE that the file is complete;
• the establishment authorisation, with its validity term, and any decision extending or withdrawing it;
• the operator’s consent or refusal for each extension and, for the building permit, the proof of the additional 5% guarantee;
• for a contract in progress on 25 May 2026, the operator’s written confirmation of the term in article V (3).

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