Fire safety permit vs. approval: they are not the same thing

They are two different documents, issued at different times, based on two completely different checks. Confusion between them costs money and time — and sometimes blocks the opening of a business for weeks or months.

The most common scenario we see: a beneficiary has the approval obtained at the project stage, thinks it's okay, and opens. It's not okay. The permit does not give you the right to operate.

The difference, in two sentences

Fire safety certificate is issued before to build. The inspectorate checks the technical design documentation and confirms that the solutions on paper comply with the regulations. No one comes to the site — there is nothing to see, the building does not exist yet.

Fire safety authorization is issued after what you built. The inspectorate checks the documents and comes in the field to confirm that what is installed corresponds to what was approved. Only this document gives you the right to put the building into operation and operate it.

Direct comparison

The deadlines start from the submission of complete documentation. If documents are missing, the inspectorate will notify you within 5 working days, and the deadline will resume.

Not every building needs both

This is where many people make mistakes. Government Decree 571/2016 divides the constructions into two annexes:

• Annex 1 — constructions that need both approval and authorization;
• Annex 2 — constructions that need authorization only.

So there are cases where you skip the notice and go straight to the authorization. But there is no case where the notice replaces the authorization.

The classification depends on the purpose of the space, the built or developed area and the height regime. We have detailed the criteria in the guide about which buildings need ISU authorization.

The numbers that should worry you

Official IGSU statistics for 2024 show how often this is wrong:

• 12.783 fire safety permit requests;
• 3.634 issued permits;
• 3.136 rejected requests;
• 6.013 addresses not falling within the provisions of Government Decision 571/2016.

In other words, from the files that received a decision, almost half were rejected. And nearly 6,000 more applicants found out they didn't even qualify—they had applied for nothing.

The situation is similar for approvals: out of 20,225 requests, only 6,270 approvals were issued and 3,898 were rejected.

What happens if you operate only with a permit?

Law 307/2006 is clear: the commissioning of new constructions — and those on which modification or change of destination work has been carried out — is done only after obtaining authorization.

Since March 2026, the sanctions regime has tightened considerably:

• fines from 30,000 to 100,000 lei for serious violation of the fire safety requirement, applied together with shutdown;
• for more serious offenses, a warning cannot be given;
• criminal liability from 1 to 5 years in prison for designing or building a building without complying with regulations, if it endangers people's lives — and from 3 to 10 years if there are casualties.

There is only one caveat: the warning can still be applied if unauthorized operation is detected, but absolutely all measures are implemented and functional on the ground. That is, exactly the situation where only the paper is missing.

Full details about the new regime are in the article about fines for non-functional fire safety installations.

The authorization is not for life.

A second thing that many administrators find out late: authorization can be suspended or maybe permanently loses validity.

It is suspended if the inspection finds that vital installations are not working — detection and alarm, extinguishing, smoke evacuation, emergency lighting, backup sources — if the water reserve for extinguishing is not ensured or if you do not present the technical documentation. The suspension lasts until remediation, initially a maximum of 30 days, with the possibility of extension.

It is permanently lost if you exceed the remediation deadlines, if you no longer comply with the requirements that were the basis for the issuance, or if you increase the amount of combustible materials beyond the approved limits.

Errors that block files

• It is being built differently than was approved. "Small" modifications on the construction site, made without being reflected in the project. It is immediately visible upon field inspection.
• Authorization is requested after it has opened. The legal order is reversed: first authorization, then commissioning.
• The execution documentation is missing or incomplete. Hidden work reports, commissioning reports, product certificates. I wrote about this separately. C56 minutes and the role of RTE.
• Change of destination without reauthorization. An office space converted into an event hall is a different risk regime and a different file.
• Installations installed but not put into operation. Central unit in failure, detectors not parameterized, pumping group not tested.

The correct order, in short

1. Check the classification according to GD 571/2016 — do you need an approval, just an authorization, or neither?
2. If you are in Annex 1: project → submit for OPINION → you receive the notice.
3. Carry out the work exactly according to the approved project, with up-to-date documentation.
4. You put the installations into operation and test them.
5. Submit for authorization → field verification → you receive the authorization.
6. You're just opening now.
7. Keep the installations functional and the documentation updated, permanently.

How GreenSoft can help you

We are an IGSU authorized company and we work the entire chain, not just a piece of it:

• classification analysis according to Government Decision 571/2016 — we tell you from the start what file you have to do;
• design of fire safety installations;
• preparing documentation for approval and authorization;
• execution of detection, extinguishing, smoke extraction and safety lighting installations;
• assistance with field verification;
• maintenance and preparation of subsequent ISU checks.

If you have a project in the works or a building in operation and you're not sure what documents you have, the cheapest time for a check is now — not after the inspection.

Contact GreenSoft for a placement check and find out exactly what documents you need for your building.