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Legal Alert – Changes regarding the Fire and Civil Protection Endorsements and Permits

18 May 2020

New rules regarding the issuance of fire and civil protection endorsements and permits will be applicable from 7 June 2020.

The new provisions were enacted under Order no. 66/2020 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published in Official Gazette no. 370 of 8 May 2020, which amends the Methodological norms regarding the fire and civil protection endorsements and permits, approved by Order no. 129/2016 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The amendments will enter into force 30 days after the order is published with the Official Gazette.

The main amendments are the following:

1. Amendments regarding the terms for the issuance of the fire and civil protection endorsements/ permits

The new terms applicable starting with 7 June 2020 are:

15 business days for the issuance of the fire and civil protection endorsements (compared to 15 days in the previous regulation); and

30 business days for the issuance of the fire and civil protection permits (compared to 30 days in the previous regulation).

In case the documentation is not complete, in maximum 5 business days from the registration of the request (compared to 10 days in the previous regulation), the country inspectorate communicates to the applicant, in writing, the additional documents that should be submitted, as well as the fact that it has to pick up the submitted documentation.

2. New provisions regarding alterations and/ or change of destination

As provided in the previous regulation, in case the works for alterations and/ or change of destination concern, in part or in whole, a building/ premises, which does not have a fire permit, the documentation for the fire endorsement/ permit shall refer to the entire building/ premises. The new regulation extends this rule to premises in buildings with mixed functions, whether or not they have a fire permit.

The new regulation also introduces an exception in the above mentioned situations: the fire endorsement/ permit can be issues strictly for a part of the premises or of the building where the alterations and/ or change of theme are performed, if such part represents a fire compartment or is delimited by construction elements similar to a fire compartment.

In such cases, the fire scenario shall include an analysis of the way in which the alterations or the changes of destination affect the fundamental requirement “fire safety” of the entire premises or of the entire building.

3. Amendments regarding the content of the fire scenario

According to the previous regulation, the fire protection measures established by the fire scenario shall reflect the drawing parts of the design/ execution documentations. The new regulation provides that the fire scenario should contain all the fire protection measures not only from the drawing parts, but also from the technical memoranda.

4. Submission in electronic form of the documentation for the issuance of the fire and civil protection endorsements/ permits

The new regulation clarifies that, when the request for issuance of an endorsement/ permit is submitted in electronic form, the electronic signature of the investor or of the beneficiary is necessary. Also, the previous provision, which establishes that the technical documentation attached to the request can also be submitted in electronic form, being however necessary to contain the signature of all factors involved in the design and verification of the project, remains applicable.