New Amendments to Construction Laws

7 January 2020

On 6 January 2020, the Romanian president promulgated a new Law no. 7/2020 amending Law no. 50/1991 on authorization of construction works “Law 50” and Law no. 10/1995 on quality in construction “Law 10”.

The new law will enter into force after publication with the Official Gazette of Romania. The main amendments are briefly presented below.

1. New rules regarding permitting the works for connection to utilities under both Law 50 and Law 10

The new legal provisions will facilitate the permitting process for the connection and deviation works necessary for connecting a new building to utilities:

1.1the obligation to obtain a building permit for the connection works was eliminated (although some inconsistent language regarding public/private domain may create interpretation difficulties). However, the approval/permit from the road administrator should be obtained for connection works which affect the public domain (other than aerial connections).

1.2for the works which concern exclusively the connection to utilities of the new building, the approval/permit of the road administrator shall be issued in the name of the network operators, upon the beneficiary’s request and in consideration of the network operators’ legal rights. The building permit for the new building and the approval/permit from the road administrator for the connection to utilities shall be issued in principle in the same time; however, if the approval/permit from the road administrator cannot be issued this shall not be an impediment for the issuance of the other building permits the new building and utilities connections.

1.3the documentation for obtaining the building permit for the new building shall include also the technical documentation necessary for obtaining the approval/permit of the road administrator for the utilities connection works to be performed on the public domain;

1.4the reception upon completion of works for the new building shall be performed only together with the reception upon completion of the works for the connection to the utilities network for individual and collective residential projects, public utility constructions and access ways;

1.5the owner may use the building (in Romanian: “dare in folosinta”) only after the reception upon completion of works is approved and the definitive connection to the public utilities network is commissioned (in Romanian: “puse in functiune”), both in case of new investments and in case of any interventions made to the existing buildings which have not been given in use during the construction works; If the investor is different than the building owner (e.g. for residential projects), the handover of the building to the owner can be done only after the formalities above are performed.

2. Other amendments under Law 50

2.1New rules regarding solar and photovoltaic panels for prosumers.

The installation by prosumers of solar and photovoltaic panels, no longer requires the issuance of a building permit – regardless of whether the panels are installed on a building or on the ground. The term “prosumer” has the meaning defined under Law no. 220/2008 for promoting regenerable energy production.

2.2Competence for the annulment of the building permits

The new provisions repeal the right of the Prefect to annul building permits issued in breach of the law. Building permits may be annulled only by the administrative courts of law.

2.3New rules in respect to certificate necessary for land book registration

In case of constructions built without a building permit, in case the statute of limitation for applying legal sanctions has elapsed, the local authorities must issue the certificate for attesting the construction on the basis of a technical expertise attesting compliance with requirements on quality in construction and with the urbanism regulations.