New rules to simplify planning and construction permitting
On April 30, 2025, Government Emergency Ordinance No. 31/2025 on measures to simplify urban planning and construction permitting and to accelerate investment was published in the Official Gazette of Romania and has entered into force (hereinafter referred to as “Ordinance”).
The Ordinance amends the following laws: (i) Law No. 350/2001 on territorial development and urban planning („Law 350/2001”) and (ii) Law No. 50/1991 on the authorization of construction works („Law 50/1991”), as detailed below.
1. Context and purpose
The stated purpose of the Ordinance, as per its underlying explanatory note (the “Explanatory Note”) is to speed up and simplify the current complex, lengthy and costly processes for the approval of urban development plans and for obtaining building permits, which pose significant hurdles / difficulties to investors.
According to the Explanatory Note, the Ordinance is meant to tap into the full potential of the construction sector by reducing administrative burdens, stimulating investments and accelerating the development of projects and to ensure compliance with the pressing deadlines set out under the National Resilience and Recovery Plan (“NRRP”).
2. Simplification of permitting procedures
2.1 Clear deadlines
One of the most important reforms brought by the Ordinance is the standardization and clarification of the permit issuance process through the introduction of precise and overarching time limits for the issuance of endorsements (in Romanian: avize) and approvals (in Romanian: acorduri), namely:
– maximum 30 days from the submission of the application, for the urban planning procedure; and
– maximum 15 days from the submission of the application, for the building permit procedure.
A maximum 15-day time limit, starting from the examination of the documentation by the technical committee for spatial and urban planning has also been introduced for the issuance of the opportunity endorsement (in Romanian: avizul de oportunitate).
The Ordinance introduces a number of derogations from the deadlines set out above (mainly with respect to the starting point of the terms) for the endorsements/approvals o be obtained from: (i) environmental protection authorities (maximum 15 days after the completion of specific environmental procedures); (ii) authorities for the protection of historical monuments (maximum 30 days after the review of the documentation); (iii) central public authorities whose legally established procedure involves a review by a specialized commission (within a maximum of 15 days after the commission examines the documentation);(iv) county emergency inspectorates (maximum 15 days from the submission of the documentation); (v) Romanian Civil Aviation Authority (maximum 30 days from the submission of the documentation).
Also, as a novelty, the beneficiary and the designers must be notified about the date when the documentation will be examined by the relevant committees, regardless of whether they are entitled to attend the meeting or not.
The introduction of clear deadlines for the issuance of endorsements and approvals is an essential step towards ensuring predictability and streamlining the approval of urban planning documentation and construction permitting.
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