The Law on the Code of Territorial Planning, Urbanism and Construction (the "Urbanism Code"), Law No. 169/2026, was promulgated on 5 August 2026 by Presidential Decree No. 720/2026 and published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 661 of 10 August 2026. It enters into force 15 days after publication and repeals, among others, Law No. 350/2001 on spatial planning and urbanism and Law No. 50/1991 on the authorisation of construction works.
At a glance – what this means for you
- One integrated approval, one digital platform. Urbanism documentation now runs through a single integrated approval before the National and Local Integrated Approval Commissions, and the endorsements for the issuance of the building permits through a single-agreement mechanism, all via a new national digital platform. Once obtained, no other authority may request further endorsements or charge additional fees for the same submission.
- Right of superficies over privately-owned land not regulated as a right to carry out construction works. The right to carry out construction/demolition works and obtain the building permit is expressly granted to (i) the holder of the ownership right, and (ii) the holder of other real rights corresponding to public property.
- Fewer works are formality-free. Many routine works – renovations, small extensions, interior partitioning, certain new rural construction – that are exempt today will require at least a prior notification, subject to a 15-business-day waiting period.
- Silence now means yes. Tacit approval becomes the default across the integrated approval, the individual endorsements requested through a permit application and the notification procedure, with carve-outs for defence, public-order and national-security bodies.
- A time-limited amnesty – at a price. A new regularisation permit allows certain unauthorised buildings or buildings constructed without the observance of the building permit to be legalised; for one year this extends to further categories, but at ten times the normal state-control and permit fees, plus a 100% local-tax surcharge while a building remains unregularised.
- New deadlines for authorities and the PUD. General Urban Plans (PUGs) older than 7 years must be updated within 3 years, failing which the local authority loses access to public funding; a PUD may now adjust higher-ranking plans within limits (for example a one-off increase of up to 20% in POT/CUT).
- Existing certificates and permits are protected. Urbanism certificates already issued keep their validity, and procedures already under way generally remain under the earlier rules – see “Effects on existing authorisation documents” below.
- In force soon. The Urbanism Code enters into force 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette, even before its implementing legislation is issued (i.e., 25 August 2026).
The Urbanism Code is a landmark consolidation exercise: for the first time, the rules on spatial and urban planning and the rules on the authorisation of construction/demolition works are brought together into a single, unitary legislative act, together with most of the construction-quality regime. Additionally, pursuant to the stated purpose of the Urbanism Code, its role is also to consolidate and simplify the legal framework for territorial planning, urbanism and construction, to digitalise the approval and authorisation processes, to increase transparency and access to planning documentation, and to promote energy-efficient and sustainable construction solutions.
Thus, the Urbanism Code brings these three categories of rules and simplified solutions under a single normative act, organised in two "books":
- Book I on territorial planning and urbanism (joint rules on endorsement, financing and implementation of planning/urbanism documentation; zoning and basic urbanism rules; protected areas and historical monuments; urbanism operations; the construction/demolition authorization regime; and administrative litigation specific to the field), and
- Book II on construction (covering classification of works, the investment project life cycle, technical requirements, energy performance, risk transfer, materials, products and technologies, sanctions and authorization of construction works).
Key changes brought by the new Urbanism Code
- Mandatory integrated, single-track endorsement/approval procedure
The most significant structural change is the introduction of a mandatory "integrated endorsement" (avizare integrată) mechanism for territorial planning and urbanism documentation for which two new permanent bodies are created (i) the National Integrated Approval Commission (Comisia națională de avizare integrată), operating centrally under the ministry responsible for territorial planning, urbanism and construction; and (ii) Local Integrated Approval Commissions (Comisii locale de avizare integrată), operating at county, metropolitan-area, municipality and town level, under the Chief Architect's specialised structure.
Under the Urbanism Code, urbanism documentation is approved on the basis of a single unified integrated approval (aviz unic integrat) issued by National and Local Integrated Approval Commissions, while the construction authorisation applications are channelled through a Single-Agreement Commission (Comisia de acord unic) operating through a dedicated Single-Window Office (Ghișeul unic).
The entire flow — submission, review, clarification requests, and issuance — is intended to run through the National Platform for Urban and Territorial Planning and Construction Authorisation, an interoperable digital platform intended to interconnect with the National Interoperability Platform and the National Registries (which includes the National Construction Registry and the related National Building Registry).
To this extent, the Urbanism Code also creates and formalises the National Construction Registry and the related National Building Registry as the central digital repositories for construction and building performance data, gradually replacing paper-based record-keeping (Cartea Tehnică) with georeferenced digital records interoperable with land-registry and cadastral systems.
Once the integrated/unified endorsement/approval (and, where applicable, the strategic environmental assessment and any mandatory clearances from the national defence/public-order/national-security structures) has been obtained, no further separate endorsements or approvals may be requested from other bodies — a clear break from the fragmented, multi-endorsement practice under the current applicable legislation. Also, authorities are expressly barred from conditioning one clearance on obtaining another, from requesting information beyond the statutory content and from charging multiple fees for the same zonal/detailed urbanism plan submission.
In practice, this means a project is handled through one commission and one file: once the integrated approval is issued, other bodies cannot reopen it, request fresh endorsements or charge duplicate fees – removing much of the delay and cost uncertainty that the old multi-endorsement route created.
- Optional General Urban Plan for a Metropolitan Zone, Mandatory PUG updates, new rules regarding the PUD and a new local tax
The Urbanism Code retains the familiar hierarchy of planning documents (national, county, zonal/intercommunity, and local plans; PUG, PUZ, PUD) but introduces the optional General Urban Plan for a Metropolitan Zone (PUGZM), allowing all administrative-territorial units within a constituted metropolitan zone to be regulated by a single instrument rather than each adopting an individual PUG.
Local authorities must update the General Urban Plans (PUGs) that are more than 7 years old within three years of the Urbanism Code's entry into force. Failure to comply exposes the relevant local authority to a ban on requesting or benefiting from reimbursable or non-reimbursable public funds. Existing PUGs (including those with extended validity) remain valid until the updated documentation is approved, but no later than that 3-year deadline.
The most significant change concerns the Proiect Urbanistic de Detaliu (PUD, formerly "Planul urbanistic de detaliu"). Until now, a PUD had an exclusively detailing function and could never modify higher-ranking planning documents (PUG/PUZ). The Urbanism Code departs materially from this principle: while it preserves the general detailing function, it expressly allows a PUD to modify higher-ranking regulations within defined limits — for example, a one-off increase of up to 20% in the plot ratio (POT) or floor area ratio (CUT), an increase in maximum building height, a change to the building type, or parceling of up to 12 lots, for specified factual situations. In practice, this gives developers a limited but useful lever to adjust an otherwise binding plan – for example raising POT or CUT by up to 20% – without the far longer process of amending the PUG or PUZ.
Second, elements of PUD content that until now were only regulated at the level of secondary legislation are now set out directly in the Urbanism Code itself, alongside an expanded and more detailed list of matters a PUD must address (compatibility of functions, access and traffic circulation correlated with area traffic volumes, parking, waste-collection platforms, playgrounds and sports facilities, restrictions arising from protection/safety zones, and the legal status of land).
Third, the Urbanism Code introduces a dedicated, previously unregulated procedure for preparing and approving a PUD: it must be drawn up as a specialist study during the building-permit authorization stage, in at least two preliminary variants reviewed by the Technical Urbanism and Territorial Planning Commission, followed by clearance through the Single-Agreement Commission — with express statutory deadlines (15 days for the Chief Architect's technical endorsement, and a further 15 calendar days for approval by the mayor/Mayor General/county council president).
Finally, the scope of PUDs is expanded to cover renewable-energy investment projects located within a locality's urban area, provided the intended use is consistent with the higher-ranking planning documentation — a thematic addition with no counterpart under the previous regulation.
Separately, local councils, the Bucharest General Council and county councils are given the option to introduce a new local "territorial servicing tax" (taxa locală de echipare a teritoriului), serving as a financing tool for infrastructure works serving the areas covered by planning/urbanism documentation.
- New types and terms for the urbanism certificates
The Urbanism Code replaces the current regime of the regulated single and uniform urbanism certificate with:
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- five distinct certificate types (a) for information purposes; (b) for cadastral operations; (c) for the construction/demolition of buildings and site works ("amenajări"); (d) for the construction/demolition of engineering works; and (e) for special-purpose constructions;
- shorter, differentiated issuance deadlines for each type of certificate ranging between 5 to 15 business days, versus the current unitary 30-day term or 15 business day term for the one issued for construction purposes;
- statutory validity caps of 12–36 months (up to 60 months for public investments) paired for the first time with an express extension mechanism;
- a digitalised process including automatic issuance of the certificate for information purposes;
- a nullity sanction for incomplete certificates far more severe than the current disciplinary/contravention liability; and
- distinct, more detailed regime for cadastral-operation certificates, together with the express sanction of absolute nullity in case of operations and/or deeds carried out in the absence of an urbanism certificate
In practice, applicants gain faster, purpose-specific certificates, but must choose the right type and file complete documentation from the outset – an incomplete certificate is now void rather than merely irregular, and cadastral operations or deeds carried out without one are struck with absolute nullity.
- Right of superficies over privately-owned land: not regulated as a right to carry out construction works
A point worth flagging for anyone envisaging developing a project on privately-owned land is that under the Urbanism Code, the right to carry out construction/demolition works is expressly granted to (i) the holder of the ownership right, and (ii) the holder of "other real rights corresponding to public property" ("alte drepturi reale corespunzătoare proprietății publice"); hence, the second category is limited to real rights held over public property (such as an administration right or a concession right).
Formerly, Law No. 50/1991 on the authorization of construction works (“Law 50/1991”) authorized any holder of "a real right over a property" without distinguishing between public and private ownership, meaning that a right of superficies granted over privately-owned land was, and still is until the entry into force of the Urbanism Code, an accepted legal basis for obtaining a building permit.
Since this is a structure commonly used in renewable energy developments, this point deserves close attention. It is not yet clear whether this results from a deliberate policy choice or a drafting oversight, and we recommend monitoring the administrative practice, any early case law and potential future amendments to be brought to the Urbanism Code on this specific issue before relying on a superficies right over private land as a basis for a building permit application under the Urbanism Code.
- Differentiated, simplified authorisation regime
Building and demolition permits continue to be required as the rule, but the Urbanism Code differentiates the procedure by category of works — buildings, engineering works, and "amenajări" (site/landscape works) — and, notably, expressly allows certain works to be carried out:
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- under a simplified notification procedure (e.g., the execution of new construction works outside protected areas and historical monument protection zones, exclusively in rural areas, under certain technical restrictions, replacement of current enclosures with new ones, replacement of the current roof, interior, non-structural, demountable partition modifications using lightweight materials, provided that the length and/or profile of evacuation routes remain unaffected, changes in destination without the requirement of construction/demolition works) or
- without any formality at all, rather than a full permit (mainly, carrying out repair works or minor interventions on existing buildings located outside protected built areas and historical monument protection zones).
Thus, while Law 50/1991 provided for a single, broad exemption regime ("no permit required"), applicable both inside and outside protected areas, whereas the Urbanism Code drastically narrows the "no formality whatsoever" category, confining it solely to historical-monument protection zones and protected built-up areas, and shifts the vast majority of routine works — renovations, small extensions, interior partitioning, changes of use, and new rural construction — into the intermediate category of simplified notification. As a result, a work that today is entirely exempt from any formality may, under the new Urbanism Code, require at least a notification subject to a 15-business-day waiting period. In practice, owners planning small works should now build a 15-business-day notification step into their start dates where none was previously needed, and confirm early whether a given work is exempt, merely notifiable, or still requires a full permit.
Also, where a single investment involves new construction, alterations, interventions on existing buildings and partial/total demolition together, only one building permit is required, covering the different categories of works — replacing the multiple-permit practice frequently seen under Law 50/1991. In practice, a mixed scheme – new construction, alterations, works on an existing building and partial demolition – can be covered by a single permit application rather than several run in parallel, cutting both paperwork and the risk of the permits falling out of step.
The Urbanism Code broadly preserves the same institutional map used under Law 50/1991: authorisations continue to be issued by county council presidents, Bucharest General Mayor, and mayors of municipalities, sectors, towns and communes, according to the location and type of works. However, procedures are recast around the new integrated approval commissions and the digital platform, rather than the paper-based sequential endorsement collection process under Law 50/1991. The exception is the Bucharest-specific transitional provision implementing the outcome of the 2024 local referendum on transferring competences between Bucharest General City Hall and the Districts Mayoralties. From 1 November 2028, the specialised structure responsible for territorial planning and urbanism within the Bucharest Mayor General's apparatus is reorganised into a general directorate, led by the Chief Architect of Bucharest, assisted by seven deputy chief architects, whose responsibilities will be set by a decision of the Mayor General. As of that same date, the competences and duties currently vested in the sector mayors are transferred to the Bucharest Mayor General and the new general directorate. The transfer is also supported by an implementation timeline: by 1 July 2027, the necessary normative and administrative measures must be adopted — including a government decision, to be initiated by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, establishing how the transfer of competences, staff, assets, databases and archives (in both physical and electronic format) will be organized, together with the budgetary impact and investments required. Any applications or administrative procedures pending with the sector authorities at the transfer date will be handed over to, and continued by, the newly competent authority without restarting the administrative process.
- Tacit approval rules
The Urbanism Code preserves and formalises a tacit-approval logic already anticipated through emergency ordinance amendments to Law 50/1991: where an approving authority/institution fails to respond within the statutory review period and does not issue a reasoned rejection, the relevant approval is deemed granted (avizare tacită), subject to important carve-outs for authorities within the National Defence, Public Order and National Security System. Thus, the Urbanism Code embeds tacit approval as a structural, mandatory default across three distinct procedural tracks: (i) integrated approval of planning/urbanism documentation, (ii) individual endorsements requested through a building permit application, and (iii) the simplified notification procedure. In each case, silence by the relevant authority is deemed a favourable response once the applicable statutory deadline expires. In practice, if the authority lets the deadline pass without a reasoned refusal, the applicant can proceed on the basis that the endorsement is granted by submitting the proof of the request and a statement regarding the fact that no reasoned refusal has been provided to its request – but the defence, public-order and national-security carve-outs mean this cannot be assumed for every clearance, so each track should be checked before relying on it.
- New "modification" and "regularisation" permits
The Urbanism Code formalises a "modification permit" for changes during the validity of an existing permit and introduces a "regularisation permit" for defined categories of works.
The modification permit is a new, dedicated instrument replacing the current Law 50/1991 practice of requiring an entirely new building permit whenever the design changes mid-construction. Hence, if the design changes during execution (e.g., the beneficiary wants to alter a floor layout or reposition part of the building), the permit holder must apply for a modification authorisation, submitting an updated construction file reflecting the proposed changes. The key condition is that the change must remain within the scope of the environmental endorsement, approvals and clearances already obtained for the original permit, and within the applicable planning regulations — e.g., if the original environmental clearance covered a given built area and the change does not exceed it, the modification authorisation can be issued quickly without re-running the full approval process. A modification authorisation terminates the original permit only for the modified elements; those works must then follow the new authorisation, within the validity period of the original permit.
The regularisation permit is a new expressly regulated instrument with a narrowly defined scope, aimed at legalising existing constructions built without, or not in compliance with, a building permit. Scope is strictly limited to: (i) single-family houses (ground floor, or ground floor plus one story) with a built-up area of up to 150 sqm, that are not historic monuments and are not located in monument protection zones or protected built areas; (ii) ancillary buildings to dwellings, farm outbuildings, or agricultural holding annexes, also up to 150 sqm; and (iii) balcony enclosure works, without extension onto public land.
On a transitional basis, for up to 1 year from the Urbanism Code's entry into force, regularization may also be requested for other categories of construction beyond those listed above (e.g., constructions erected in lack of a building permit or without the observance of the building permit), subject to compliance with planning regulations, fundamental quality requirements, and tax obligations — but in this transitional case, state-control fees and the building permit tax are ten times the normal amount, a punitive cost meant to discourage unauthorized construction and keep this route strictly exceptional and transitional. Also, for unregularised buildings, the local building tax is increased by 100% from the date the unauthorised status is established until regularisation or demolition; paying the increased tax does not, by itself, regularise the construction. After the 1-year transitional deadline expires, the local authority may demolish the unauthorised works directly (recovering the costs) or, as applicable, must seek a court order for demolition, via an action brought by the mayor within 30 days of the deadline's expiry.
- Construction without a permit – limitation period
The core mechanics are carried over from Law 50/1991 largely unchanged: unauthorised works remain a contravention, the control body must order compliance, regularisation (if applicable, under the new regularisation permit) or demolition, and if the offender fails to comply, the authority must obtain a court order, enforceable at the offender's expense if the deadline is missed. However, the Urbanism Code introduces an express 10-year limitation period, running from actual completion of the works, for the authority's right to bring a court action to demolish or regularise unauthorised construction, without an express rule addressing the substantive effect once it lapses without an action being filed.
- Sanctions and contraventions: a materially expanded and more granular regime
The Urbanism Code does not merely rename the sanctioning framework inherited from Law 50/1991 — it substantially expands and restructures with:
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- significantly broader list of sanctionable conduct - a considerable number of new contraventions each tracking one of the new institutions the Urbanism Code itself creates (i.e., carrying out works without the required prior notification; requesting unjustified endorsements; unjustifiably rejecting an endorsement; failing to observe the statutory deadlines);
- a new deterrent: the height-overrun fine - steeply calibrated fine for exceeding the approved height regime — RON 50,000 to RON 500,000 for each additional unauthorised floor. This is a wholly new sanction aimed at a specific and recurring market practice: unauthorised additional floors built beyond what the building permit allows.
- The warning as an alternative sanction - The Urbanism Code allows, for certain expressly listed offences, a warning to be issued on a one-off basis, upon a first breach — a degree of flexibility entirely absent from the previous regime.
- A more granular and more coherent structure - the Urbanism Code also reorganises the sanctioning framework itself. Contraventions relating to the authorisation regime are now expressly separated from contraventions relating to the construction regime — a clear structural improvement over Law 50/1991, which grouped all sanctionable conduct together under a single provision regardless of its nature or the stage of the process to which it related.
Effects on existing authorisation documents
The Urbanism Code contains a transitional regime intended to protect authorisation documents and procedures already underway, which is of direct practical relevance to any project currently holding, or in the process of obtaining, an urbanism certificate or a building permit:
Ongoing urbanism and territorial planning documentation procedures: Procedures for the preparation, endorsement and approval of urbanism and territorial planning documentation already initiated before entry into force remain governed by the legislation in force on the date they were initiated, more specifically the date on which the administrative act on the basis of which the procedure is commenced is brought to the attention of third parties. By way of exception, for endorsements not yet obtained, the file may nonetheless be routed through the new integrated approval commission under a simplified analysis, taking into account endorsements already obtained (which retain their validity).
Urbanism certificates already issued: These keep their validity. The subsequent building/demolition permit will be issued by the authority competent at the date the urbanism certificate was issued (or by the authority competent under the new Urbanism Code), on the basis of the endorsements requested through that certificate, applied in accordance with the legislation in force when the certificate was issued.
If competence to issue the building/demolition permit changes under the Urbanism Code between the issuance of the urbanism certificate and the request for the permit, the newly competent authority will issue the permit based on the still-valid urbanism certificate already obtained — unless the applicant has already filed the permit application with the authority that was competent under the prior legislation, in which case that authority remains competent to complete the process.
Works in progress: Partial completion/handover (recepții parțiale) may be carried out under the new Urbanism Code's rules even for works already under execution when the Urbanism Code enters into force.
Regulatory annexes under several existing Government Decisions on construction quality (metrology, quality assurance and control, importance categories, in-service monitoring, technical agreement, project/execution verification and expertise, reception of works, and technical regulation activity) remain in force until amended.
Entry into force
The Urbanism Code enters into force 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. Notably, the Urbanism Code specifies that its entry into force is automatic and is not conditional upon the prior adoption of secondary or tertiary legislation (implementing norm, methodologies, etc.) — meaning the Urbanism Code becomes operative even before all the ministerial orders, methodologies and procedures it contemplates have been issued.
Government decisions in force, adopted under the normative acts repealed as a result of the Urbanism Code entering into force, remain applicable until the entry into force of the Government decisions having the same subject matter, to be adopted by the Government under the provisions of the Urbanism Code. However, any provisions contrary to the Urbanism Code are repealed.
Several implementation deadlines follow entry into force: the national integrated approval commission must be organized and made operational within 45 business days as of publication; local authorities must organize and operationalize the local integrated approval commission and the single-agreement commission within the same 45 business days; all authorities or entities issuing endorsements, approvals and authorizations in the field of urbanism and construction must revise and update their procedures in accordance with the provisions of the Urbanism Code within 120 days as of the publication of the Urbanism Code in the Official Gazette of Romania.
What you should do now
- Map each live project against the transitional regime. Whether a project stays under the old rules or moves to the new ones depends on the exact stage its file has reached; this is best checked project by project before any new filing is made.
- Weigh the one-year regularisation window carefully. For unauthorised structures, the transitional route is broad but deliberately expensive; the cost/benefit differs case by case and should be assessed before relying on it.
- Prepare for digital, deadline-driven procedures. Consider the new platform, single-window filing, including the applicable procedures until such digital platforms will become available and the statutory deadlines (including tacit approval) into your project timelines and internal approvals.
- Monitor interpretations and amendments regarding the superficies right matter. Consider monitoring administrative practice, early case law and potential future amendments to be brought to the Urbanism Code regarding the specific issue of relying on a superficies right over private land as a basis for a building permit application.
