New Ministerial Order Accelerates Urban Planning and Construction Authorization Processes

“The Ministerial Order establishing the regulatory framework to accelerate the development and updating of territorial and urban planning documents, as well as the permitting and authorization processes for both public and private construction works, has been published in the Official Gazette of Romania,” announced Minister of Development, Cseke Attila.

The new measures support both public and private investors and introduce, as a key innovation, tacit approval — meaning that if an institution fails to respond within the legal timeframe or does not reject a request, the approval is considered granted.

Minister Cseke stated: “Within 10 days of the publication of this emergency ordinance, the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration will issue, by order, the official form for the sworn statement by which a beneficiary declares that no request for clarification, completion, or modification was received, no opinion was issued (with or without conditions), or no rejection was communicated, as the case may be.”

Accordingly, two official templates have been prepared:

• One for the sworn statement to be submitted when approving territorial or urban planning documentation, if the beneficiary invokes the tacit approval mechanism for certain opinions.
• Another, similar declaration, to be submitted when applying for a construction or demolition permit.

Public institutions that fail to comply with the new regulations are subject to sanctions. Furthermore, unjustified rejection of documentation constitutes a contravention and will be penalized by the State Inspectorate for Construction, under the Ministry of Development.

To ensure procedural consistency, a single civil servant will now handle each case file throughout the entire permitting and authorization process.

As set out in Government Emergency Ordinance No. 31/2025, adopted at the proposal of the Ministry of Development, these reforms:

• Reduce processing times,
• Introduce simultaneous approvals (eliminating the sequential "cascade" process),
• Prohibit the conditional issuance of one approval based on another,
• Limit each construction project to one approval per field, with no expiration date,
• Eliminate the need for excessive studies, documents, or permits that are irrelevant to the actual construction work.