Motorways and the metro are now permitted on three standard forms, mandatory but sent on paper

A ten-page order that brings nothing but three forms, with no new substantive rule, still says something important: what the permitting of a motorway will look like in practice under the new Code of Spatial Planning. Joint Order no. 1.095/884, signed on 21 September 2026 by the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration and by the interim minister of transport and infrastructure, was published on 30 September 2026 and approves the model and content of the applications used in permitting the execution of construction works for transport infrastructure of national interest.

The legal basis is twofold. Article 330(1)(a) of Law no. 169/2026 expressly requires the form of the application for a building or demolition permit for works on national transport infrastructure to be laid down by joint order of the minister responsible for spatial planning and the minister responsible for transport. Article 578(2) of the same Code allows the minister responsible for spatial planning to issue orders, implementing rules, procedures, instructions and other acts of a technical, interpretative or administrative nature needed for the uniform application of the Code.

The three forms correspond to the three permits the Code recognises in this field. Annex no. 1 is the application for a building or demolition permit, with two annexes of its own: annex no. 1.1, for the case where the application covers several properties, and annex no. 1.2, the technical annex, drawn up by the designer. Annex no. 2 is the application for a modification permit, provided for in Article 293 of the Code for situations where the design brief changes on works already permitted. Annex no. 3 is the application for a regularisation permit, governed in this field by Article 336 of the Code for constructions carried out without a permit or in breach of one.

The technical check is filled in on the application itself, at point 8. The applicant ticks the consequence class, from CC 1 to CC 4, and names the certified verifiers for all six basic requirements, each with the number of their certificate and with their report: mechanical resistance and stability, safety in case of fire, hygiene, health and the environment, safety and accessibility in use, protection against noise, energy economy and heat retention. The same grid, with the consequence classes and the six verifiers, is repeated at point 7 of the modification application in annex no. 2, while at point 5 of the regularisation application in annex no. 3 the six requirements return with technical experts in place of verifiers, and without the consequence class.

The technical annex, drawn up by the designer, opens with point 1, where the categories of works are ticked: new constructions, with separate mentions for the protection areas of historic monuments and for protected built-up areas, interventions on existing constructions, in 16 variants, from major repairs and strengthening to loft conversion and partial demolition, development works, in 5 variants, and engineering works, in 6 variants, among them transport infrastructure of national interest. From there on, the annex splits in two. Points 2-9 are filled in, according to the note printed just below point 1, only for buildings and for interventions on existing buildings, and for development works and engineering works only where these also include buildings. Points 10-13 are the ones reserved for development works and engineering works.

The building data sheet, point 4 of the technical annex, asks for data that nobody used to ask for in a permit application: the NIS number from the National Register of Constructions, if the property is already registered, the e-Terra identifier, the year of construction and of the last renovation, the estimated service life, the seismic risk class, the structural system and material, the built volume, the fire stability level and the maximum number of users. Point 9 of the same annex has a section called communication to the National Register of Constructions, with the NIS number assigned or confirmed, the investment code, the date of communication, the transaction number and the name of the person who made the communication.

The part reserved for engineering works is, however, empty. Point 10, the characteristic data of the site, and point 11, the specific technical characteristics and functional capacities, are boxes with a heading and with no predefined field at all. Point 12 asks for four environmental and fire-safety entries, similar to those at point 7, and point 13 is the signature block. For a stretch of motorway without buildings, the designer has two blank boxes and four entries to fill in, whereas for a building he has points 2-9 to complete, including the building data sheet at point 4, with its 18 lines.

The other two forms are shorter and have no annexes of their own. The modification permit application, in annex no. 2, has 10 sections and 7 enclosed documents, from point (a) to point (g); at point 3 the number, date, period of validity and issuer of the building permit being modified are entered, and at point 5 the changes to the design brief are described. The regularisation permit application, in annex no. 3, has 8 sections and 6 enclosed documents, from point (a) to point (f), and at point 4 it is ticked whether the works were carried out without a permit or in breach of one. Both ask, in the property section, for the cadastral number if the property is entered in e-Terra, plus two tick boxes, for the up-to-date land register extract and for the site location plan in the Stereo 70 coordinate system.

The order is also clear about how the paperwork travels. Article 3(1) declares the forms mandatory and states that they may be used both physically, on paper, and digitally. Article 3(2) adds, however, that in order to secure the continuity of the issuing of acts of authority and to prevent any interruption of activity until the full technical integration into the IT systems is complete, the forms are sent on paper. Article 4 protects files in progress: applications filed before the order enters into force are settled on the basis of the forms valid on the date of filing.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is standardisation. Until now each infrastructure beneficiary put the file together according to the list of documents in the law, and the ministry’s specialist directorate received applications in different shapes. From 30 September 2026 there is a single form and it is mandatory, under Article 3(1). The list of 23 documents in point 10 of annex no. 1 becomes, in practice, a completeness check: whoever fails to tick an item shows for himself what is missing.

The second effect is the date from which it applies. On entry into force, the order has a single article, Article 5, under which it is published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. In the absence of a later date set out in the text, a ministerial order enters into force on the date of publication, under Article 12 of Law no. 24/2000 on legislative drafting rules for normative acts. The date that separates old files from new ones, for the purposes of Article 4, is therefore 30 September 2026.

The third effect is in fact a postponement. Article 3(2) turns the digital format allowed by paragraph (1) into a future possibility: until the full technical integration into the IT systems is complete, the forms are sent on paper. A permit file for a stretch of motorway contains, under point 10(n) of annex no. 1, the design for the building permit in two original copies, or in a single one where the authority can archive digitally, plus opinions and agreements in one copy each, plus expert reports. The bulk stays physical.

The fourth effect touches the designer, not the beneficiary. Annex no. 1.2 is drawn up by the designer of the documentation and obliges him to declare, on a separate sheet for each property, characteristics he used to keep in the technical memorandum: the existing and the proposed seismic risk class, the structural system and material, the levels of the natural and of the finished ground, the fire stability level. The sheet is signed and stamped, at points 8 and 13.

The fifth effect concerns regularisations. The form in annex no. 3 asks, at point 5, for technical expert reports on each of the six basic requirements, each with the expert’s name and the number of his certificate, and at point 6 for a report on compliance with the urban planning rules. Article 336(2)-(4) of the Code explains why: the expert assessment is submitted for approval to the ministry’s technical and economic council, and the decision to keep or to demolish the construction is approved by order of the minister of transport and infrastructure.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The change comes from the Code the order applies. Law no. 169/2026 replaced the permitting regime built on the earlier legislation on construction permitting, and Articles 329-336 created a separate chapter for transport infrastructure of national interest, with its own permitting authority, its own list of documents and a regularisation permit of its own. The present order is the first act that puts that chapter into the shape of a form.

The first substantive difference is the very existence of a regularisation permit for transport infrastructure. Article 301 of the Code reserves it, under the general regime, for a short and small list: single-family dwellings with a ground floor or ground floor plus one storey and a total built-up floor area of up to 150 sq m, outbuildings of dwellings or of farms of up to 150 sq m, and the enclosing of balconies without extension over the public domain. Article 336, however, opens a parallel route for transport infrastructure projects, with no area ceiling, conditional on a technical expert assessment and on the minister’s decision. Annex no. 3 to the order is the form for that route.

The second difference is the appearance of the National Register of Constructions in the body of the application. The NIS number, the e-Terra identifier and the register communication section, with its transaction number, did not exist in the permitting forms used until now. They show the direction in which the Code is pushing the procedure, towards a single register of constructions that can be queried electronically.

The third difference is less visible and concerns who applies for the permit. Article 248(2) of the Code provides that, for engineering works of public interest, building permits are also issued at the request of persons other than the holders of principal real rights over the properties. Point 3 of annex no. 1 reflects exactly that: the applicant ticks whether he is the holder of the right of ownership, of another real right corresponding to public property, of a claim right, or of another right under Article 248(2), Article 330(1)(b) and Article 332(1). A motorway builder may apply for the permit without owning the land.

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