Recent Changes To The Laws Regarding Construction Quality And Authorization

On 8 January 2020, Law no. 7/2020 on the amending and supplementing of (i) Law no. 10/1995 regarding the quality in construction (Law no. 10/1995), as well as of (ii) Law no. 50/1991 regarding the authorization of construction works performance (Law no. 50/1991) has been published in the Official Gazette (Law no. 7/2020).

The Order no. 3454 on the amending and supplementing of the Methodological Norms for Applying Law no. 50/1991 (Norms) has also been recently published in the Official Gazette, respectively on 6 January 2020.

There are certain essential aspects to be considered, as presented below:

Quality in constructions - Recent amendments

The changes brought to Law no. 10/1995 focus on the obligations and liabilities of investors, as well as of operators of public utility services and of owners of constructions, mainly on the obligations based on the connection to the branches and utilities networks.

1. Obligations and liabilities of investors

A set of new obligations for the investor was introduced by Law no. 7/2020, which comprises the following: a. Obtaining the agreement / authorization of the road administrator for making connections to the utilities networks of the urban infrastructure, with the payment of the connection fees corresponding to the branching; b. Performing the reception upon completion of works, only together with the reception upon completion of connection works to the public services and technical infrastructure, corresponding to the ensembles of individual and collective housing units, the constructions of public utility and the access routes; c. Performing the final reception upon the expiration of the guarantee period; d. Alteration of the building installations / networks related to the constructions which were subject to expert examination is made on the basis of technical documentation elaborated and approved in accordance with the legal provisions; e. The handing over of the construction to the owner shall take place only after the admission of the reception upon completion of works and after putting into service the authorized and final connections to the public utilities networks of the urban infrastructure, both in case of new investments and interventions on existing constructions that were not used during the execution of the construction works. 2. Obligations and liabilities of operators of public utility services

A new section has been introduced, regulating the obligations and liabilities of the operators of public utility services, in the sense that the execution of the connection / branching works is done on the basis of the execution contracts concluded with the certified builders and is performed within the deadlines provided in the connection contract. 3. Obligations and liabilities of owners of constructions

The obligations and liabilities of owners of constructions include the following: a. The commissioning of the construction shall take place only after the admission of the reception at the end of the construction works and after putting into service the authorized and final connections to the public utilities networks of the urban infrastructure, both in case of new investments and interventions on existing constructions that were not used during the execution of the construction works, handing it over and obtaining the authorizations provided by the law; b. The utilization of the construction can only be permitted after the admission...