CATUC Explained: Permits, Notification and Project Documents

English · Legislation checked on 2 October 2026. Companion: BIM, verified drawings and execution documentation in Romania.

CATUC changes how Romania organises planning, authorisation and construction responsibilities. For a project team, the first task is to identify the applicable procedure. A project must be placed in the correct legal regime, its works classified, its documentation completed and its professional responsibilities assigned. This article follows those decisions through hypothetical examples. It focuses on buildings and is not an exhaustive account of infrastructure or sector-specific legislation. Romanian legal terms are retained; the English text is explanatory, not an official translation.

1. What is in force, and what changes

The Codul amenajării teritoriului, urbanismului și construcțiilor was enacted by Law 169/2026, published in Monitorul Oficial 661 of 10 August 2026. Article 575 sets general commencement fifteen days after publication: 25 August 2026. It expressly says application is not conditional on secondary legislation. This is enacted legislation, not the original consultation draft. Official legislative record; promulgated text, art. 575.

The structural change is a common code covering territorial planning, urbanism and construction. Article 576 repeals Laws 50/1991 and 350/2001 and specified parts of Law 10/1995; it does not repeal every provision of Law 10. Practical changes include the express notification procedure in articles 294–298, consequence-class-based verification levels in articles 440–445 and staged project content in articles 490–530. The Code also recognises BIM in specified project and contractual provisions. None of these changes makes planning compliance, competent design or construction quality optional.

Examples clarify the difference. A qualifying rural house may follow notification, but still needs a professionally prepared simplified PTh. A CC1 project has a different verification regime from CC3, but its designer remains responsible. A digital submission can use professional qualified signatures, but the specific electronic alternative to the verifier’s stamp already existed under OUG 140/2020; it is not a new CATUC invention. CATUC, arts. 294–298, 440–445 and 576; OUG 140/2020, art. 5.

An urban-planning example is the PUD approval mechanism. In question 3 of its implementation clarifications, MDLPA explains when a previously prepared Plan urbanistic de detaliu can follow the Code’s mayoral-disposition mechanism for a Proiect urbanistic de detaliu: the documentation must be complete and meet the Code’s conditions, with the stated exception for county-council-president competence. The new label alone does not cure incomplete or noncompliant documentation. MDLPA clarification, question 3.

2. Establish the transition before choosing a form

Article 582 preserves the applicable earlier regime for specified procedures already started and maintains the validity of issued urbanism certificates. Article 577 separately protects specified public-investment situations under HG 907/2016 from the new Book II, Part IV project-stage provisions. These include investments in execution, procurement already initiated, specified submitted or received documentation and funding already approved. This is a defined transitional rule, not permission for every older project to ignore the Code. Article 583 keeps earlier regulations applicable insofar as they do not conflict, pending the relevant replacements.

MDLPA’s published clarification distinguishes the form from the substantive regime: applications registered through 24 August 2026 are processed under the earlier rules and forms; applications registered from 25 August use the new forms, even when the underlying certificate or approval is older. The substantive analysis still follows the regime applicable to the procedure. The ministry identifies Orders 975/2026 and 1022/2026 for the relevant new forms. This is the ministry’s interpretation of implementation, not an amendment to the Code. CATUC, arts. 577, 582–583; MDLPA clarifications, questions 1–2.

Example: an application registered on 20 August and a new application on 10 September cannot automatically use the same form merely because both relate to the same site. Preserve the registration evidence, the underlying certificate and the reason for the chosen transitional regime. A future statutory deadline is also not evidence of present operation: article 584 postpones the specified Bucharest competence changes until 1 November 2028. This guide does not assume that every register or digital service mentioned in the Code is already operational.

3. Route A: works requiring building authorisation

Article 259 establishes the authorisation route, subject to the Code’s exceptions. A new urban apartment building or an extension adding a storey to a house would ordinarily require authorisation unless a specific provision establishes otherwise. A certificat de urbanism states the planning and approval framework; article 253 does not make it permission to build. A favourable utility approval is not the building authorisation either.

Article 262’s application package includes the application; updated cadastral-plan and land-register extracts no older than thirty days, subject to statutory exceptions; evidence of the right to build where required; the project’s OAR registration for buildings; PAC; applicable environmental decisions, approvals and agreements; neighbour-related technical expertise or safeguarding documentation where necessary; relevant road-administrator documentation; the general estimate, duration and investment value; and applicable verification reports. A declaration is additionally prescribed when relying on tacit approval of certain approvals. The application and its supporting documents must be assessed together; PAC is only one part of that file. CATUC, arts. 253, 259 and 262–264.

Example: moving an approved building and changing its footprint during construction is not resolved by updating the model alone. Article 293 provides the modification-authorisation route. Where the change remains within the existing approvals and planning conditions, the corresponding procedure differs from a change requiring renewed approvals. Classify the modification and obtain the required act before executing the changed works. The Code separately allows certain local technical changes through the designer’s site instruction under stated conditions.

4. Route B: prior notification, with real conditions

Article 294 lists works that may use notification. It is a defined procedure, not a general option chosen whenever a project seems small. Article 295 requires notification before construction, by the holder of the relevant right, accompanied by a simplified PTh prepared by competent architects and engineers, the prescribed fees and additional documents where required. A letter merely asking the authority which procedure applies is not a statutory notification.

Rural house example — article 294(2)(a)(ii): a single-family house on its own plot with its own access, in rural intravilan outside protected areas and monument-protection zones, may qualify if it has ground floor only or demisol plus ground floor, no subsol, and no more than 150 m² total floor area. The text also requires the prescribed type-project or individually designed route, competent architecture/structure/services designers, respect for the relevant rural architecture guide and county chief-architect approval. A 145 m² house with an upper storey or basement does not qualify through this subpoint merely because it is under 150 m².

Rural outbuilding example — article 294(2)(a)(i): garages, covered terraces, pergolas, summer kitchens, kiosks, pools and similar external single-family accessories may qualify within a cumulative 50 m² limit, including permanent structures with foundations below 20 m². This subpoint excludes rural localities in metropolitan areas and has the rural-intravilan, protection and planning conditions stated in the article. An 18 m² structure with foundations should therefore not be labelled “exempt under the 20 m² rule” without checking the separate criteria.

Existing-building examples outside protected areas — article 294(2)(b): roof replacement may retain the shape or reconfigure it with a rise of no more than 0.50 m, while respecting permitted ridge/eaves heights; an attic may be fitted out in a single-family house within its unchanged volume without strengthening works; certain nonstructural repartitioning and uniform balcony enclosures are listed. The provisions also include extensions for sanitary or technical spaces up to 25 m². Each example keeps the conditions attached to its own subpoint.

For demountable lightweight partitions, the notification category requires no effect on evacuation-route lengths or widths, fire-protection installations or fire stability. A partition that narrows an escape route is not automatically eligible simply because it is lightweight. Changes to commercial or office use with public access are listed only where they do not involve other works requiring authorisation and comply with planning rules.

Protected-area work requires separate attention. Article 294(3) establishes a narrower route for specified repairs, with eligibility dependent on the building's classification and architectural/historic status. It requires notification to both the local authority and the culture service and the culture service's written agreement stating conditions and deadlines. Examples include minor exterior-finish repairs retaining material, colour and texture, and exterior joinery repairs retaining the specified material, form and dimensions. Establish eligibility under the actual heritage provisions before choosing this route. Ordinary repair examples cannot be transferred indiscriminately to a monument or a protected setting. CATUC, art. 294.

5. Notification timing: fifteen working days is not the start date

Under article 296(1), tacit approval takes effect after fifteen working days from receipt. The authority may instead request clarification or missing documents, require complementary approvals, identify the need for a building authorisation or reject noncompliant works. Article 296(6) then states that works start fifteen calendar days after expiry of the tacit-approval period, or after full satisfaction of the applicable conditions. Articles 297–298 retain design, quality and responsibility requirements. It is inaccurate to turn this into “start on working day sixteen” or “thirty working days”.

Example: an owner submits a complete notification on a Monday. The team records receipt, calculates the working-day period with public holidays, checks any response and then applies the additional calendar-day period. The calendar depends on actual receipt and the procedure’s subsequent events; a generic online countdown is not evidence of entitlement to start.

Article 298 provides its own technical-verification regime, placing design responsibility on the relevant designers. It expressly requires geotechnical and topographic studies for adapting the qualifying rural-house type project to its site. Receipt at completion includes the contractor, beneficiary and a local-authority representative. Until the National Construction Register is operational, the article provides transmission of the receipt record to ISC. Simplified authorisation does not mean undocumented construction. CATUC, arts. 295–298.

6. Route C: exempt works, and the limits of “no formalities”

Article 299 lists works without building authorisation or the formal notification procedure, subject to the conditions and exceptions within the article. For the ordinary examples outside protected areas and monument-protection zones, it includes interior plastering, painting and floor finishes; interior joinery; repairs to fences retaining their form and materials; roof repairs retaining form and appearance; and exterior joinery replacement retaining the openings’ form and dimensions, even where the joinery material changes. Exterior repainting retains the specified façade elements and colours. Changing a window opening or substantially changing a roof is a different factual case.

A rural demountable-outbuilding example under article 299(2)(c) combines a cumulative maximum of 20 m², maximum height of 2.5 m, no foundations, temporary/demountable construction and the stated timber/metal and planning conditions. A hypothetical 18 m², 2.4 m-high demountable timber accessory without foundations may fit if all other conditions are met. Adding foundations removes it from that particular exemption; it may need notification or authorisation under the separate provisions. Article 299 also contains declaration/tax obligations for temporary annexes.

Photovoltaic example: article 299(2)(a), point 13, addresses solar systems and prosumer photovoltaic systems but expressly requires prior information to the local authority and a supporting structure able to take the applicable dead, wind and snow loads. The article’s “no formalities” heading must not erase that specific condition. Environmental, heritage, planning, quality and other applicable sector rules continue to matter, as do the receipt and technical-record duties prescribed by the article. CATUC, art. 299.

7. A separate route: aviz de amplasare

Article 300 provides placement approval for specified installations, including bicycle racks, electric-vehicle charging points and certain recycling or sanitary facilities. It has its own siting, circulation and utility conditions. A charging point falling within this provision may not need the ordinary building-authorisation procedure, but it is not thereby in the category “install without any administrative step”. First distinguish authorisation, notification, exemption and placement approval, then examine the exact project. CATUC, art. 300.

8. What the documents contain: brief, feasibility and PAC

Tema de proiectare — articles 490–491

• Identify the investment and parties, objectives, site and existing conditions, legal/technical/economic constraints, utilities and planning restrictions, intended functions, sizes, flows and quality requirements, budget assumptions and relevant surveys or studies.

A room list alone is not a complete brief.

Studiul de fezabilitate — articles 492–495

• Assess the need and existing situation.
• Develop the scenarios required by the brief.
• Explain the proposed technical, functional and quality solutions, costs and study results.
• Justify the selected scenario and implementation approach.
• And provide the required graphics, conclusions and indicators.

Do not assume a document called SF has the same required content in every financing or transitional regime.

PAC — article 503 and Annex 2: the location plan, existing and proposed site plans, architecture and engineering documentation. The existing-site material includes the prescribed topographic/cadastral basis in Stereo 70, OCPI endorsement, neighbouring buildings and heights, access and context photographs. The proposal identifies retained, demolished and proposed construction, levels and heights, landscape, access and fences.

Architecture includes the explanatory memorandum and relevant planning/technical characteristics; indicative plans of all levels and their functions; roof plans, elevations and sections; and contextual graphics or photographs. The memorandum covers the applicable materials, landscape, heritage, quality, access, parking, utilities, waste, neighbours and environmental relationships. Existing-building interventions need the relevant technical diagnosis/expertise and measured drawings. Annex 2 adapts contextual requirements for interior-only interventions.

Engineering includes the discipline memoranda and schematics, underground connection plans, verified geotechnical documentation and class-dependent calculations and drawings. Annex 2 requires calculation briefs for CC3 and CC4; concept structure/services drawings for CC2 and CC3; and the stated formwork/section material for CC4 or buildings with more than one underground level, excluding demisol. These are differentiated requirements, not one identical checklist for every building.

Annex 3 separately sets simplified PAC content for the specified rural single-family category, with a maximum P+M and 150 m². Do not confuse that category with notification eligibility: article 294’s house subpoint uses ground floor or demisol plus ground floor, without subsol; article 295 requires a simplified PTh. The same area number does not make the procedures interchangeable. CATUC, arts. 490–503; Annexes 2–3.

9. From permission to execution and handover

PTh — articles 505–508 — includes the written design, calculations, specifications, quantities and cost material, programme and monitoring provisions, plus the prescribed architecture, structure and services drawings. DE — article 509 — supplies construction and assembly details, coordination, materials and equipment information and updated cost/programme material. See the discipline-by-discipline PTh and DE guide for the detailed lists and timing exceptions. A permit package, BEP or coordinated 3D model does not by itself complete these deliverables.

Site organisation — articles 250 and 516–517 — needs its own treatment. The general contractor’s documentation addresses boundaries and access, wheel washing/drainage, temporary offices and welfare facilities, utilities, plant, prefabrication and storage, waste handling and delivery/removal routes. Occupation of public space adds the applicable occupation plan, period, fees and protection measures. Authorisation, utility approvals and the waste-operator arrangements must be addressed as applicable. A logistics diagram alone does not authorise occupation of a pavement.

Handover — articles 528–530 — includes the prescribed designers’ and site-supervision statements, receipt records, the technical book, maintenance and user information, component lifespans and monitoring, plus operator training. Responsibilities and detail for as-built documentation are established contractually between the beneficiary and the contractor or involved designer under the Code. The technical book follows design, construction, receipt and operation/maintenance/repair/monitoring. Records must represent what was actually built; renaming an earlier model “as-built” does not establish that fact. CATUC, arts. 505–530.

10. A practical project decision record

For a specific project, record the applicable legal version and transition; site and protection status; exact proposed works; the article and conditions supporting the selected procedure; required documents and responsible specialists; applicable verification class or special regime; submission evidence and dates; design changes; and completion records. This is a recommended working method, not an additional statutory form.

The most consequential change is how these decisions fit together. A lighter administrative route can coexist with detailed professional duties. Electronic documents can carry professional responsibility without a physical stamp, but only through the applicable legal mechanism. BIM can help coordinate and trace information, while the prescribed documents and responsible professionals remain central. The companion Romanian BIM and execution-documentation guide examines that relationship and the limits shown by empirical research.

Legal information: This article provides general information, not legal advice. For important decisions, check the current law and consult a qualified lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction. Project-specific technical requirements should also be checked with the responsible professionals.