Central Europe Update: New Construction Act – dawn of easier and faster construction?

The Chamber of Deputies has narrowly outvoted the Senate on the draft of the new Construction Act, which, once signed by the President, will come into full effect on 1 July 2023. The main benefits are to be simplicity, speed, digitalisation and reorganisation of construction procedures and authorities.

A significant change is that the proceedings will be conducted by default at the state regional construction office, not at municipal offices as before. The new law brings unification of the zoning and construction (or other) proceedings into a single construction permit procedure. Buildings will now be divided into small, simple, reserved and other, and this division will affect the obligation to obtain a building permit. 

The time limits for the decision of the construction authority will be fixed and in the event of an appeal or failure to meet the time limit, the superior building authority will decide by itself. The maximum declared length of the construction procedure, including appeals and reviews, is thus to be 345 days (375 days for environmental impact assessments), which is intended to be a non-extendable time limit. Bureaucracy is to be reduced, e.g. a substantial part of the environmental assessment will be transferred to the state building authorities, while if other concerned authorities (e.g. on fire protection assessment) do not decide or comment in time, the fiction of their consent will apply. Applications can be submitted fully electronically, which will decrease the cost of transmitting documentation to the authorities.

According to the new Construction Act, the municipality in whose territory the project is to be carried out is always a party to the proceedings, ecological associations will be parties to the proceedings with regards to the protection of nature and landscape (environmental impact assessment). Objections of these parties can thus be settled in the proceedings before the construction authorities as they do not have to go to court to defend their interests. The new law is bad news for illegal constructions, which will now be more difficult to legalise and only if the builder has acted in good faith.

It is advisable to prepare for these substantial changes in advance. Speeding up and simplifying the construction bureaucracy are necessary steps to alleviate the housing crisis and promote construction. We are closely monitoring the development of the law and its eventual future changes and will keep you informed. If you have any questions, we will be glad to answer them.

By Konečná & Zacha law firm, Central Europe, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm.  

For further information or for any assistance please contact centraleurope@transatlanticlaw.com

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