The new Decree on Location Conditions entered into force on 12 September 2020

16.09.2020.

In accordance with the provisions of the Serbian Planning and Construction Law (the “Law“), the Government of the Republic of Serbia passed a new Decree on Location Conditions (the “Decree“), which entered into force on 12 September 2020.

Location conditions contain all urban, technical and other conditions and data necessary for the development of the conceptual design, design for the construction permit and construction design, in accordance with the Law.

As a general matter, the Law stipulates that obtaining location conditions is preceded by obtaining information about the location as an official document in which the conditions for the construction of a certain facility are defined. This document defines urban parameters (percentage of construction, index of construction, and allowed number of stories of the future building…) as well as other parameters that are necessary for designers to adequately approach the development of the conceptual solution. A request for the issuance of location conditions must also include the conceptual solution of the future facility.

Some of the novelties introduced by the Decree relate, among other things, to the content and effect of location conditions, the procedure and manner of the issuing of location conditions, as well as determining the status of holders of public authorizations responsible for issuing conditions for design and connections of facilities.

One of the novelties refers to the information on whether, in connection with the construction of a facility or the execution of works in accordance with the location conditions, up until the submission of notification on commencement of works, it is necessary to obtain approval from the ministry competent for environmental affairs to an environmental impact assessment study, or whether it is not necessary to prepare that study or information on whether there is an obligation to carry out the environmental impact assessment procedure. Such relevant information is obtained by the competent authority through the unified procedure from the ministry responsible for environmental affairs.

Furthermore, regarding the effect of location conditions, the Decree stipulates that, at the request of one or more applicants, several different location conditions, i.e. conditions for connections and design of facilities, may be issued for one cadastral parcel, in accordance with the planning document.

Any entity who meets the conditions for the issuing of a construction permit, i.e. the decision referred to in Article 145 of the Law, may use the location conditions for that purpose.

The Decree also provides for the right to objection to location conditions.

The applicant may file an objection to the issued location conditions within three days from the day of delivery, through the first instance body to the competent municipal or city council, and if the location conditions were issued by the competent ministry or the competent authority of the autonomous province, the objection shall be filed to the Government or Provincial Government.

An objection to the location conditions may also be submitted by the competent urban inspector, in accordance with the Law.

An interesting novelty brought by the Decree is the determination of the status of the holder of public authorizations. Namely, the Decree stipulates that the status of the holder of public authorizations, responsible for issuing conditions for design and connection upon a specific request for issuing location conditions, is determined by the competent authority on the basis of:

1) the law entrusting the holder of public authorizations with that competence;

2) decisions of the local self-government unit, i.e. city or an autonomous province, entrusting that legal entity, body or organization with competencies in the field of issuing conditions for design and connection, parallel guiding and crossing for the purpose of issuing location conditions in the unified procedure.

In addition, the Decree stipulates that the competent ministries keep a list of bodies, organizations and legal entities to which the authority to issue conditions for design and connection is entrusted by the law under their jurisdiction.

Local self-government units, the city and the autonomous province keep a list of bodies to which they have entrusted the authority to issue conditions for design and connection within their competence.

For more information, contact us at selma.mujezinovic@ksel.rs