The new construction act simplifies the process of construction permits

The new regulation is designed to simplify and speed up construction processes, reduce the administrative complexity of permitting procedures and increase transparency in the construction industry, and strengthen the rights and position of land and building owners, and change the position of individual participants in the construction process.

The main stages of the process of permitting construction work include:

The process of discussing the construction plan

The process of permitting construction works will be preceded by a separate procedure for discussing the construction plan. The subject of this procedure is to obtain binding opinions from the spatial planning authority, the authorities concerned, legal entities. The procedure is initiated at the request of the builder or a designer commissioned by him.

New statutory deadlines for issuing binding opinions: The new legislation introduces statutory deadlines for issuing binding opinions, namely a general statutory deadline of 30 days from receipt of the request, or 60 days in the case of complex cases. In the event that the competent authority fails to issue a binding opinion within the set statutory deadline, it is assumed that the competent authority does not have comments or requirements for the content of the construction plan.

A similar process is applied to obtain binding opinions on the construction project.

Procedure on the construction plan

The current zoning and construction procedure is replaced by a construction plan procedure consisting of two stages, namely the construction plan procedure and the construction project verification process. The new legislation also allows for the merging of these two proceedings into one procedure on the construction plan, within which the construction project will be verified at the same time.

The aim is to simplify and speed up the approval process, which should reduce the administrative burden for builders and investors.

Statutory deadlines for issuing a decision on a construction plan: The decision on the construction plan i itself must be issued within

• 30 days (in cases where a decision can be made without an oral hearing or on-site inspection),
• 60 days in other cases, or
• 90 days in the case of reserved constructions, linear constructions, constructions with a large number of parties to the proceedings, or if it is necessary to obtain an expert opinion.

In addition to introducing statutory deadlines for issuing the decision on the construction project itself, the law also introduces statutory deadlines for individual procedural acts (e.g. 15-day statutory deadline for reviewing the complexity of the submission, 7-day statutory deadline for initiating proceedings, etc.).

Verification of the construction project

Construction work can only be carried out on the basis of a verified construction project. The basis for its verification is the construction design and the compliance clause issued by the relevant authorities, which reserved the assessment of the construction project in a binding opinion on the construction plan and applied the requirements for the completion of the construction project.

Statutory deadline for verification of the construction project: The period for verification of the construction project is 30 days. If the subject of the construction plan proceedings was also a construction project, the building authority will verify the construction project together with the issuance of a decision on the construction plan. This procedure can only be applied if there is no requirement to complete the construction project within the construction plan procedure.

New construction legislation in practice

The new construction reform aims to simplify and shorten the process of approving construction works without requiring significant changes to the existing infrastructure. These measures are expected to contribute to the development of the construction sector in Slovakia.