On 4 May 2023, the Government of Serbia adopted a new draft law on amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction (hereinafter: “Draft Law“).
Although the Draft Law has several goals, its main goal is to improve and speed up the process of issuing construction permits and other acts related to construction, as well as harmonizing regulations from the field of planning and construction with regulations from the field of the environment, in order to achieve a better energy efficiency of buildings and better preservation of the environment.
Key Novelties
The most significant novelties are related to the improvement of the electronic system for issuing construction permits (CEOP) by introducing new functionalities and improving the existing ones, especially by introducing the new E-space system, which will enable public authorities to exchange data electronically, which will greatly contribute to the acceleration of the procedure for drafting and modification of planning documentation.
Among the more significant novelties is the incorporation of new elements of the “green agenda” in the field of planning and construction, by introducing new concept such as “green construction”, which entails planning, designing, carrying out works, using and maintaining the building, which reduce the emission of gases with the greenhouse effect, use certified construction materials and equipment, efficiently use all resources, reduce production and increase the use of construction and demolition waste according to the circularity model, use renewable energy sources, which leads to an improvement in the quality of life of users, environmental protection and improves sustainability.
The Draft Law creates a premise for the establishment of a new Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism, which will be responsible for the performance of planning, coordination and monitoring of the preparation of planning documents (hereinafter: the “Agency“). The Agency will be responsible for issuing a new green building certificate (hereinafter: the “Certificate“), which verifies that the building has met the set criteria and serves to assess the quality and degree of fulfilment of the green building criteria.
