Quality and fundamental requirements of buildings

BOOK II - On Construction

PART I - Defining the Scope

Title I - Construction Fields (art. 366-374)

Chapter I - Construction Classifications (art. 366-370)

What it regulates. The definition of constructions and related installations, classification by duration of existence and type of use, standard durations, and most importantly, the new system of consequence classes (CC1-CC4), which replaces importance categories.

The Code applies to all constructions and related installations throughout their entire existence, regardless of ownership, purpose, class, or funding (art. 366 para. 3). Related installations include electrical, sanitary, thermal, fire detection and suppression, gas, ventilation, air conditioning, water and sewerage systems, but not technological equipment or furnishings (art. 366 para. 4). Temporary constructions have a limited duration set by authorization or notification agreement, which cannot exceed 5 years, and must be authorized or notified for each new placement cycle (art. 367 para. 2).

Standard duration of existence (art. 368 para. 3): 100 years for classified historical monuments; 50 years for other permanent constructions; 25 years for agricultural, industrial, and storage constructions; for temporary constructions, the one in the authorization, not exceeding 5 years. The designed duration, set by the designer with the beneficiary's agreement (art. 368 para. 5), cannot be less than the standard duration (art. 368 para. 7) and is mandatory (art. 368 para. 9). The actual duration runs from the reception of the work completion until demolition or until the reception of a major renovation (art. 368 para. 11).

By use, constructions are buildings (civil, industrial, agricultural, with special character), facilities, and engineering works (art. 369 para. 1-5).

Consequence Classes (art. 370). From the entry into force of the Code, importance categories are replaced by consequence classes, based on damage risks (art. 370 para. 1), evaluated after loss of life, economic, cultural, social, and environmental losses (art. 370 para. 3), the class being determined by the most severe consequence (art. 370 para. 6).

Determining the class is the designer's obligation; classification into a lower class than that indicated by the code is prohibited (art. 370 para. 14), both for new constructions and for interventions (art. 370 para. 15). Until the classification methodology is established, only annex no. 6 applies (art. 370 para. 16); constructions not found in the annex are assimilated to the closest class, and for changes of use, additional storeys or extensions the class may be changed with justification (art. 370 para. 17).

Chapter II - Classifications of construction works (art. 371-374)

Construction works are for the realization of new constructions (buildings and engineering works), for arrangements (civil arrangements, land improvements, temporary constructions, site organization, drilling and surveys, green spaces, public spaces) and for interventions on existing constructions (art. 371 para. 2-5). Interventions are classified (art. 372 para. 2) as: current maintenance and repairs (lit. a); major repairs (lit. b); emergency interventions on constructions at risk of loss of stability (lit. c); extension of footprint and volume (lit. d); additional storeys, with full preservation of the existing construction, otherwise assimilated to partial demolition and reconstruction (lit. e); refunctioning or change of use (lit. f); consolidation (lit. g); modernization and rehabilitation (lit. h); relocation (lit. i); reconstruction on the same site of a severely damaged construction, including restoration of constructions with historical value based on surveys and archives (lit. j); conservation and restoration (lit. k); exterior remodelling, including mansard conversion, defined as the transformation of the attic into a mansard by changing the roof shape (lit. l); interior remodelling (lit. m); partial or total demolition (lit. n); conservation upon work interruption (lit. o). For public roads, interventions are maintenance works (current and periodic) and repairs (current and major) (art. 373). For railway infrastructure: maintenance, repairs, renewal and major repairs, emergency interventions and modernization, the latter being able to modify the structure and route (art. 374).

PART II - Performance criteria for construction

Title I - Quality system in construction (art. 375-383)

What it regulates. Components of the quality system, technical regulations, product certification, approvals, specialist attestation and certification of construction companies. For investors, what matters is the prohibition of uncertified products, mandatory specialist attestation and, from 1 June 2027, mandatory constructor certification for public procurement.

The quality system applies to all constructions and related installations, including those not requiring authorization, regardless of ownership, use, consequence class or financing (art. 375 para. 4), differentiated by consequence classes (art. 375 para. 5); it does not apply to technological production equipment (art. 375 para. 6). The components (art. 376 para. 1) are 18: regulation, product certification, approval, metrology, design and project verification, execution verification and energy audit, quality management, laboratories, specialist attestation, certification of economic operators, continuous training, worker training, authorization and approval, monitoring of performance and post-use, state control, roles of stakeholders, liability and insurance, reception. All technical regulations of ministries are mandatorily transmitted for approval to the competent ministry (art. 376 para. 2); regulations are approved by Government decisions (art. 376 para. 3), and procedures by ministerial order (art. 376 para. 5). Technical regulations are approved by ministerial order and published in the Official Gazette (art. 377 para. 3).

The use of construction products without certification and declaration of performance or conformity is prohibited (art. 378 para. 3) and of products, procedures and equipment without technical approval (art. 379 para. 2), except for established techniques and materials for local identity or restoration of monuments, if provided for in the project and complying with fundamental requirements (art. 379 para. 3). Laboratories are authorized by I.S.C. (art. 381 para. 2). The Ministry attests project verifiers, technical experts and energy auditors (art. 382 para. 1); I.S.C. authorizes technical supervisors of execution and site managers (art. 382 para. 2); ANRE attests verifiers and experts in the gas sector (art. 382 para. 3); the Ministry of Culture attests specialists in historical monuments (art. 382 para. 5).

Certification of constructors (art. 383). Certification of the technical and professional qualification of economic operators executing works is carried out by the Romanian Association for Certification of Construction Operators, a private law legal entity of public interest (art. 383 para. 4), composed of representative employer organizations, professional associations and engineering or architecture universities (art. 383 para. 5), with a statute approved by the ministry (art. 383 para. 6). Certification criteria and procedures are approved by Government decision (art. 383 para. 10); the association maintains a public digital register of certified operators (art. 383 para. 12). Deadline: starting 1 June 2027, contracting authorities have the obligation to request the certificate as proof of technical and professional capacity in public procurement of works (art. 383 para. 13).

Title II - Fundamental requirements applicable to constructions (art. 384-407)

What it regulates. The eight fundamental requirements, detailed by chapters, plus resilience, risks, construction waste, green roofs and permeable parking. For investors, the most concrete obligations are those in art. 406, with deadlines from 1 January 2027.

Buildings shall be designed and constructed to resist natural and anthropogenic risks (art. 384 para. 1); technical regulations ensure the standard level of performance, minimum acceptable, determined by consequence classes (art. 384 para. 3-4). Fundamental requirements are minimum performance standards throughout the entire period of existence (art. 386 para. 1): mechanical resistance and stability; fire safety; hygiene, health and environment; safety and accessibility in use; protection against noise; energy economy and thermal insulation; sustainable use of resources; emissions to the external environment (art. 386 para. 3). Derogation from fundamental requirements through contracts between natural or legal persons is prohibited (art. 387 para. 2).

Resistance and stability art. 388. Requirements differ according to the type of building and consequence class and aim to prevent collapse, unacceptable deformations, limit damage to non-structural elements and prevent disproportionate progressive collapse (art. 388 para. 2).

Fire safety art. 389-391. Buildings must ensure stability of load-bearing elements for a standard period, limit fire and smoke propagation, limit spread to neighbouring properties, ensure evacuation of occupants and safety of emergency teams (art. 389 para. 1). Maintaining requirements throughout the period of existence is the obligation of the owner or administrator (art. 391 para. 2). In interventions, when certain provisions cannot be technically justified, designers shall establish alternative measures (art. 391 para. 3); for historical monuments, fire safety provisions are recommendatory (art. 391 para. 4).

Hygiene, health and environment art. 392-394. Buildings must not threaten the hygiene or health of occupants and neighbours through toxic emissions, releases, radiation, leakage into water or soil, defective wastewater discharge or moisture (art. 392 para. 1). Minimum regulations concern personal hygiene, water and air quality, ventilation, minimum surfaces and volumes, lighting, thermal comfort, moisture prevention, wastewater and waste (art. 392 para. 3). Deforestation shall be carried out exclusively on the basis of a dendrological study (art. 393 para. 3); removal of plantations affecting land stability is prohibited (art. 393 para. 4). Construction waste: producers who are legal persons shall classify and code waste (art. 394 para. 2 lit. a), separately collect at least paper, metal, plastic and glass (lit. b); the holder of the authorization or notification has the obligation of a waste prevention and management plan (lit. c); costs shall be borne by the waste producer (lit. g); responsibility lies with the developer, producer and contractor (art. 394 para. 3).

Safety and accessibility art. 395-399. Buildings must not present unacceptable risks of slipping, falling, burns, electrocution, explosions, theft and must be accessible to persons with disabilities (art. 395). Safety concerns pedestrian circulation, mechanized means, installations, maintenance and intrusions (art. 396). Public or private buildings and public spaces, urban and rural, must be accessible to all persons, regardless of the type of disability (art. 397 para. 2). Anti-terrorist safety is ensured through protective structural elements, redundancy and surveillance systems, depending on the risk level (art. 398). Civil protection shelters are provided for buildings designated by special law, exclusively on the basis of the civil protection opinion of the ISU (art. 399 para. 1-2).

Noise art. 400. Acoustic performance aims to protect against external and internal airborne noise, impact noise, installation noise, reverberated noise and to protect the environment from noise from the building (art. 400 para. 2).

Energy art. 401-402. Energy performance is determined according to the calculation methodology and is expressed by energy class, total specific primary energy consumption, CO2 emissions index and consumption from renewable sources (art. 401 para. 5). Total primary energy consumption must be less than or equal to the maximum level allowed by technical regulations (art. 402 para. 1), requirements being those from Law no. 372/2005 (art. 402 para. 2).

Sustainability art. 403-406. Carbon footprint from construction and operation and energy consumption must be nearly zero and covered from renewable sources (art. 403 para. 1). The sustainability strategy is mandatory to be developed by the designer at stage 0 of the project (art. 404 para. 1), on six elements: resources, pollution and carbon, healthy environment, community well-being, biodiversity, process management (art. 404 para. 2).

Calendar of obligations from art. 406:

Monitoring behaviour over time art. 407. The technical book of the building (art. 537) includes a section with the monitoring programme over time (art. 407 para. 1), carried out by technical experts, site managers, engineers, architects or surveyors (art. 407 para. 3).

Title III - Specific Requirements (art. 408-413)

Technical specifications are the basic document of work requirements (art. 408 para. 1), consisting of specific clauses of the execution contract (site organization, work safety, site handover, fire safety, subcontracting, key phases, roles, BIM protocols, warranties, acceptance) and work specifications (art. 408 para. 3-4). Each chapter has three parts: general provisions, description of execution and installation works, and material specifications (art. 409 para. 1). Products delivered to the site are accompanied by handling, acceptance, storage and installation instructions (art. 410 para. 2); building systems by complete technical instructions (art. 411 para. 2). Specifications for new technologies are decided by the designer (art. 412 para. 2).

Title IV - Updating Technical Regulations (art. 414)

Regulations are updated by the competent authorities whenever market evolution, technological development or identified malfunctions require it (art. 414 para. 2).

Title V - Leveraging Construction Experience (art. 415-418)

National Register of Buildingsart. 415). National IT system with a database of permanent buildings, public or private, existing and new, except special ones (art. 415 para. 1), managed by the ministry (art. 415 para. 3), with tiered access (art. 415 para. 5). The National Register of Buildings is the georeferenced component of the built heritage (art. 415 para. 7) and the basic register in the National Register of Registers (art. 415 para. 9). The Construction Performance Register records information on site managers, the general designer, the authorization holder, the beneficiary, expert summaries and I.S.C. findings (art. 416 para. 2). For buildings, the register shall include function, ownership, urban regime, functional and fiscal zoning, energy performance, seismic risk class, fire protection, accessibility and inclusion in renovation or consolidation programmes (art. 417 para. 5).

Reference Indicesart. 418). Determined by construction programmes, based on a database of similar works (art. 418 para. 1-2), through a ministry application that will automatically generate the estimated cost per investment or per sqm, used for budget estimation plus applicable margin (art. 418 para. 4). The application becomes operational from 1 September 2027, with access on a membership fee basis paid to the ministry (art. 418 para. 5).