How is the Urban Code organized

Note on article references

Each reference to an article in this summary (for example "art. 301 para. 7") is a link to that article in the full text of the law published on this site: Book I, art. 1-365 and Book II, art. 366-584. When clicked, the page opens and scrolls directly to the targeted article, highlighted with a colored band on the left margin. The full text comprises 584 articles and 8 annexes, with a table of contents at the beginning and an anchor for each article.

The source of the text is the official edition: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 661 of 10 August 2026, in PDF format, accessed through the e-Monitor service (monitoruloficial.ro). The text published on the site was compared article by article with this edition on 2 September 2026. For the text of Law 169/2026 and the PDF with the full text, use the dedicated page.

All figures, deadlines, percentages and amounts in the summary are taken from the text of the law, with indication of the article and paragraph. The summary does not replace the text of the law: for any decision with legal effects, consult the cited article in the form in force on the date of consultation. Deadlines expressed in days are, unless otherwise specified, calendar days; where the law provides for working days, the summary mentions it expressly.

Reading guide

How the Code is organized. Law no. 169/2026 (Code on Territorial Planning, Urbanism and Construction) has 584 articles and 8 annexes, grouped into two books. Book I (art. 1-365) concerns territorial planning, urbanism and building authorization; Book II (art. 366-584) concerns construction itself: quality, roles, project lifecycle, insurance, products, sanctions and transitional provisions. Article numbering is continuous, so an article is identified without specifying the book. Each book is divided into parts, parts into titles, titles into chapters and, sometimes, into sections. This summary follows exactly this order and preserves the original numbering.

The eight parts of Book II and the six parts of Book I. The structure is shown below, with the article range of each part, to quickly locate a subject.

Where to find the most frequently used provisions. For a real estate investor or analyst, the most commonly consulted articles are:

• urban planning certificate and building permit for buildings: art. 253-273 (types of certificate, content, issuance deadlines, neighbour consent, approvals, single agreement, issuance within 30 days or on an emergency basis within 7 working days);
• notification, works without formality and regularization permit: art. 294-301 (what can be done by notification, what can be done without any formality, how to regularize constructions executed without a permit);
• single agreement commission, fees and validity of documents: art. 305-311;
• sanctions for the authorization regime: art. 356 (offences) and art. 357 (contraventions), plus measures on illegal constructions from art. 358-359;
• sale of future dwellings by developers: art. 422 (reservation, capped advances, project account, information, sanctions);
• performance guarantees and liability for defects: art. 531 (minimum durations by consequence classes), art. 424, 446 and 451 (liability of designers, inspectors and contractors);
• mandatory insurance: art. 556;
• transitional provisions and implementation deadlines: art. 573-584 (what happens to pending applications and permits, when various new instruments become mandatory).

How to read a chapter from this summary. The most important titles and chapters begin with a "What it regulates" paragraph, which sets out the subject matter and who the rules apply to. This is followed by concrete rules (deadlines, thresholds, percentages, amounts, obligations, sanctions, exceptions), each with a reference to the article and paragraph, grouped in short paragraphs with bold headings, and, where appropriate, tables for comparable matters (deadlines, fines, thresholds, validity periods, competences). The practical glossary at the end (Annex no. 1) explains the terms used throughout the document.

Implementation calendar. The Code was published in the Official Gazette no. 661 of 10 August 2026 and entered into force 15 days after publication, i.e. on 25 August 2026 (art. 575 para. 1). Some of the instruments have later implementation deadlines, shown in the figure below and, with references to articles, in the chronological table in Part VIII of Book II.

What was repealed

By art. 576 para. 3, the following are repealed: Law no. 350/2001 on territorial planning and urbanism; Law no. 50/1991 on authorization of construction works; art. 1-9, 11-40 and 42-44 of Law no. 10/1995 on construction quality; Order no. 233/2016 (regulations of Law no. 350/2001), except for Annexes 4, 5 and 6; Order no. 839/2009 (regulations of Law no. 50/1991).

Government decisions adopted under the repealed laws remain applicable until replaced, insofar as they do not contradict the Code, and references in other laws to the repealed provisions are deemed to be made to the Code (art. 583 para. 1-3). Details, together with the regime for pending procedures, are in the chapter Transitional provisions, annexes, glossary and index.