Do the recently enacted amendments to the Land Law and related methodological norms limit the deployment of res projects to 50 hectares?

Tatiana Fiodorov
Tatiana Fiodorov

The policy of promoting renewable energy is being stepped up considering the decarbonisation target and the constant desire of the European Union for energy independence for obvious political reasons. In consideration of fostering the deployment of renewable energy projects, such as wind, solar and storage capacities (collectively referred to as “RES Projects”) the Romanian authorities recently approved a new series of amendments to the applicable law in the field.

As permitting in case of RES Projects deployments represents a complex process mainly considering the need to secure not only the proper location, but also the grid connection, legal amendments have targeted both the Regulation for the connection of the users to the public interest grid (the “Connection Regulation”)[1], as well as the Land Law No. 18/1991 (the “Land Law”)[2] and the procedure for the permanent or temporary removal from the agricultural use of land plots located in the extra muros (in Romanian: extravilan) area, approved by means of Order No. 83/2018 (the “Order No. 83/2018”)[3].

Starting with the entrance into force of the new provisions the following rules are applicable:

a) the grid connection request does not have to be based on the zonal urban plan (the “PUZ”) or detailed urban plan (the “PUD”), if such has been requested by the urban planning certificate;

b) the development of RES Projects on the extra muros agricultural land plots[4] up to 50 hectares having IIIrd-Vth soil quality is now allowed in the extra muros.

Mention should be made that until the date of entry into force of amendments mentioned above, the applicable law provided for a general rule, according to which the construction works could have been performed solely on lands having the use category “construction yards” (in Romanian: curți construcții) and, subject to certain exceptions, only on the lands located intra muros (in Romanian: intravilan).

Regrettably those exceptions did not include RES Projects and, considering the absolutely reasonable fact that large areas of land suitable for RES Projects were most easily identified in the extra muros, rather than intra muros, investors had to prepare a PUZ for including the selected area within the intra muros area of the municipality, city, commune irrespective of the surface envisages for the project. Moreover, the Connection Regulations provided for the PUZ or PUD to be submitted when requesting the grid connection permit. Thus, the permitting procedure represented a lengthy and costly process even if it was not known at the time those costs were incurred whether the project was feasible or not.

In our opinion, further to the recently enacted legal amendments it derives that the RES Projects can be divided into two types:

a) RES Projects of up to 50 ha to be developed on the extra muros agricultural land plots[5] having IIIrd to Vth soil quality (“Type A Projects”);

b) RES Projects of up to 50 ha (if the soil quality is Ist-IInd) and above 50 ha (irrespective of the soil quality), lands which are initially located in the extra muros area (“Type B Projects”)

Now, in the context of the recently enacted amendments to the Land Law there’s a rumour in the market that the Ministry of Agriculture is no longer issuing the endorsement concerning Type B Projects. Indeed, the last enactments target only the Type A Projects. However, we should not encourage the interpretation that granting the possibility to develop Type A Projects triggers the impossibility to further deployment of Type B Projects.

The main reason for this is that at the present applicable law allows both types of RES Projects deployment, as follows:

a) the deployment of Type A Projects is subject to (i) the approval for removal from the agricultural use, which shall be performed in accordance with the provisions of the Order No. 83/2018, and (ii) the building permit,

b) the Type B Projects deployment is still allowed mainly considering the provisions of the Article 471 of the Law No. 350/2001 regarding the urbanism and the territorial planning[6], based on (i) the PUZ, and (ii) the endorsement on soil quality issued by Ministry of Agriculture based on the Procedure for issuing the necessary permits for the introduction of agricultural lands into the intra muros area, approved based on the Order No. 1056/2018[7]. Following the PUZ approval, in accordance with the provisions of the Article 23(3) of the Law No. 50/1991 regarding the authorization of construction works[8], the arable use category shall be changed via the issuance of the building permit itself.

In both the Type A Projects and Type B Projects the Ministry of Agriculture is involved by means of providing its endorsement thereon. Moreover, in both cases the conversion fee is to be paid by the investor. However, the nuance is given by the fact that the procedure for its issuance is governed by distinct legal provisions and while in the case of Type A Projects the endorsement of the Ministry of Agriculture is conditioned by the limitation of the project to a maximum area and soil category, in the case of Type B Projects at least the law does not provide any limitation of area or category of use.

Perhaps the stakeholders involved should be provided with a legal assessment before making unreasonable interpretations based solely on the hype of the new amendments?


[1] Published in the Official Gazette No. 517a of 19 August 2013, as subsequently amended;
[2] The Land Law has been amended by means of Law No. 254/2022 amending and supplementing the Land Law and other normative acts and Law No. 262/2022 amending and supplementing Law No. 18/1991 on the Land Law and supplementing Law No. 50/1991 on authorising the execution of construction works;
[3] The Order No. 83/2018 has been amended by means of Order No. 299/2022, published in the Official Gazette, Part I, No. 980 of 10 October 2022 and entered into force on 10 October 2022;
[4] By means of agricultural land plots, the Law No. 254/2022 envisages the following (i) arable lands, (ii) pastures and permanent grasslands, (iii) vineyards and orchards and (iv) land plots with land improvement infrastructure;
[5] By means of agricultural land plots, Land Law envisages the following (i) arable lands, (ii) pastures and permanent grasslands, (iii) vineyards and orchards and (iv) land plots with land improvement infrastructure;
[6] Published in the Official Gazette No. 373 of 10 July 2001, as subsequently amended;
[7] Published in the Official Gazette No. 445 of 29 May 2018;
[8] Pepublished in the Official Gazette No. 933 of 13 October 2004, as subsequently amended;


Tatiana Fiodorov, Managing Partner Fiodorov & Partners