Permitting of any projects is a long-standing problem in the Slovak Republic. It seemed that this problem would largely be solved by the new construction legislation that was approved in 2022 and was supposed to enter into force fully on April 1, 2024.
However, Act No. 201/2022 on Construction will never enter into force, as it was abolished by a completely new Construction Act approved by the Slovak Parliament on February 2, 2025, which is to enter into force on April 1, 2025. Along with the new Construction Act, changes to many other laws related to building permits have also been approved (e.g., regulations on mining, municipal establishment, agricultural land, Slovak land fund, architects, etc.).
The main changes in the new law are summarized below:
It includes a simplification of the process of construction preparation by abandoning the current two-stage decision-making and introducing only one procedure – the construction plan procedure – by which the building authority expresses its consent to the proposed construction activity.
It introduces the obligation for the builder or project engineer to discuss the construction plan with the municipality, the authorities concerned, and the parties to the proceedings in the preparatory phase before the proceedings are initiated at the building authority. With the new act, construction permitting regimes are determined according to the complexity of the permitting, and the scope of the permitting processes is adjusted accordingly. At the same time, the scope of constructions for which notification is sufficient, or those that do not need to be assessed by the building authority, is expanded. The act leaves the building authority’s agenda to the municipality, whereby municipalities can establish building districts similar to the current joint municipal authorities. At the same time, it tightens up the training requirements of staff working in construction offices. The act introduces an additional procedure for unauthorized constructions built before this Construction Act comes into force, with such constructions either to be retrospectively authorized or removed within a certain period of time. Lastly, the act maintains decision-making in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process as a separate process.
As already mentioned, the new construction legislation does not integrate the EIA process into the construction permitting process. However, for many infrastructure projects, an EIA is necessary and very important in terms of time and funds. Therefore, an amendment to the EIA Act, effective from January 1, 2025, streamlines the process.
The screening procedure is exempted from the scope of the Administrative Procedure Code, which in particular limits public access to this procedure. The procedure will not result in a decision but only in a binding opinion (different remedies regime). The EIA procedure will start with the information on the proposed activity, which has a simpler structure and limited content and is the basis for the competent authority to determine the scope of the assessment. A new overall time limit for the procedure is introduced, instead of partial deadlines for individual steps. In practice, undelivered opinions and opinions after the deadline have prolonged proceedings. The amendment introduces the notion that if a written opinion is not delivered, it is deemed to be in agreement. Opinions received after the deadline are not taken into account or may not be taken into account (depending on the particular stage of the procedure). These are opinions of the individual authorities concerned, municipalities, and the public.
As the problems with protracted proceedings also affect state and strategic investments, the Act on Extraordinary Measures for Strategic Investments and for the Construction of the Trans-European Transport Network was adopted in 2024. Its aim is to improve the conditions for the preparation, implementation, and completion of investment projects identified by the government as strategic and in the public interest.
Strategic investments are projects in the fields of transport, economy, health, energy, defense, and security. The law introduces three main measures for strategic investments: (1) providing property rights for land and buildings necessary for the construction of strategic projects, (2) speeding up permitting processes for strategic projects, and (3) facilitating public procurement related to strategic projects.
The Government of the Slovak Republic, by resolution, decides on the designation of a submitted investment project as a strategic investment. Such investments include the construction of roads, railways, and inland waterways, with many strategic investments already having been approved (e.g., the R4 Lipniky-Kapusany expressway).
By Annamaria Tothova, Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
This article was originally published in Issue 12.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.
