One of the most important legal institutions introduced under such Amendment is the urban planning register (the "Register"), which is intended to be a comprehensive database of planning and spatial development.
Pursuant to the Amendment, the Register is going to be maintained by the minister responsible for construction, planning, spatial development and housing in the form of a public and open ICT system (except for personal data). Moreover, the aforementioned minister will be responsible for determining: (i) the scope of information and data collected in the Register, (ii) the organisational and technical solutions of the Register, and (iii) the procedure for creating, updating and making available of all information and data collected within the Register.
The Register is to provide information and data from, inter alia:
- applications to prepare or amend the general plans or local spatial development plans and applications to adopt integrated investment plans;
- resolutions to proceed with the preparation of spatial planning acts;
- spatial planning acts together with its justification;
- applications for issuance zoning plans;
- decisions concerning zoning plans; and
- other activities concerning spatial planning listed in the Amendment.
Importantly, the Register will make available at the various stages of the process of their adoption, - draft spatial planning acts and municipal revitalization programs. No later than on the date of the announcement of the commencement of public consultations - draft of spatial planning acts submitted for arrangements and opinions, subjected to public consultations or presented to the municipal council or the regional parliament, together with a justification, report, and environmental impact forecast shall be made available in the Register (if their preparation is required).
Pursuant to the Amendment, sharing of data in the Register should take place immediately after the necessary documents have been drawn up.
According to the Ministry of Development and Technology, the establishment of the Register will contribute to increase the transparency of investment processes and will facilitate the collection of all of the most relevant data in one place.
Entry into force
The Amendment was signed by the President on 24 July 2023 and will become effective 30 days after the date of its promulgation, except for certain provisions.
For example, the obligations of local government authorities to make data related to local spatial planning activities available in the Register, introduced by the Amendment, shall be effective as of 1 January 2026. Thus, the Legislator wants to facilitate and spread out in time the adaptation of municipal procedures to the newly introduced obligations.
