The Decree-Law no. 10/2024 of 8 January was published, reforming and simplifying licensing procedures regarding planning, zoning and industry.

With the aim of removing unnecessary or redundant acts and procedures in urban planning and zoning, simplifying business activities, and continuing to create the conditions for more affordable housing, this decree-law approved (i) measures applicable to the entire Public Administration and all procedures related to the exercise of the administrative function; ii) simplification measures in urbanism; and iii) simplification measures for spatial planning.

Main Changes:

There are many modifications and they cover several statutes, focusing on the Legal Regime for Urbanisation and Building (Decree-Law no. 555/99, of 16 December / "RJUE"). From the many changes, we highlight the following:

(i) A reduction in the number of situations in which it a license is necessary, with an increase in the number of situations that are now subject to prior notification, or exempt from prior control;

(ii) Elimination of the use permit, which is replaced by the mere submission of documents in the case of works subject to prior control;

(iii) It is no longer possible to choose the licensing procedure when prior communication procedure is legally admissible for such situation;

(iv) A tacit approval system for licenses is approved;

(v) Title for license, prior communication or authorisation permit is eliminated and replaced by a receipt for payment of the fees due;

(vi) The counting of procedural deadlines is simplified;

(vii) The validity period of favourable prior information is extended from one to two years;

(viii) The possibility of requesting additional supporting documents to those legally provided is prohibited;

(ix) An Electronic Platform for Planning Procedures is planned at national level, which will enable, inter alia, submitting online requests, verifying the status of processes and deadlines, receiving notifications, homogenizing procedures and documents required by municipalities;

(x) Simplification of the process of reclassifying rustic land as urban land,

for industrial, storage or logistics purposes, or for affordable housing;

(xi) Elimination of the obligation to present the use authorisation and the

housing technical file when transferring urban buildings;

(xii) Mandatory submission of architectural projects in Building Information

Modelling (BIM) methodology.

Decree-Law no. 10/2024 modifies the following legislation, among others:

• RJUE;

• General Regulation for Urban Buildings (Decree-Law no. 38382/51, of

7 August, “RGEU”);

• Accessibility building regime (Decree-Law no. 163/2006, of 8 August);

• Legal framework for urban rehabilitation (Decree-Law no. 307/2009,

of 23 October);

• Procedure for classifying real estate of cultural interest (Decree-Law

no. 309/2009, of 23 October);

• Legal regime of municipalities (Law no. 75/2013, of 12 September);

• Civil Code;

• Law on the general basis of public policy on soil, planning and zoning

(Law no. 31/2014, of 30 May);

• Legal regime for territorial management instruments (Decree-Law no.

80/2015, of 14 May).

Entry into force:

Most of the legal provisions of DL 10/2024 come into force on 4 March 2024,

with some exceptions.

Therefore, the following entry into force dates will still have to be considered:

➢ 1 January 2024

− Changes affecting:

− Exemptions from prior control of urban planning operations

− Exemption from police monitoring of urbanization operations;

− Clarification / limitation of the powers to supervise urban

planning operations;

− New exceptions to the DGCP's mandatory prior opinion

regime;

− Changes to the use of autonomous fractions subject to the

horizontal property regime of buildings;

− Elimination of the obligation to present the use authorisation and the

technical housing file when transferring ownership of urban buildings;

➢ 8 April 2024

− Making urban planning regulations available in the Diário da

República, systematically and by municipality;

➢ 6 January 2025

− Obligation to request and issue opinions through the Electronic

System for Issuing Opinions;

➢ 5 January 2026

− The legal regime applicable to the Electronic Platform for Urbanistic

Procedures (“PEPU”);

➢ 1 January 2030

− Obligation to present the architectural project in accordance with the

BIM methodology.

The changes introduced by this decree-law apply to procedures initiated before its entry into force and which are pending, with the exception of the formation of tacit approval in urban planning procedures.