Construction Of Large Structures in Serbia

Grand license – the first condition for the construction of capital facilities

Preparation of technical documentation and construction of capital facilities is strictly regulated by the Law on Planning and Construction (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 72/2009, 81/2009 – corrigendum, 64/2010 – decision US, 24/2011, 121/2012 , 42/2013 – decision US, 50/2013 – decision US, 98/2013 – decision US, 132/2014, 145/2014, 83/2018, 31/2019, 37/2019 – other law, 9/2020 and 52/2021, hereinafter: “Law“) as well as the Rulebook on the manner, procedure and content of data for determining the fulfillment of conditions for issuing a license for technical documentation and a license for construction of facilities for which a building permit is issued by the ministry or autonomous province, as well as conditions for revocation of these licenses (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 24/2015, hereinafter: “Rulebook“).

For the purposes of this text, facilities for which, pursuant to Article 133 of the Law, a construction permit is issued by the ministry in charge of construction, and which are listed in the Rulebook that for the preparation of technical documentation or construction of such facilities, a grand license is needed, are collectively called – capital facilities. List of these objects can be found at the end of our text.

The Law and the Rulebook stipulate that for capital facilities, the preparation of technical documentation and the construction itself, can be undertaken exclusively by business entities that have the so-called “Grand License” issued by the ministry in charge of construction.

How to obtain a license?

A grand license is therefore obtained for the preparation of technical documentation and the execution of works, either separately or jointly. For its acquisition, it is necessary to fulfill the conditions that are separately prescribed by the Rulebook for the preparation of technical documentation and for the execution of works.

In order to obtain the grand license, it is necessary for a business entity that applies for a grand license to have employed engineers with their personal engineering licenses, who are enrolled in the Chamber of Engineers. The grand license is obtained precisely on the basis of their personal licenses, references and references of the business entity, in the field for which they are applying. The exact number of necessarily employed engineers, precisely determined licenses, as well as references from a certain area are precisely prescribed by the Rulebook.

An additional condition prescribed by the Rulebook is that the engineer must be employed in a business entity with a full-time work agreement.

A grand license is issued for a period of two years, with the possibility to extend it an unlimited number of times, if the conditions are still met. In case of possible changes in the conditions on the basis of which a grand license was obtained, the business entity is obliged to immediately notify the ministry in charge of construction and within 30 days submit a request for a new decision and provide evidence of compliance with the conditions for registration.

Who makes the decision?

After the business entity fulfills all the conditions that are primarily prescribed by the Rulebook, but also by the Law, it is necessary to submit a request with attachments that prove the fulfillment of all the stated conditions.

The really competent body for making a decision on the submitted request for issuing a grand

license is the ministry in charge of construction, except in the case when the seat of the business entity – applicant is located on the territory of the autonomous province, in which case the provincial secretariat is in charge.

Pursuant to the Law and the Rulebook, an expert commission is formed to check the fulfillment of conditions for issuing a grand license, which issues an opinion on whether employees with appropriate licenses and have appropriate references of certain types and purposes. The decision on fulfilling the conditions is made by the competent minister, or the provincial secretary. The decision is final in the administrative procedure and the dissatisfied party can file a lawsuit against it in the Administrative Court.

What are the costs?

The costs that the applicant owes to the decision maker are:

• RSD 25,500.00 (aprox. EUR 210.00) in the name of the republic administrative fee on request for a grand license for the preparation of technical documentation;

• RSD 27,160.00 (aprox. EUR 230.00) in the name of the republic administrative fee on request for a grand license to perform works;

• RSD 30,000.00 (aprox. EUR 250.00) per required license code, for the costs of determining the fulfillment of conditions for issuing a license, and a maximum of RSD 250,000.00 (aprox. EUR 2120.00) if the number of required license codes would exceed the specified amount.

Legal certainty

The Ministry in charge of construction affairs keeps a register of all business entities that are holders of grand licenses. The register is especially important bearing in mind that the preparation of technical documentation and construction of capital facilities can be performed only by business entities that have the appropriate grand license, and potential investors can (and must!) without restriction, inspect the licenses of economic entities that will potentially prepare technical documentation or perform works on the capital facility.

What if a business entity operates without a grand license?

By preparing technical documentation or performing construction works on capital facilities, without an appropriate grand license, the elements of committing an economic offense referred to in Article 202a are met for the business entity who have coimmitted it. Penalty is prescribed in the range of RSD 1,500,000.00 to RSD 3,000,000.00 (aprox. EUR 12.000,00 to EUR 25.00,00).

In the same range, a fine is envisaged for business entities that do not notify the ministry in charge of construction in writing without delay of any change in the previously established conditions and do not submit proof of fulfillment of the conditions for entry in the appropriate register for technical preparation or construction works documentation for that type of capital facility.

For the responsible person in the business entity that works without a grand license or does not inform the competent ministry about the change of conditions, for the same economic offense, the penalty is prescribed in the range of RSD 100,000.00 to RSD 200.000,00 (aprox. EUR 850,00 to EUR 1.700,00)

Also, a fine in the range of RSD 1,500,000.00 to RSD 3,000,000.00 will be imposed on an investor for committing an economic offense by entrusting the preparation of technical documentation to a company or another legal entity that does not meet the prescribed conditions of a grand license.

List of facilities for which a grand license is required for the preparation of technical documentation, or construction works:

1) high dams and reservoirs filled with water, tailings or ash for which technical monitoring is prescribed;

2) nuclear facilities and other facilities used for the production of nuclear fuel, radioisotopes, irradiation, storage of radioactive raw materials and waste materials for scientific research purposes;

3) oil and gas processing facilities built outside the exploitation fields upon previously obtained consent of the ministry responsible for the exploitation of mineral raw materials, production of biofuels and bioliquids in plants with a capacity of over 100 tons per year, oil and product pipelines, gas pipelines of nominal working pressure over 16 bar stationary and floating station bunkers for supplying ships and technical vessels with liquid fuel with a capacity of over 500 m³, oil storage, liquefied petroleum gas and petroleum products with a capacity of over 500 t which are built outside the exploitation fields defined by the law governing mining and geological research and main heating pipelines ;

4) facilities of basic and processing chemical industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, facilities for leather and fur processing, facilities for rubber processing, facilities for pulp and paper production and facilities for processing of non-metallic mineral raw materials built outside exploitation fields defined by the law governing mining and geological research, except for facilities for primary processing of ornamental and other stone;

5) stadiums for 20,000 and more spectators, facilities of constructive span over 50 m, facilities over 50 m high, silos with a capacity over 20,000 m2, institutes for execution of criminal sanctions, facilities for official needs of diplomatic and consular missions of foreign countries, ie offices of international organization in the Republic of Serbia, if it is prescribed by a bilateral agreement, as well as housing complexes of multi-family housing when the investor is the Republic of Serbia;

6) thermal power plants with a capacity of 10 MW and more, thermal power plants with an electric capacity of 10 MW and more and other facilities for the production of electricity with a capacity of 10 MW and more, as well as power lines and transformer stations of voltage 110 and more kV;

7) interregional and regional water supply and sewerage facilities, drinking water treatment plants with a capacity of over 200 l / s and wastewater treatment plants with a capacity of over 200 l / s;

8) regulatory works for protection against large waters of urban areas and rural areas larger than 300 ha;

9) facilities within the boundaries of immovable cultural goods of exceptional importance and cultural assets inscribed in the List of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, facilities in the protected environment of cultural assets of exceptional importance with certain boundaries of cadastral parcels and facilities in the protected environment of cultural assets inscribed in the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. natural heritage, as well as facilities in protected areas in accordance with the act on protection of cultural goods (except for the conversion of common areas into an apartment or business premises in a protected environment of cultural goods of exceptional importance and cultural goods inscribed on the World Heritage List), in accordance with the relevant law;

10) plants for the treatment of non-hazardous waste, incineration or chemical processes, with a capacity of more than 70 tons per day;

11) facilities for the treatment of hazardous waste by incineration, thermal and / or physical, physico-chemical, chemical processes, as well as central warehouses and / or landfills for the disposal of hazardous waste;

12) airports for public air traffic;

13) passenger ports, harbors, piers and marinas;

14) state roads of the first and second order, road facilities and traffic connections to these roads and border crossings;

15) public railway infrastructure with connections and subways;

16) facilities of electronic communications or networks, systems or means that are of international and main importance and those that are being built on the territory of two or more local self-government units;

17) hydro-construction facilities on waterways;

18) navigable canals and ship locks that are not part of the hydropower system;

19) regional landfills, landfills for the disposal of non-hazardous waste for an area inhabited by over 200,000 inhabitants;

20) facilities for the production of energy from renewable energy sources with a capacity of 10 MW and more;