PUG, PUZ and PUD: what they are and when you need them

PUG, the general urban plan

It covers the entire territory of the administrative-territorial unit. The regulations in the PUG become mandatory norms for issuing urbanism certificates and building permits across the whole territory of the locality.

• It is approved by local council decision, with an absolute majority, based on the integrated aviz issued by the approval commissions at national and local level.
• Local councillors cannot introduce amendments to the technical content of the documentation: written and drawn sections, databases.
• The implementation rate is reviewed 5 years after approval, presented to the local council and published on the town hall's website.

Important for owners: local authorities must update, within 3 years of 25 August 2026, general urban plans older than 7 years. Until then, PUGs currently in force keep their validity automatically, without any extension paperwork.

PUZ, the zonal urban plan

It regulates a zone within the locality, characterised by high complexity or pronounced urban dynamics.

It is prepared in three situations: to detail the regulations in complex zones where the PUG did not set authorisation conditions; to carry out urban planning operations; or to modify approved regulations: this last option only in thoroughly substantiated situations and after obtaining the initiation aviz.

If the initiative belongs to an individual or a legal person, the procedure has the following steps:

• You file an initiation request accompanied by a feasibility study, prepared by a specialist with signing rights in urbanism.
• The town hall reviews the documentation in the technical territorial planning commission within at most 30 days of filing.
• The initiation aviz is issued within at most 30 calendar days of the request: or at most 15 days after the commission review.
• You prepare the background studies and the PUZ itself, complying with the conditions from the initiation aviz.
• The PUZ is reviewed by the local integrated approval commission. The chief architect's technical aviz is issued within at most 15 working days of filing the complete documentation.
• The documentation is placed on the local council's agenda within at most 45 calendar days of obtaining the chief architect's aviz.
• The PUZ is approved by local council decision, with an absolute majority.

Through a PUZ, POT and CUT can be modified by an increase of at most 20% over the initial value, once only. In protected zones, the limit is at most 10%, provided the character of the zone is not changed.

Validity: the PUZ remains applicable until it is modified or replaced by documentation of equal or higher rank, if the approval decision does not set an express term. The expiry of the term does not affect investments for which the authorisation procedure has already started.

PUD, the detail urban project

A note on the name: in the Codul urbanismului, PUD stands for a "detail urban project", not a "detail urban plan".

The PUD details the provisions set through the PUG or PUZ for one or more plots. It is prepared as a specialist study within the building-permit authorisation procedure, but its approval comes before the permit: under art. 257 para. (10), the urbanism certificate can only be used for its stated purpose after the PUZ or PUD is approved, and it stays valid for a further 12 months after that approval.

The PUD can modify regulations approved through higher-ranking documentation, exclusively regarding:

• The siting of buildings relative to the street alignment and the plot boundaries.
• Increasing POT and/or CUT by at most 20% over the maximum permitted parameters, once only, for covering visible party walls, aligning with existing cornices, creating accents on corner plots, or conforming to technical requirements.
• Increasing the maximum height or the height regime, in the same situations.
• Changing the building layout (detached, semi-detached or terraced), except in protected zones.
• A single subdivision, into at most 12 lots for individual homes, provided the resulting plots have access to an existing or regulated road.

The situations in which a PUD can be initiated are set out limitatively: plots with irregular geometry, plots that do not meet the minimum building-fitness conditions (with deviations under 10%), covering party walls, aligning with cornices, extending public buildings to conform to technical standards, and others.

PUD procedure:

• It is prepared in at least two preliminary versions, studying alternative siting solutions.
• The versions are reviewed in the technical territorial planning commission, which establishes the optimal solution.
• The final form is prepared and reviewed by the Single Approval Commission (Comisia de acord unic) and by the chief architect's technical aviz, deadline: at most 15 days from filing the complete documentation.
• It is approved by a decision of the mayor, within at most 15 calendar days of the chief architect's aviz being issued.
• Once approved, the documentation for the building permit can be prepared.

The approved PUD becomes an integral part of the PUG or PUZ and remains valid until new documentation is approved.