At the end of September 2023, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Public Administration prepared the draft emergency ordinance (the “Draft Ordinance”) approving the Maritime Planning Plan (“MPP”).

It should be mentioned that the drafting of the MPP started with the adoption of Ordinance 18/2016 on marine spatial planning.

The MPP is a guiding strategic and regulatory planning document identifying the spatial and temporal distribution of current and future activities and uses within the Romanian marine waters. It is meant to establish the general framework for the sustainable and integrated development of different economic sectors.

As such, the MPP is a strategic planning document, among others, for the following sectors:

• installations and infrastructures for exploration of oil, gas and other mineral resources as well as for energy production from renewable sources;
• areas of extraction of raw materials;
• routes of submarine cables and pipelines (i.e., relevant also for their protection areas);
• contingency plans for accidental pollution or marine natural hazard;

Several public authorities are directly involved in the process of developing, implementing, and monitoring the MPP. The coordinating role belongs to the Maritime Planning Committee (“MPC”).

The MPP will be implemented based on a permanent monitoring mechanism, the designated public authorities having the obligation to prepare monitoring reports every 3 years.  MPC will establish to what extent is necessary to update the MPP. According to the Draft Ordinance, but also to the general legislative framework of Ordinance 18/2016, the MPP is updated periodically, but no later than once every 10 years.

Economic operators proposing new projects must notify the MPC prior to carrying out the authorization / licensing procedures for their projects. Based on such notice, the MPC will analyze (and issue a position) if there are any conflicts or synergies of the proposed uses / perimeters with other objectives, as per the MPP.

An important aspect mentioned by the Draft Ordinance is that identifying the project on the MPP is not an obstacle for obtaining the authorization / licensing procedure for the project. However, after obtaining the authorization / licensing, the central public authority in charge of the domain related to the new project will notify it to the MPC to update the database.

Following the entry into force of the MPP, the map reflecting the uses and perimeters (and its subsequent updates), will be publicly available on the Ministry of Development’s website.