Amendments to special law on EXPO presented – Built facilities still to be used without occupancy permit

The draft amendments to the EXPO Law were presented in Belgrade, and the public debate on the “Draft Amendments to the Law on Special Procedures for the Implementation of the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO BELGRADE 2027” will last until July 18. This “lex specialis” was adopted at the end of 2023, and at the beginning of this year there was a need to make these amendments, but it was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure twice.

State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Slavica Savicic presented these amendments and said that all facilities built for the needs of this specialized international exhibition would undergo a detailed technical inspection, but would be used without a permit and a special decision would be issued for use and occupancy. It is planned for a Commission for the Technical Inspection of Facilities to be formed for this purpose and for everything to be done in accordance with the Law on Planning and Construction, i.e. for no facility to be put into use without a technical inspection.

Savicic said that most of the facilities at the EXPO site would have two technical receptions: before and after the exhibition.

She said that the pavilions for the EXPO would be temporary and have a temporary permit, and that they would be removed after the exhibition was over. She stated that by-laws were envisaged that would define the technical inspection of those facilities, as well as the methodology for demolishing the pavilions. Savicic said that the Draft Amendments to the EXPO Law amended the definition of a “special purpose vehicle” to include a company established by the Republic of Serbia for the purpose of managing other facilities within the spatial plan.

– Definitions of the pavilion for participants as a temporary exhibition facility that is set up and removed in accordance with the provisions of this law for the purpose of participating in the EXPO, as well as the definition of the EXPO complex as a spatial-functional unit within the spatial plan, have also been added, in order to specify the area in which it can be managed by a special company or a special purpose vehicle – she said.

An article of the law has also been amended so that it stipulates that the investor may entrust the management of parts of the EXPO complex to a special business company or a special purpose vehicle on the basis of a contract that, among other things, regulates the management period.

She added that the Draft Law also regulated the conditions under which real estate given for management could be leased or used, as well as management fees and the procedure for returning real estate upon expiration of the management period.

– The management of the EXPO complex has also been defined so that it particularly includes defining and arranging commercial and non-commercial units and spaces, organizing the program, giving it to participants and third parties for use, renting it out to a non-special beneficiary below market value, engaging third parties for the purpose of maintenance or providing other services – said Savicic.

She also pointed out that the article of the law had been amended to stipulate that facilities within the spatial plan, as well as facilities not included in the spatial plan, and which were in the function of the implementation of the “EXPO Belgrade 2027” project, for which a building permit, temporary building permit, or a decision and approval for the execution of works has been issued, could be used, or put into operation, and connected to the utility and basic infrastructure after issuing a positive report by the Technical Inspection Commission. That report, she added, will have to contain a statement that the basic requirements for the facility prescribed by law have been met and that the facilities can be used for a maximum of 24 months.

– It is prescribed that the ministry responsible for planning and construction issues a temporary building permit for the installation and removal of pavilions for participants located inside the facilities, whereby the location conditions are not attached to the request for the issuance of a temporary building permit – said Savicic.

She said that the request for a temporary building permit could be submitted after obtaining a building permit for the facilities within which the pavilions for the participants were being erected, and the execution of works could begin after issuing a positive report from the Technical Inspection Commission on the use.

When it comes to criticisms of the amendments to this act, one of them is that it is not clearly explained why the amendments to that lex specialis are being made and that there is no international obligation for the law on the EXPO exhibition to be a lex specialis. as well as that these facilities are being built outside all rules and outside public procurement. It is also considered incomprehensible that, after the collapse of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad and the death of 16 people, as well as after the news about the necessary reconstruction of the railway station in Prokop, the state decided to include a provision in the law that allows the use of facilities within the EXPO exhibition without an occupancy permit.

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture Danijela Milovanovic Rodic criticized the fact that it was not specified what projects were in the function of the EXPO exhibition and therefore believes that the lex specialis should be changed in order to exclude from the law everything that is outside the scope of the spatial plan for the exhibition.

– We cannot have a lex specialis that indefinitely suspends and relaxes the laws of Serbia on an unlimited and undefined number of projects throughout the country – she emphasized.

She also requested clarification regarding the investment program “Leap into the Future - Serbia EXPO 2027”, which specified various infrastructure projects for EUR 17.8 billion, or whether the entire investment project was being implemented according to the provisions of the lex specialis, without occupation permits, without defined deadlines and solutions for complaints regarding public procurement.

– How is it possible to have a law for an unknown number of projects throughout the territory of Serbia? – she asked, seeking an explanation of the criteria on the basis of which it was determined what was in the function of the EXPO exhibition, how the control over the selection of projects in the function of that exhibition was carried out and whether there was a final list of those projects.

Dragomir Ristanovic, a representative of the non-governmental organization Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI), asked for an explanation of why the facilities for EXPO could only be used with a positive report from the Technical Inspection Commission, which was equivalent to an occupation permit.

– That would be identical to claiming that the technical control of the project for a construction permit is the same as a construction permit – he said and asked why, if the technical inspection was done in detail, an occupation permit was not issued, which according to the law only takes five days.

He said that he believed that in that way an essential component of planning and construction of facilities was lost, which was the institutional confirmation and verification that those facilities were safe, stable and suitable for use.

Expo 2027 doo Beograd

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Arhitektonski fakultet Beograd

RERI

EXPO 2027

Faculty of Architecture Belgrade

RERI

Dragomir Ristanović Danijela Milovanović Rodić

Slavica Savičić

amendments to special law on EXPO

canopy collapse at Novi Sad Rail Station

tragedy at Novi Sad Rail Station

Novi Sad Rail Station

Prokop