Cadastre, another step for
Romania in the European Union                                                                      Bucharest,  August 9th, 2004

In Romania was created a unique system for real estate registration, by reorganizing the National Office of Cadastre, Geodesy and Cartography and by taking over the Land Registration activity (land book offices activity) from the Ministry of Justice.

A sole structure for the coordination of cadastre and land registration activity is thus created, through the National Agency of Cadastre and Land Registration, ensuring maximum de efficiency in property identification and registration, with minimum costs and effort for the citizen.

The new public institution, as unique authority in the field, is subordinated to the Ministry of Administration and Interior, and is represented in the territory by the Offices of Cadastre and Land Registration and by the National Centre of Geodesy, Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. These structures were created to function as modern, effective organisms, able to finance the activity from their own income. The employees will no longer have the statute of “civil servants”, but that of "contractual personnel".

The staff existing in the present structures will have the possibility to choose between the quality had before the reorganization and that of "contractual personnel", following to be employed within the National Agency after passing a professional testing. At the same time, the salary system will be structured on strict professional criteria, with the possibility of stimulating those proving efficiency and quality in fulfilling the attributions within the organization.

In the transition period, the mechanism of transferring the land book goods and archives from the law courts and to the Offices of Cadastre and Land Registration will take place without activity suspension so that the citizen would not be affected by the changes, and so that the process of property recording would not be disrupted.

In the new National Agency’s vision, there are foreseen measures to be enforced as soon as possible, meant to consolidate the population’s confidence in the system, to eliminate internal and external managing problems:
                    - standardization and improvement of processes of problem solving and approval granting;
                    - quality control for internal approval processes;
                    - requests solving, following their recording date;
                    - emergency fees introduction;
                    - creation of an interface citizen - system, by signing protocols between county offices of cadastre and land registration and notary offices, postal offices respectively, for the taking over and transfer of the request /documentation from client to local structures of the Agency and back. This procedure is meant to lead to reducing citizen’s interaction with cadastre and land registration offices by offering the possibility to save time, and to ensure a constant, efficient and measurable information flow;
                     - launching of communication campaigns at national level, to clarify all aspects as to the system functioning and to the advantages offered by the new type of property registration brought by the creation of the National Agency of Cadastre and Land Registration.

The advantages of this system will allow:
                    - reducing the state budget costs needed for the separate and parallel registrations;                                        
                    - ensuring an efficient immoveable registration, due to a unique decision body and to the standardization/ improvement of the processes;
                    - integration of information in a unique system which allows the fast and simultaneously update of cadastral data and of legal recordings as to land;
                    - reducing the working time;
                    - the unique system of cadastre and land registration will allow Romania, in case of European Union integration, to benefit from support programs for rural development and environment;
                    - transforming of the public service for cadastre and land registration into a modern, efficient structure, at citizen’s disposal, observing European quality standards in the field;
                    - giving dynamics to real estate market;
                    - speeding up the process of sustainable rural development;
                    - assuring an effective taxing basis.

Lynn Holstein, Project Leader, World Bank, in mission in Bucharest, as to the general cadastre in Romania has stated: “I’m happy that Romania has understood the importance of merging the cadastral system with the land book one under a unique management. This is an important step in the process of European Union adhesion and a major benefit for the population.”