The modernisation of the Romanian Cadastral System and Land Registration

Romania has a total area of 23,839,071 sq kms, and a population of 22,545,925 people, of which 55% is urban and 45% is rural. Offering a diversity of landscape, Romania’s relief is very balanced: 31% of the country’s surface is covered by forests, 36% comprises mountains, hills and tablelands, while 33% is made up of plains and meadows.

As most European countries, Romania has a great interest in cadastre and land registration. In the past, these activities were under the authority of two institutions: the National Office for Cadastre,Geodesyand Carthography and the Ministry of Justice. As part of the reorganisation plan of the cadastre and land registration system two organisations, the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (NACLR) have merged.

It is a public institution with legal competence and the only authority in this field, which has taken over the activity of land registration from the Ministry of Justice. The NACLR functions as a self - financing institution.

The reform of the land registration system aims to facilitate the interested citizens’ immediate access to any information related to cadastre and land registration and to provide services and information based on a fee. The tariffs are published and settled by the Official Gazette. The new system will assure the effectiveness and security of the transmission of the solicited documents with a minimal expense and effort from the citizens. Parallel recording in the cadastre and in the land book will be eliminated.

The general manager of NACLR is the chairman of the administrative board, which runs the agency. This structure subordinates 42 Cadastre and Land Registration Offices(CLRO), which have branches all over the country, a research institute – the National Center for Geodesy, Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and a World Bank Project Implementation Unit. The agency employs 3000 people.

The Cadastre and Land Registration Office will soon have a new building in Bucharest, which will provide high quality services for its customers. The main objective of NACLR is to develop an integrated cadastre and land registration system by 2009.