Berechet Rusu Hirit has successfully represented photovoltaic project developer and operator NextE in overturning a 2022 document issued jointly by Romania's notary public union and national cadaster agency that limited the development of renewable energy projects on collectively held land in rural areas.
According to the firm, back in May 2022, Romania's National Notary Public Union and its National Agency for Cadaster and Land Registration had jointly issued a recommendation for their respective professionals to refuse official recognition for any contract granting usage of forestry, grazing, or grassland held collectively by rural landowners' associations towards the development of renewable energy installations, on the grounds that such contracts would be null and void.
NextE challenged that recommendation and, in a court decision that became final at the end of 2023, Bucharest's First District Court refuted the issued interpretation as illegal and economically unhealthy. The court also ordered the authentication of the specific land usage contract in question, transferring usage rights from the owners's association to NextE.
"I appreciated, in the decision issued by the First District Court, the special emphasis placed on the absurd consequence of the interpretation given in the minutes of the two authorities, which created a more drastic, more limiting legal regime for the collectively owned lands than in the case of public property," Berechet Rusu Hirit Partner Valentin Hirit commented.
The Berechet Rusu Hirit team was led by Hirit and Partner Madalina Berechet.