LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Evaldas Klimas and Mantas Lideika, WALLESS
larger buildings have to be selected through a design contest. The design documentation of a project is reviewed by municipalities and other competent institutions, depending on the type of the build - ing and its location (Department of Cultural Her - itage, National Public Health Centre, Directorate of a certain protected area, etc). The method of construction and related solu - tions provided in the design are reviewed by the municipalities. Usually, municipalities rely on the mandatory expertise embodied in the design, which has to be carried out by the builder when evaluating the more technical matters of the construction, such as solutions of chosen struc - tures and chosen construction methods. The construction process is supervised by the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate under the Ministry of Environment, which may also check the design documentation upon the reasoned claim. 4.3 Regulatory Authorities The main regulations on development are indi - cated in laws, which are approved by the Par - liament. By-laws regulating the development and designated use of individual parcels of real estate are adopted by the Ministry of Environ - ment and the Ministry of Agriculture. Municipal - ities and the National Land Service under the Ministry of Environment are the main bodies that make decisions on the division of parcels and the indication of designated purposes under the zoning documentation. If the development is planned in certain protect - ed areas (eg, cultural heritage areas), specific regulations adopted by the Ministry of Culture and other directorates are applicable.
The Law on Spatial Planning, the Law on Land, the Law on Construction, the Law on Architec - ture and various construction regulations mainly apply during the development. 4.4 Obtaining Entitlements to Develop a New Project Projects on a larger scale should go through the environmental impact assessment procedure. Any third party has the opportunity to express its opinion during the procedures of publishing the environmental impact assessment and to affect the planned development by attracting the attention of public authorities to a possible infringement of the law. Even if the environmental impact assessment procedure is not applicable, any third party has the right to participate and express its objection to a certain development in the pre-design stage during a pre-design public hearing. A public hearing is mandatory for the prepared design proposals on any planned development that is bigger than 300 square metres. During the public hearing, any third party can suggest its solutions to the project, which can be accepted or rejected by the designer. If any such propos - als are rejected, the chief architect of the munici - pality may confirm the pre-design solutions only if the consent of the regional architecture council is received. When the design stage is over and the munici - pality issues the construction permit, any third party (that has a material interest) may present a claim to the court and dispute the issued permit. As of 1 November 2021, in a transfer of devel - opment rights with the construction permit, the information regarding the new developer has to
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