The team of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe jointly with the Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (State GeoCadastre) in the Rivne Oblast organised an info session on the implementation of state land relations policy in the current conditions.
This info session is an important opportunity for the local municipalities to receive relevant clarifications and discuss issues with the State GeoCadastre. The discussion covered land inventory, new changes in legislation, as well as land conservation and control of land use.
“Land management is a key aspect in the development of territories, for the municipal economy and social sphere. In their planning process, local self-government bodies should have a clear understanding of all the details and the latest legal framework. These dialogue events are an important opportunity for municipalities to receive relevant clarifications as well as to discuss their pressing issues with State GeoCadastre experts,” said Ruslan Syvyi, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Rivne Oblast.
It is important for municipalities to conduct an inventory of land, which will help them to use it rationally. Mykola Shustov, Acting Head of the Main Department of the State GeoCadastre in the Rivne Oblast, spoke about this at the event:
“Local self-government bodies should process information about all the lands in their possession in order to have a complete picture of their options. Then municipalities will be able to offer available land resources to potential investors as prescribed by law. Keep in mind that there are certain restrictions on the use of land under martial law — for example, local self-government bodies can currently offer their plots of land for lease only.”
The experts of the Main Directorate of the State GeoCadastre, who worked with municipalities during the event, also spoke about new changes to the legislation applicable to municipalities in connection with Stage 2 of the Land Reform.
According to them, Stage 2 of the Land Reform started on 1 January 2024. From now on, legal entities registered under the laws of Ukraine, which are not subject to any restrictions and prohibitions on the acquisition of agricultural land plots, as well as citizens of Ukraine, have the right to acquire ownership of up to 10,000 hectares of land.
As for natural persons who are citizens of Ukraine, who are not subject to any restrictions and prohibitions on the purchase of agricultural land, there are changes in the limits of the total area that natural persons can acquire — from “up to 100 ha” to “up to 10,000 ha”. Nothing has changed for foreign legal entities, foreigners and stateless persons — they cannot access the agricultural land market until this issue is resolved via a referendum.
Another important point is the new amendments to the Budget Code, which regulate the distribution of revenues from the lease of state agricultural land between the state and local budgets. The new rules concern the allocation of 12% of the regulatory monetary value of land, which will be the starting price at auctions for leasing out the land plot. 90% of these revenues will now go to the state budget, and 10% will go to local budgets.
The speakers also talked about land conservation. The Government made changes to the Model Land Lease Agreement and supplemented the list of land plots subject to conservation. These are land plots that have been contaminated with chemical substances due to emergencies and/or armed aggression and hostilities during martial law, as well as land plots where military engineering and technical facilities or fortification structures are located.
At the event, the municipalities received clarifications regarding the powers of state control over the land use and protection vested in executive bodies of village, settlement and city councils and territorial bodies of the State GeoCadastre. They also discussed agrochemical examinations of soil as well as land management and land valuation procedures.
“As part of our efforts in this direction, we are planning a dialogue event together with the Main Directorate of the State GeoCadastre in the Rivne Oblast in the municipality of Velyka Omeliana in June 2024. The event will be held with the participation of heads of municipalities, and we will study the best practices,” said Ruslan Syvyi.