100 thousand hectares of agricultural land are up for sale to foreigners - Draft law/ How ownership will be transferred and investment criteria
The government will facilitate the procedures for the sale of agricultural land to foreign investors. The draft law submitted for public consultation "On the transfer of ownership of agricultural land to foreign natural and legal persons" aims to create a clear and stable legal framework for the promotion of foreign investments in agriculture and agribusiness, enabling foreign entities to purchase and develop agricultural activities on agricultural land.
It also aims to ensure the protection of national interests, by setting restrictions for areas of strategic, military, ecological, historical or archaeological importance, where the transfer of ownership is prohibited.
According to the report, the draft aims to strengthen the control and administration of state-owned agricultural land, by defining clear procedures for the verification, approval and registration of the transfer of ownership, in cooperation with responsible institutions.
The report states that the lack of a clear legal basis that allows the transfer of ownership or the right to use agricultural land to foreigners hinders potential investors and creates legal uncertainty.
The subject of the draft law are agricultural lands in private and state ownership, according to the legislation on land division, agricultural land owned by about 445 thousand agricultural families is treated. The drafted draft law also provides for the transfer of ownership rights to foreign natural and legal persons for agricultural land designated as "undivided agricultural land", which currently in our country extends over an area of about 100 thousand ha, transferred to the administration of local government units.
This law defines the right of foreign individuals and legal entities to purchase an area of up to 2 ha within the same municipality and up to 30 ha at the republic level. This definition also constitutes an “anti-monopoly” instrument on agricultural land, a practice also used in other countries.
The draft law also provides for the transfer of ownership rights to foreign natural and legal persons for the agricultural land fund called "state available". This land area of 25 thousand ha originates from lands under the administration of former Agricultural Enterprises and other state institutions. Currently, this is undivided land, in state ownership, a considerable area has been leased by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for agricultural and livestock activities.
In its current form, this draft law creates the possibility for agricultural land to be sold to foreign individuals and legal entities. This would make it possible to put into use an area of 100,000 hectares, which constitutes an active potential for the development of the country's economy.
In the case of the sale and purchase of state-owned land, the competence is also transferred to the municipalities under whose jurisdiction the land lies, but the final decision remains with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The problems that the draft law may encounter are the risk of concentration of agricultural land in a limited number of foreign investors and the lack of strong control and oversight mechanisms by local authorities.
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