President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Issue of Collective Ownership of Land, Improvement of Land Use Rules in Agricultural Land Areas, Raidership Prevention and Stimulation of Irrigation in Ukraine” No. 2498-VIII as of 10.07.2018 (draft law No.6049-d as of 26.12.2017).

The objective and main tasks of the Law are to create an effective mechanism for the use of agricultural land areas in order to prevent raidership and stimulate irrigation, as well as solve the problem of collectively-owned land use.

The new Law expands the capabilites of local self-government and regulates:

• transfer of collectively-owned land of liquidated collective agricultural enterprises to communal ownership;
• possibility to complete additional distribution of agricultural land shares till 2025 with mandatory transfer of non-agricultural land to communal ownership;
• possibility of local councils to apply to the court regarding land transfer to communal ownership subject to its recognition as ownerless. This applies to both agricultural and non-agricultural land plots, if by 2025 such decisions are not taken by former members of collective agricultural enterprises.

The law also assigns forest belts to agricultural land and regulates their transfer into lease. The hromada can create a communal enterprise and fix forest belts infor permanent use. This will save them from being destroyed.

The law also specifies who can initiate land inventory. Such an opportunity is available to land owners, leaseholders or city / settlement / village councils. According to the law, the hromada can carry out it at its own expense and fix all discrepancies. Following the decision of the respective village, settlement, city council, the detected unallocated land plots, unclaimed land shares after their formation into land plots may be leased for use according to their intended purpose for the period up to the date of state registration of ownership of such a land plot, which is indicated in the land plot lease agreement, and the owners of land shares or their heirs, who did not participate in the allocation of land, are notified about the results of the land plots’ allocation in writing by a registered letter with declared value, list of enclosures and receipt notification, or by handing the corresponding notification personally, if their location is known.

The law will come into force on 1 January 2019.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE