Farmland sales moratorium in Ukraine extended to 2020

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Parliament) extended the moratorium on farmland sale to the year 2020, AgroPolit.com informs.

This decision was supported with 231 votes out of 450.

The Parliament supported the bill of the Agrarian Committee No. 9355-5 “On Amendments to Section X “Transitional Provisions” of the Land Code of Ukraine regarding the extension of the ban on the dispossession of agricultural land”.

Reference: The moratorium was introduced by the Verkhovna Rada in January 2001. The initiator of the decision is MP Anatoly Matvienko. The law provided that the moratorium will be short-term until the adoption of the law on the agricultural land market or in accordance with the norm in the Land Code. Later in 2001, the Parliament adopted the Land Code, yet it did not contain any regulations regarding the abolition of the moratorium, on the contrary, the law continued its effect until the end of 2005. After this, the moratorium was extended.

One more land issue is left for the Parliament's consideration — amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine implying that farmers are the basis of the agrarian system of Ukraine. Earlier it was reported that on November 23, 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine supported the initiative of Oleg Lyashko and 275 MPs to recognize farm enterprise as the basis of the agrarian system in Ukraine. Such a proposal is contained in the bill by the Radical Party of Ukraine No. 6236.