Land decentralisation law published, some provisions effective since May 27

Law No. 2194 "On Amending the Land Code of Ukraine and Other Laws on Improving Administration System and Land Relation Deregulation" has been published in the official gazette of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) Golos of Ukraine.

The law comes into force on 27 May 2021 after its publication. Some of its provisions, however, come into force in three months and some in six months and a year.

The law provides for the transfer of state-owned land outside settlements (except for land used by the state to perform its functions) to communal ownership of village, settlement and city councils.

The key provisions of the document:

• reform of the land management system and elimination of artificial restrictions on economic activity to facilitate access to land resources for the population and businesses, abolition of unnecessary permits and duplication of procedures for checking land management documentation;
• introduction of independent control of land management documentation through public expertise or peer review;
• provision of information on land management, public access to this data;
• integration and unification of land surveying, topographical and geodetic, and cartographic activities;
• introduction of professional liability insurance of land surveyors as an alternative to state control;
• reduction in the cost and time required to carry out the procedures involved in land surveying;
• mitigation of the risks of bribery and corruption;
• abolition of the requirement relating to the intended use of agricultural land.

In addition, the area of a state or communally owned agricultural land plot, the right to lease, emphyteusis of which is put up for land auction, may not exceed 20 ha.

The President of Ukraine signed this bill on 24 May.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament) adopted the Draft Law No. 2178-10 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Turnover of Agricultural Land" in the second reading today, Mar. 31, at 12:42 a.m. with 259 votes.

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