News
22.04.2022

A bill to liberalize the use of land during martial law is adopted

The Parliament adopted a bill №7289, aimed at simplifying the provision of land for the needs of the national economy, agricultural sector and citizens of Ukraine during martial law. BRDO experts participated in the development of the document.

The rules for regulating land relations in peacetime are long, so the decision-making process can take months. In addition, under martial law, the functioning of the State Land Cadastre and the State Register of Real Property Rights is suspended.

That is why the bill proposes to give territorial communities of villages, settlements, cities the opportunity to lease agricultural land, which is communal property of territorial communities, without state registration of communal ownership of such land.

What is the bill about?

  • to accommodate the production capacity of enterprises that have been evacuated from the areas of hostilities, land plots of state and communal property will be provided as soon as possible;
  • land plots of communal property, intended for placement of objects for temporary stay of internally displaced persons, are provided for permanent use to the executive bodies of village, settlement, and city councils;
  • the development and approval of urban planning documentation for those areas provided for evacuated capacities of enterprises, as well as for the construction of river ports and railway logistics centers is canceled. All you need is a reasoned statement of the authorized body of urban planning and architecture of the village or city council. It is prohibited to use for such purposes protected areas, lands of nature reserves and other environmental purposes, historical and cultural purposes, to violate restrictions on land use (in particular, in the field of construction);
  • the right to unimpeded and free access for operators of technical infrastructure facilities to land plots of all forms of ownership where these facilities are located is granted in order to maintain them in good condition. The list includes gas transmission and distribution system operators, distribution and transmission system operators, centralized water supply and sewerage companies, heat generating, heat transporting, heat supply organizations, and electronic communications operators.

In addition, the bill defines the mechanism for registering the establishment and change of purpose of land in the period when the functioning of the State Land Cadastre is suspended, and in martial law. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has the right to suspend and resume the State Land Cadastre for security reasons, impose restrictions on the powers of state cadastral registrars and other features of maintaining the State Land Cadastre in wartime.

The adoption of the bill provides the most urgent needs in the land plots of entities that are important for the national economy, the agricultural sector and the citizens of Ukraine, and thus support the Ukrainian economy.

This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of BRDO and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.