The draft of the new Moldovan Land Code will soon be examined by Parliament at a plenary session.
The press service of the supreme legislative body reported this, noting that the document was discussed on Wednesday by members of the commission for agriculture and food industry. They approved the report on the draft law and recommended that it be examined at the plenary session and passed in the first reading. The aim of the new draft Land Code is to regulate the legal regime of the land fund and land relations established between individuals. It also proposes a new classification of lands and the procedure of their utilization. The draft of the new Land Code was elaborated by the Agriculture and Food Ministry. According to the ministry, the new edition of the Land Code is aimed at creating a normative framework for the regulation of land relations, adapted to the new realities. The document contains provisions concerning the new classification of lands, the order of their use, land ownership, classification of agricultural lands, forest fund, water fund, lands intended for construction and development, special purpose, etc. One of the chapters of the document is devoted to the rules of land sale, as well as the obligations of landowners. The draft law also regulates the procedure for changing the designation of lands to compensate for losses caused by the change of their designation. It also provides rules for withdrawal of certain lands from agricultural turnover, carrying out measures to protect and improve soils, monitoring soil quality, etc. The new law also contains rules concerning state control in the sphere of land relations, resolution of land disputes and liability for non-compliance with land legislation. State control over the use and protection of land will be exercised by the government and local public administration bodies. At the same time, the new Land Code contains a number of provisions taken from the Law on State Regulation of Land Ownership Regime, State Land Cadastre and Land Monitoring, Law on Normative Price and Procedure of Land Sale and Purchase, as well as other normative acts in this area, which will be repealed from the date of entry into force of the new Code, i.e. after 12 months from the date of its publication in Monitorul Oficial (the Official Journal of Moldova). In addition, the new Land Code provides for the creation of an information system of the Land Cadastre, which will keep records of land by category and mode of use. Earlier, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vladimir Bolea noted that the new Land Code will retain some obligations and prohibitions from the old document; for example, it will still prohibit the acquisition of private ownership of agricultural land or forest land by foreign individuals and foreign companies. According to the new rules, if the land is not maintained in proper phytosanitary condition, the local authority will initiate actions to bring the owner to responsibility. If the owner fails to respond to the summons, the mayor's office will be authorized to dispose of the land in question and order its lease to prevent diseases, weeds and pests from infesting adjacent lands. Similarly, landowners will be required to take measures to prevent and mitigate the impact of soil degradation in accordance with soil protection measures as part of agricultural practices. //25.10.2023 - InfoMarket.
