On November 30 and December 4, 2018, Ukrainian MPs submitted a number of draft laws suggesting the extension of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land in Ukraine. The current moratorium, under clause 15 of Section X of the Land Code of Ukraine, will apply for an indefinite period until a separate law is adopted.

Experts of Reanimation Package of Reforms Economic Development Group stand against the preservation of moratorium as it violates constitutional rights of nearly 7 million Ukrainian landowners who are deprived of the right to dispose of their private property.

This position was also upheld by the European Court of Human Rights (hereafter – ECHR) that issued a judgment in the case “Zelenchuk and Tsiytsiura v. Ukraine” on May 22, 2018.  In this case, two Ukrainian citizens argued that the state ban on the sale of agricultural land violates their ownership rights as owners of such land plots. The Court noted that such a prohibition is a violation of Article 1 (Protection of Property) of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that no other member state of the Council of Europe has such a prohibition. The ECHR’s ruling also states that it is unclear why such restrictions were chosen to achieve the declared goals and why less stringent measures could not yield the expected results.

Moratorium on agricultural land sale does not only pose a restriction of property rights but also creates a number of negative consequences for Ukraine’s economy, including monopolization of land lease, deterrence of value of agricultural land, market deformation and shadow schemes of land alienation.

Lifting the moratorium on agricultural land sale is a solution that would provide a powerful incentive for the development of Ukraine’s agriculture and the country’s economy as a whole.

Experts of Reanimation Package of Reforms Economic Development Group call on the Members of Parliament not to vote for extending the moratorium and continue working on elaboration of the best land market model for Ukraine as well as adopting respective law.