PURCHASING AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN ROMANIA : NEW RULES

PURCHASING AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN ROMANIA: NEW RULES

As of January 1, 2014, Romania gave the green light to the purchase of agricultural lands by citizens of the European Union/European Economic Area or of the Swiss Confederation.

Nevertheless, in March 2014, the Romanian Parliament passed Law no. 17/2014 on the measures regulating the sale and purchase of agricultural lands. Therefore, this law sets forth (again) certain restrictions on the purchase of lands by foreign citizens. We have already presented these restrictions in one of our articles in March 2014.

This law imposed such restrictions without providing any details – therefore, all sales have been blocked since then... The norms were finally published on May 30, 2014. Hereinafter you can find the most important elements of these norms.

INFORMATION ON THE PURCHASE OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL LANDS

We remind you that agricultural lands located outside cities cannot be sold without complying with a pre-emption right or without the approval of the Ministry of National Defence or of the Ministry of Culture; otherwise, such a sale transaction is deemed null. The Norms provide the procedure with respect to the pre-emption right and the procedure for obtaining such approval. Hereinafter you can find useful information:

• If the seller of the land is a company, when submitting the sale intention notice to the City Hall, the seller must also submit the decision of the general meeting of shareholders approving such sale – please note that such decision does not have to be authenticated by a notary, but it has to comprise a point by which shareholders empower the director or another person to perform the procedures and the sale of the land in connection with all authorities involved (e.g. the City Hall, the notary, the land registry, the ministries etc.).


• If no person acts by virtue of its pre-emption right, the sale can be performed freely, but the City Hall has to issue a certificate in this respect;


• The land to be sold shall be recorded in the land registry by the City Hall or automatically (for the sale of lands located, partially or totally, at a distance of at least 30 kilometres within the Romanian borders, obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Defence or of the Ministry of Culture is necessary – the notary
  shall have to make sure that the seller has obtained such approval);


• The Norms comprise a list of cities located at a distance of at least 30 kilometres from the Romanian border; the approval of the Ministry of Defence is compulsory for such lands. The approval shall be valid for 12 months from the date of its communication to the seller;


• Should the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Culture give a negative answer (which shall also be registered in the land registry), depending on the grounds for such rejection, one may submit a second application for the approval, accompanied by the requested documents.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has already launched, in April 2014, the website where sale notices for agricultural lands located outside cities shall be published: www.madr.ro/terenuri-agricole