THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF LAND REFORM IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Land sector reform is one of the priorities of Ukraine's state policy. The creation of an effective legal mechanism for citizens to exercise their rights in the field of land relations in general, and the disposal of agricultural land in particular is the key to the development of a democratic state. The purpose of the article is to analyze the features of the legal regulation of the agricultural land market. The realization of this goal involves solving a number of tasks, such as: 1) analysis of certain aspects of land reform since the independence of Ukraine; 2) study of the peculiarities of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions of Circulation of Agricultural Land"; 3) formulation of provisions to improve the legal regulation of the market of agricultural land in Ukraine. Scientific novelty. Elaboration of the provisions of normative-legal regulation of the market of agricultural land, in particular the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Conditions of Circulation of Agricultural Lands" allowed to conclude the need to develop a special normative-legal act on soil protection and preservation of fertility provisions contained in the Land Code of Ukraine are insufficient. In the context of citizens exercising their land ownership, it is necessary to supplement the Land Code of Ukraine with a separate section that clearly defines the rights and obligations of agricultural land market participants – foreign citizens and legal entities, the ultimate beneficial owners of which are foreign citizens, and in order to prevent the excessive share of foreigners in the Ukrainian land market, it is necessary to legislate additional restrictions. In this regard, the Land Code of Ukraine should be supplemented with a separate section, which regulates the procedure for acquiring ownership of land by foreigners in Ukraine, and limits the amount of land that may be owned by foreign citizens or legal entities whose ultimate beneficial owners are citizens. Requires a thorough inventory of all agricultural land in Ukraine, creating a Unified Register of Lands of Ukraine.

As a conclusion, the article considers the stages of land reform implementation from the time of Ukraine's independence to the present day, examines the main regulations adopted by the legislator for its implementation. The study of the development of land reform through the prism of historical retrospect gave grounds to assert that in Ukraine for a long time there was a monopoly of state ownership of land. Certain rights and guarantees of citizens in the field of land relations were generally declarative in nature. With the adoption of the Land Code of Ukraine, a long and difficult legislative path from the command-Soviet system to the modern democratic system of land relations came to an end, where ensuring the realization of human rights became a priority. That is, equality of land ownership of citizens, legal entities, territorial communities and the state was proclaimed; guaranteed non-interference of the state in the exercise of citizens, legal entities and territorial communities of their rights to own, use and dispose of land, except as provided by law and so on. It is substantiated that the creation and implementation of the land market is necessary, primarily given that today we can observe a large number of transactions for the purchase and sale of land outside the legal field, in other words, bypassing the statutory moratorium. It is proved that the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions of Circulation of Agricultural Land" became the first legal act during the time of independent Ukraine, which allows landowners to freely dispose of it, moreover, it establishes the land market mechanism practice in the legal field of the state. The effectiveness of land reform should be ensured by the integrated interaction of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, local communities and civil society groups.