Parliament extends moratorium on farmland sales

A total of 236 lawmakers voted for the adoption of the respective bill, No. 7350, as a whole on Thursday, December 7, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

MPs made amendments to paragraphs 14 and 15 of Section X "Transitional Provisions" of the Land Code of Ukraine, according to which it is proposed to extend the moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land and on including the right to a land share to the authorized capital of economic entities "before the entry into force of the law on the circulation of agricultural land, but not later than January 1, 2019."

The authors of the bill are deputies from the factions of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, the Radical Party, as well as the Vidrodzhennia and Will of the People deputy groups.

All other alternative bills were rejected. Among them are draft laws on extending the moratorium for six years (No. 7350-1), for five years (Nos. 7350-2 and 7350-3), until the legislative settlement of the prohibition of land trade (No. 7350-4), until the enactment of the law on the circulation of agricultural land, but not before the holding and establishment of the results of the all-Ukrainian referendum regarding the sale and purchase of such land (No. 7350-5).

As reported, the moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land has been in place in Ukraine since 2001.