Individuals banned from holding more than 100 hectares of farmland starting 2014

The individuals will not be able to own more than 100 hectares of farmland anymore starting Jan. 1, 2014, according a draft law on the sale-purchase of farmland located outside the communities by individuals, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Daniel Constantin said.

'The core of the law consists in the fact that we are in talks with the justice ministry and with everybody involved in this process in order to try to confine the individuals' property to 100 hectares, be they Romanian or foreign individuals. We do not take action on the property, in accordance with the Constitution that says the property is guaranteed by the law. Maybe this will be an organic law, i.e. the law saying the individuals who own farmland will, from now on, be able to own no more than 100 hectares. Those who want to buy more than 100 hectares must set themselves up as a company', Constantin explained.
The minister announced that another important item of the law is the preemption right.
He stressed he plans to discuss the draft act in the Government this week and then it will be forwarded to the Parliament, so that it might be passed by year-end and take effect from Jan. 1, 2014.
Constantin underscored the EU Accession Treaty says the land market is to be deregulated from Jan. 1, so that the foreign individuals can buy land in Romania. The law, he explained, applies the individuals in Romania or the citizens of the EU member states and the stateless individuals residing either in a EU state or in Romania.