The regime of use of agricultural land is a free choice of every owner, according to the text of Article 4, para 1 of the Law on the ownership and use of agricultural land and the text of Article 3, para 1 of the Rules for the implementation of the law on ownership and use on agricultural land [12].
Also, in accordance with the provision of Article 5 of the Law on the protection of agricultural land, the owner is free to choose how to use the agricultural land, if this does not change its purpose and does not harm the land of other owners or the quality of surface land. and groundwater [14].
When restrictions on the use of agricultural land are imposed by law, the owner, respectively the user, is obliged to comply with them.
Keywords : agricultural land, owner, law, regulations, use of agricultural land
Introduction
From the data in the Agrarian Report — 2019. of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests, for the employment of the agricultural lands in the Republic of Bulgaria, (Table № 1) it can be seen that the area with agricultural purpose is increasing for the period 2014–2018.
Table 1
Arable land, utilized agricultural area and agricultural area for the period 2014–2018
|
EMPLO |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
|
ARABLE LAND: hectares |
3 469 388 |
3 493 688 |
3 480 991 |
3 473 825 |
3 463 370 |
|
Used agricultural area |
4 976 815 |
5 011 494 |
5 021 412 |
5 029 529 |
5 030 276 |
|
non cultivate land |
216 125 |
191 258 |
193 228 |
194 873 |
195 918 |
|
AREA: with AGRICULTURAL PURPOSE |
5 192 940 |
5 202 752 |
5 214 640 |
5 224 402 |
5 226 194 |
Area for agricultural use in 2018 is 5 226 194 hectares, which represents about 47 % of the country's territory. This area has been increased compared to 2017. with 1792 hectares. There is also an increase in arable land of 1045 hectares. The utilized agricultural area is formed by arable land, permanent crops, nurseries, permanent grassland and family gardens. In 2018. it amounts to 5 030 276 hectares or 45 % of the territory of the country, with no significant change compared to the previous year. The arable land includes areas under which crop rotation is applied, temporary meadows with cereals and legumes, fallow land and greenhouses. In 2018. it decreased slightly (by 0.3 %) compared to the previous year, to 3 463 370 hectares, representing 68.9 % of the utilized agricultural area. The arable land includes both abandoned permanent crops and arable land that have not been used for agricultural production for more than two years, but their operational recovery is possible with minimal resources. In 2018. the arable land amounts to 195,918 hectares and occupies about 1.8 % of the country's area.
In general, there is increasing interest in arable land.
This phenomenon can be explained both by the common agricultural policy of the European Union and by agricultural legislation. In this regard, the article is aimed at examining some legal aspects of the legal regimes for the use of agricultural land in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Materials and methods
For the purpose of the study, the following acts are considered in the article:
− Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land;
− Rules for the implementation of the law on the ownership and use of agricultural land;
− Agricultural Land Conservation Act;
− Rules for the implementation of the law on the protection of agricultural land;
− Agricultural Lease Act;
− Property law;
− Ordinance No. 3/1999.
From the standpoint of the regulatory analysis, the individual legal texts and regulations on which the land use regimes are based are examined in detail.
Official statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (www.mzh.government.bg) were used to support the analysis.
Results and discussion
According to the wording of Article 2, Para 1 and 2 of the Law on Protection of Agricultural Lands, agricultural lands are the main national wealth and are used only for agricultural purposes, and their purpose is for the production of plant production and grazing of livestock under a way that harms soil fertility and health.
In the text of Article 2 of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, agricultural land is classified as land intended for agricultural production and:
− they are not within the boundaries of the urbanized territories (settlements and settlements) defined by a detailed spatial plan or by a circular landfill;
− are not included in the forest fund;
− are not built with buildings of: industrial or other businesses, holiday or health establishments, religious communities or other public organizations, or represent yards or warehouses to such buildings;
− they are not occupied by open pit mines or quarries, energy, irrigation, transport or other public facilities, nor do they constitute adjoining parts to such facilities.
The regime of use of agricultural land is a free choice of each owner, according to the text of Article 4, para 1 of the Law on the ownership and use of agricultural land and the text of Article 3, para 1 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on ownership and use of agricultural land.
This free choice is also bound by specific legally regulated commitments of the owner — when using the land, he is obliged not to damage the soil and to comply with the sanitary, fire and ecological norms, to preserve archeological sites existing on his land, cultural values, land reclamation, electricity and other facilities and installations, surveying and boundary signs, and not to prevent other owners, users and officials from using and maintaining them. According to the wording of Article 3 of Agricultural Land Conservation Act, owners and users of agricultural land are also obliged to protect them from erosion, pollution, salinization, acidification, swamping and other damage and to maintain and improve their productive qualities.
The control of the state in this area, in the person of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests, is regulated in the norm of Article 4, para 4 of Agricultural Land Conservation Act, according to which the norm the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests has the right to imposes mandatory restrictions on the use of agricultural land when violations such as:
a / damage to agricultural land;
b / non-conformity of the produced vegetable or animal production with the hygiene standards;
c / deterioration of the ecological functions of the soil cover and the quality of surface and groundwater;
d / other cases provided for by law.
Also, in accordance with the provision of Article 5 of Agricultural Land Conservation Act, the owner is free to choose the way of using the agricultural land, if this does not change its purpose and does not harm the land of other owners or the quality of surface land. and groundwater. When restrictions on the use of agricultural land are imposed by law, the owner, respectively the user, is obliged to comply with them.
Owners and users of agricultural land are responsible for:
− compliance with the hygiene standards of the production of plant or animal products from agricultural land;
− damage to agricultural land owned by other owners, as well as damage to the quality of surface water and groundwater.
The users of agricultural land are responsible for the incineration of vegetable waste on the agricultural land and are obliged to participate in their extinguishing.
Owners and users of agricultural land are entitled to tax and credit preferences when applying:
− mandatory restrictions on the use of agricultural land;
− recommendations on soil protection and inherent and environmental functions;
− anti-erosion agrotechnics;
− systems for organic farming and reduced use of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers;
− projects to restore and improve the productive qualities of agricultural land.
Natural and legal persons are liable if their actions impair the quality or ecological functions of agricultural land. The agrarian legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria sets out several types of agricultural land use regimes.
According to the ownership of the agricultural land, every natural or legal person — owner of agricultural land, determines the regime of use, according to his business interests and in compliance with the legal regulations in this field.
The owner or user of agricultural land may cultivate and plant it with the relevant crops, may build on it, rent or lease it, cultivate it with other users, and may also sell it and change its use, however, the change of the purpose of the agricultural lands is allowed only exceptionally under proven need and under the conditions and procedure laid down in the Law on Protection of the Agricultural Land. According to the text of Article 4, Para 1 of the Rul for the Implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the owners or users of agricultural land are obliged to manage their lands with the care of a good owner and with their actions or omissions not to violate the rights to their neighbors by providing the necessary agrotechnical activities.
Natural and legal persons who are not owners of agricultural land may lease agricultural land within a specified period and under certain conditions to cultivate it on their own account. According to Article 4a of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, agricultural land may be leased on the basis of a contract concluded by:
− the owner or a person authorized by him;
− a person who holds the rights to the agricultural land, including in its content the power to use or manage the land granted by the owner or by a person authorized by him;
− co-owner or co-owners of agricultural land, or by a person authorized by them.
The obligations of the owners of agricultural land with regard to the regime of their use are regulated in Article 37b, Chapter Five, “a” of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, namely:
− each owner submits to the municipal office of agriculture at the location of the property a declaration in the form, indicating the form of management and the way of permanent use of the land.
The declaration made by one co-owner is for all co-owners. Users of agricultural land are obliged to submit to the municipal agriculture office a copy of the lease, lease or co-cultivation of the land. Upon submission of two or more contracts not entered in the Registry Office for the same property, the registration shall be made on the contract specified in the declaration submitted by the owner. If the owner has not lodged a declaration, the municipal agriculture office shall notify the contracting parties. For unlisted contracts that provide for an extension of the agreed period, an explicit written agreement between the parties for the extension of the contract shall also be provided.
According to the provision of Article 2, para 1 of the Law on rent in agriculture, with the lease the landlord is obliged to provide the tenant for temporary use of the object of the contract and the tenant to make a certain lease payment. The extracts from the leased objects become the property of the tenant from the moment of their separation. The wording of Article 3 of the same law regulates the requirements of the lease, namely:
a / The lease agreements, as well as the agreements for their amendment or termination, shall be concluded in writing with notarial certification of the signatures of the parties executed simultaneously. In the course of notarial proceedings, the notary inspects compliance with the requirements and stores sketches of the properties subject to the contract. Sketches are requested to be received from a notary public via remote access to the cadastre and property register information system or provided by a notary public. Where no cadastral map and cadastral registers have entered into force for the respective land, the notary shall keep sketches of the properties issued by the respective municipal agriculture office at the location of the properties;
b / the lease agreements, as well as the agreements for their modification or termination, concluded in writing with notarial certification of the signatures of the parties, shall be entered in the registry office and registered with the respective municipal agriculture office. The issued drawings of the real estate shall be attached to the act subject to registration;
c / the lease contracts are registered with the municipal agricultural services;
d / the lease agreement, as well as an agreement for its modification or termination, may be concluded with an owner, co-owner of agricultural land whose ownership is more than 50 percent of the ideal parts of a joint property or with a person authorized by the owner or co-owners who own altogether with it more than 50 percent of ideal parts of the joint property. The authorization must be with a notarized explicit power of attorney;
e / the minimum lease term is five business years.
The Municipal Agriculture Service maintains a register of owners and users of agricultural land, who submit declarations by July 31 in person or by proxy and is valid for the next business year. The register of farmers according to Ordinance No. 3 of 1999. it serves to gather information on farmers and their activities in order to support agriculture and rural development. The activity of maintaining a register of farmers involves the registration of new farmers, re-registration and updating of data on already registered farmers and the cancellation of farmers upon termination of their activities. In the 2017/2018 marketing year, the total number of farmers registered in the register under Ordinance No 3/1999. is 93 023, and in the 2018/2019 business year (as of July 2019) — 87 128. The municipal agricultural service also registers contracts for the lease of agricultural land, concluded in compliance with the requirements, as well as leases, concluded in compliance with the requirements of the relevant laws.
When more than one contract for leasing or leasing of agricultural land is submitted for the same property, the municipal Agriculture Office shall register:
a / the contract entered in the Registry Office with the earliest date;
b / the entered contract — upon submission for registration of a entered and unlisted contract.
The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry approves rules for the registration of leases and leases of agricultural land in municipal agriculture services. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry exercises the rights of the owner of the lands from the state land fund, by renting or renting them, establishing limited real rights over them, auctioning and exchanging the monetary value of the agricultural lands. The State Land Fund covers state-owned agricultural lands, including those that are built up or represent adjacent areas to farm buildings. Also, pursuant to the regulation of Article 47b of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, vacant land from the state land fund is rented or leased by auction or competition.
An essential segment of the regulated regime of use of agricultural land by owners is the text of Article 69 of Chapter Seven of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, namely:
a / the owners of agricultural lands declare to the municipal agriculture office at the location of the properties the form of management and the way of permanent use of each of the properties. In the event that the owners do not wish their properties or some of them to be included in arrays for use, they shall explicitly indicate this fact in the declaration;
b / the declaration is submitted for one business year in accordance with the model approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry;
c / The declaration is submitted by 31 July in person or by proxy and is valid for the next business year;
d / the deadline shall not be considered missed if, before its expiry, the declaration has been submitted by post or to an incompetent body, which is obliged to forward it officially to the relevant municipal agriculture office;
e / each of the co-owners can submit the declaration — the declaration is used by all co-owners.
One of the regulated options described in Rule member 70 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land is that owners and users of agricultural land are able to submit to the municipal agriculture office at the location of the property an application for participation in an agreement by location of the properties arraysfor masses for use under section member 37c of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land. The application shall specify the properties used on a legal basis under the contracts registered with the municipal agriculture office and / or ownership documents with which the user wishes to participate in the arrays for use under an agreement. The application shall be submitted by 31 July in person or by proxy in accordance with a model approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and, if possible, in an optical medium, valid for the following business year. In the text of Article 71 of the Rul for the Implementation of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land stipulates that in case of change of ownership, the form of management and the manner of permanent use, the owners and users submit a declaration, respectively an application. New circumstances shall be taken into account in determining the arrays for use for the next marketing year, except where declarations or applications are submitted within the prescribed time limits. Failure to submit a declaration shall be considered as no change in the circumstances initially declared. According to the term of use, traditionally chosen on the basis of the statutory deadlines, by the owner or co-owners of agricultural land, the regimes may be one year and more than one year, based on the contractual regulation (rent, lease, temporary use and so on).
In this respect, the role of contractual origin is extremely important. For example, Article 4a of the Law on the ownership and use of agricultural land provides that:
− a lease agreement on agricultural land with a term of more than one year is concluded by a co-owner or co-owners of agricultural land owning more than 25 percent of the ideal parts of the co-ownership property or by a person authorized by them. In these cases, the relations between the co-owners are settled in accordance with the regulations of the Property Act;
− the authorization for concluding a lease of agricultural land must be explicitly authorized by notary certification of the signatories of the proxies;
− if agreed in the contract, the tenant may transfer part or all of the object of the contract. When the lease is for the whole term of the contract, the tenant is obliged to immediately notify the landlord in writing of the lease.
According to the wording of Article 56, paragraph 1 of the Rules for Implementation of the Law on Protection of Agricultural Lands (www.ciela.net), temporary use of agricultural land is possible during the construction of sites publicly owned by the state or municipalities. This use extends within a certain period of time and is carried out outside the site (track) of the site. The temporary use of agricultural land is related to the need for such land plots in the construction of mostly underground and aerial linear sites, and, if necessary, the carrying out of geological and other studies [10, p.210]. The relations between the investor of the site and the owner of the agricultural land shall be settled by a contract which, within the meaning of Article 57, paragraph 1 of the Rules for the implementation of the law on protection of agricultural land, may be concluded in the presence of an approved site (route, terrain).
Mandatory details of a contract for temporary use of agricultural land are:
− the conditions for use of the agricultural land;
− the period of land use, which should not exceed 10 years;
− the amount of the rent;
− the damage suffered and the benefits lost;
− the method of payment of the damages;
− the relevant penalties.
After the expiration of the period for temporary use of the agricultural land, in accordance with the regulation of Article 58 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on protection of agricultural land, the investor's commitments are:
− to return the used agricultural land to the owner;
− to deliver the land in its original form or in a form suitable for agricultural use, bringing the land in a fit form at its own expense within the term of the contract.
According to the rule of Article 58, para. 3 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on the protection of agricultural land, in case of need for construction of buildings and structures of permanent character, which arose during the use of the land, the investor is also obliged within the term of the land use contract, proposes a change for the purpose of the land necessary for the construction of the building after the acquisition of the ownership of the building or the right of construction. When constructing sites by legal and natural persons for their own use, the use of the land for a period not exceeding 10 years is allowed, according to the regulation of Article 59a of the Rules for the implementation of the law on protection of agricultural land. The same period is mandatory for the placement of movable objects, as well as for meeting other needs without development. For temporary use of agricultural land by the State Land Fund, a contract shall be concluded in compliance with the requirements of Article 57, parа 1 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on protection of agricultural lands, pursuant to the regulation of Article 47, para 23 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law for the ownership and use of agricultural land [14]. Some authors consider the temporary use of agricultural land, based on the current legislation, from the standpoint of the need to locate the so-called «movable objects» [9, p.88]. Article 59a, para. 2 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on the protection of agricultural land, permits and use of agricultural land for the placement of movable earrings that are not permanently connected to the terrain, as well as for other needs without construction by natural and legal persons for no more than 10 years. The temporary use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes shall be authorized to the owner by a decision of the committees of the Regional Directorates of Agriculture (Article 59b, para 2 of the Regulations for the implementation of the law on protection of agricultural land in connection with Article 17, para. 1, item 1 of the Agricultural Land Conservation Act).
Conclusion
One of the goals of the European agricultural policy is related to the sustainable management of agricultural land [11, p.261]. This management includes as an instrument the effective use of agricultural land in the application of the relevant legal regimes. Although statistics show a decrease in the number of registered farmers, the amount of land they cultivate is increasing.
The data in Table 2 can be interpreted in this regard as the consolidation and increasing provision of arable land to farmers.
Table 2
Farmers registered under the ordinance of Ordinance No 3/1999
|
2012/ 2013 |
2013/ 2014 |
2014/ 2015 |
2015/ 2016 |
2016/ 2017 |
2017/ 2018 |
2018/ 2019 |
|
|
total number of farmers |
76 340 |
76 408 |
97 266 |
98 303 |
96 476 |
93 023 |
87 128 |
At this stage, Bulgaria is the country with the highest concentration of agricultural land in a small number of structures. When researching the concentration of agricultural land in the European Union commissioned by the Committee on Agriculture at the European Parliament, 1.5 % are large holdings that cultivate more than 1000 decares. These farms control 82.4 % of the total number of agricultural land [11, p.272]. On this basis it can be concluded that one of the reasons for this is good agricultural legislation, which regulates the modes of use of agricultural land.
References:
- Agricultural Report (АR), 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry;
- Agricultural Land Conservation Act (ALCA), 1996.State Gazette № 35/24.04.1996, (last change SG № 83/09.10.2018) (Bg);
- Property Law (PL), 1999. State Gazette № 92/16.11.1951, (last change SG № 7/19.01.2018) (Bg);
- Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land Act (OUALA),1991. State Gazette № 17.01.1991, (last change SG № 61/02.08.2019) (Bg);
- Rules for the Implementation of the Law for the Protection of Agricultural Lands (RILPAL),1996.State Gazette № 84/04.10.1996, (last change SG № 67/23.08.2019) (Bg);
- Rules for the Implementation of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land (RILOUAL), 1991. State Gazette № 34/30.04.1991, (last change SG № 100/20.12.2019) (Bg);
- Agricultural Lease Act (ALA),1996. State Gazette № 82/27.09.1996, (last change SG № 55/03.07.2018) (Bg);
- Ordinance No. 3 of January 29, 1999 on the establishment and maintenance of a register of farmers (OEMRF), State Gazette № 10/05.02.1999, (last change SG № 14/15.02.2019) (Bg);
- Bakalova, V., 2019, Issues on “Free” Camping, Property and Law Magazine, Issue 8, p.88, Sofia, “Labor and Law”, ISSN 312–9473(Bg);
- Velkovska, G., 2019, THE TEMPORARY USE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND — SPECIFIC INSTRUMENT IN AGRICULTURAL EVENTS Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 17, Suppl. 1, pp 210–214, ISSN 1313–7069 (Bg);
- Nikolova, M., 2019 State of the Agricultural Land Market in the Republic of Bulgaria, Collection of Scientific Papers: State and Problems in Agricultural Management and Development, Tsenov AI — Svishtov, ISBN 978–954–23–1762 -3, pp.261–272 (Bg);
- http: // www.lex.bg/;
- http: // www.mzh.government.bg/;
- http: // www.ciela.net/;
