REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON
THE ACQUISITION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND
28 January 2003 No IX-1314
(As last amended on 24 April 2014 – No XII-854)
Vilnius
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
1. This Law shall pursue the following aims:
1) to ensure rational use of Lithuania’s national property, that is, agricultural land, while promoting agricultural activities and competitive agriculture and creating conditions for formation of rationally managed land holdings and for land consolidation;
2) to preserve and improve the natural environment, to ensure participation of local self-government and local community-based organisations in promoting agricultural activities, balanced territorial rural economy and development of communities, including increase of employment of the rural population.
2. This Law, with the exception of provisions of Article 5 of this Law on the right of first priority of the State to acquire a parcel of agricultural land offered for sale, shall not apply in the cases when land is acquired into the ownership of the State or a municipality, as well as when acquiring land parcels within the territory of an amateur garden and in the cases when land is acquired by inheritance and through restoration of ownership rights (with the exception of the cases listed in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Restoration of the Rights of Ownership of Citizens to the Existing Real Property).
3. The requirements stipulated by this Law shall apply also to transfer transactions of a legal person holding by the right of ownership more than 10 hectares of agricultural land, also transfer transactions of shares (rights, member shares) of a legal person holding by the right of ownership more than 10 hectares of agricultural land, where upon the conclusion of such transactions the person that has acquired the shares (rights, member shares) becomes the holder of more than 25 per cent of shares (rights, member shares) of the mentioned legal person. The person that has acquired the legal person holding by the right of ownership more than 10 hectares of agricultural land or more than 25 per cent of the shares (rights, member shares) of this legal person shall be subject to the same requirements, as stipulated by this Law and other laws, as applied to buyers of agricultural land.
Article 2. Persons eligible for the acquisition of agricultural land
1. The following persons shall be eligible for the acquisition of agricultural land:
1) a natural person who possesses professional skills and competence. By such a person shall be meant a natural person who, for at least three years over the last ten years until the conclusion of a transaction on the acquisition of agricultural land, has carried out agricultural activities (including the period of studies and/or training in acquiring education in the area of agriculture) and declared agricultural land and crops, where he has registered a farmer’s farm in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Farmer's Farm or holds a diploma in the area of agriculture. Provisions of this point shall not apply to young farmers aged under 40 who have obtained a permit for the acquisition of agricultural land from a division of the National Land Service under the Ministry of Agriculture (hereinafter: the ‘National Land Service’) according to the location of their land;
2) a legal person or another organisation (hereinafter: a ‘legal person’) which, for at least three years over the last ten years until the conclusion of a transaction on the acquisition of agricultural land, has carried out agricultural activities and declared agricultural land and crops, where its income from agricultural activities accounts for more than 50 per cent of all income and where its economic viability can be demonstrated in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Ministry of Agriculture’) upon assessing the prospects of this person.
2. Persons that have acquired agricultural land in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law must, save for the exceptions specified in paragraph 5 of this Article, for at least five years after the acquisition of the land (except for the cases when a land parcel is transferred to third parties before the expiry of the abovementioned time limit) ensure its use for agricultural activities whose minimum annual volume per hectare of land shall be determined by the Ministry of Agriculture. This requirement shall be deemed to have been met where the volume of annual activities is not less than the minimum annual volume per hectare of land, as approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, multiplied by the area of the land being acquired in hectares.
3. The persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may acquire agricultural land only subject to obtaining a permit issued by a division of the National Land Service according to the location of land. The permit shall be issued or a reasoned refusal to issue it shall be given no later than within 15 working days from the receipt of an application for the issue thereof by the division of the National Land Service according to the location of land.
4. A permit to acquire agricultural land shall be issued if a person wishing to acquire agricultural land meets the requirements stipulated in paragraph 1 of this Article and undertakes to comply with the requirements stipulated by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Implementation of Paragraph 3 of Article 47 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and by Article 21 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Land (hereinafter: the ‘Law on Land’).
5. The requirements stipulated in this Article shall not apply and a permit shall not be compulsory where, upon the conclusion of a transfer transaction of agricultural land, the area of agricultural land belonging to a person on the territory of Lithuania does not exceed 10 hectares together with the land of the same designation already held by the person, where the parcels of agricultural land being acquired are used for the operation of the construction works and installations held by the right of ownership or being acquired together with the land parcel, where the land parcels assigned to the territory of a land consolidation plan are purchased by the right of first priority in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Land, where state-owned areas of agricultural land edging in between the land parcels managed by the right of ownership are purchased under this Law, or where private household land in use is privatised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Land Reform (hereinafter: the ‘Law on Land Reform’), or where a land parcel falls within a territory wherein, according to municipal-level and local-level comprehensive plans, land is envisaged to be used for non-agricultural activities, or where a parcel of agricultural land is transferred to a credit institution under a mortgage transaction in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 4.192 of the Civil Code of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Civil Code’). The credit institution must dispose of the land parcel transferred to the credit institution no later than within three years from the acquisition of the land parcel.
Article 3. Maximum area of agricultural land being acquired into ownership
1. A person or related persons may acquire such quantity of land on the territory of Lithuania that the total area of agricultural land acquired by them from the State does not exceed 300 hectares.
2. A person or related persons may acquire such quantity of land on the territory of Lithuania that the total area of agricultural land belonging to them and acquired from the State and other persons does not exceed 500 hectares. This restriction shall not apply if agricultural land is acquired for livestock development and the quantity of acquired agricultural land does not exceed the number of hectares per livestock unit held by the person (1 livestock unit / 1 hectare). If the number of livestock units held by the person decreases over the last three years (with the exception of decrease due to circumstances beyond the person's control) or the person intends to transfer the land to third parties, the State shall acquire the right to buy out the area of land acquired under this Law in excess of the limit of 500 hectares for livestock development at the average market value the amount whereof shall be determined on the basis of land value maps.
3. Spouses, also parents/adoptive parents and their minor children/adopted children shall be regarded as related persons.
4. Legal persons that directly or indirectly (through a legal person in which they hold at least 25 per cent of the shares (rights, member shares) granting the right to vote at the meeting of participants of the legal person) hold in another legal person more than 25 per cent of the shares (rights, member shares) granting the right to vote at the meeting of participants of this legal person shall be regarded as related persons.
5. Legal persons wherein, just as in the legal person wishing to acquire agricultural land, the same person or the same persons hold more than 25 per cent of the shares (rights, member shares) granting the right to vote at the meeting of participants of the legal person shall also be regarded as related persons.
6. In determining whether the total area of agricultural land acquired/held by the persons referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article does not exceed the maximum area of agricultural land being acquired as specified in this Article, a part of the area of land held by a legal person by the right of ownership which is proportionate to the shares (rights, member shares) directly or indirectly held by a related person (the person/persons that have established several legal persons) in this legal person shall be regarded as the total area of agricultural land acquired/held.
7. A person who wishes to acquire agricultural land must, prior to conclusion of a transfer transaction of agricultural land, fill out a declaration of the buyer of agricultural land confirming that, upon the conclusion of the transfer transaction of agricultural land, the area of agricultural land held by the person and related persons will not exceed the maximum area of agricultural land which the person and related persons may jointly acquire pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article. Where the transfer transaction of agricultural land conforms to the characteristics as defined in Article 17 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, the buyer shall indicate in the declaration of the buyer of agricultural land the sources of the funds used to acquire the land parcel. The form of the declaration of the buyer of agricultural land and rules for filling out and submission of such declarations shall be specified by an institution authorised by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Government’). The person acquiring agricultural land shall be held responsible for the accuracy of the data provided in the declaration of the buyer of agricultural land. The area of land which has been acquired in violation of the requirements set forth in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall be taken and transferred into state ownership by a court decision based on a motion of the prosecutor defending the public interest. The State shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government, reimburse to the person the land acquisition price or the average market value of the area of agricultural land taken, the amount of which shall be determined based on land value maps, where the average market value is lower.
Article 4. Acquisition of state-owned agricultural land
1. Unoccupied state-owned agricultural land may not be offered for sale, with the exception of the cases indicated in paragraph 2 of this Law. The state-owned agricultural land referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article in respect whereof no applications for the restoration of ownership rights through transfer into ownership free of charge have been submitted under the laws governing restoration of ownership rights of citizens to the existing immovable property shall be sold by forming agricultural land parcels in territorial planning documents or land holding projects in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Land Reform.
2. The right to purchase state-owned agricultural land without an auction shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government, be granted to:
1) persons holding by the right of ownership the construction works and facilities used for agricultural activities - the agricultural land parcels used by them for the operation of these construction works and facilities;
3) owners of private land parcels – areas of state-owned agricultural land edging in between the land parcels held by them by the right of ownership and not exceeding the size specified by the Law on Land Reform, where no agricultural land parcel of rational size and boundaries can be formed in these areas of state-owned agricultural land under provisions of the legal acts governing formation of land parcels.
3. The sequence of formation of agricultural land parcels in respect of the persons referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be determined by the Law on Land Reform.
4. The principal designation of an agricultural land parcel acquired from the State under this Law may be changed at the earliest after the lapse of five years from the date of acquisition of the agricultural land parcel. Prohibition to change the principal designation of land use shall apply also to the transfer of the land parcel to third parties. If it is found that the state-owned agricultural land acquired under this Law is not used according to its designation, the State shall acquire the right to repurchase such land at the same price at which it was acquired from the State. The State shall preserve its right to repurchase an agricultural land parcel not used according to its principal designation at the same price at which it was acquired from the State also in the event of transfer of this land parcel to third parties. A clause regarding the repurchase of agricultural land shall be entered in a contract on the purchase and sale of state-owned agricultural land.
5. If the land price lowering coefficient was applied to the price of agricultural land acquired under this Law, the persons who have acquired such land shall acquire the right to transfer it to other natural or legal persons, with the exception of the cases of land transfer into state ownership stipulated by laws, not earlier than after the lapse of five years from the date of acquisition of such land.
6. The funds received from the sale of parcels of state-owned agricultural land shall be allocated as follows:
1) 20 per cent – to the account of the state enterprise the State Land Fund for the implementation of measures for improving the structure of land holdings and reducing abandoned land, including the acquisition of private land into ownership of the State in exercising the right of first priority stipulated in Article 5(2) of this Law;
Article 5. Right of first priority to acquire private agricultural land
1. The right of first priority to acquire private agricultural land at the price at which it is offered for sale and under other same conditions, with the exception of the cases when it is sold at a public auction, shall be enjoyed in the following order of priority by:
1) co-owners of a land parcel – in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 4.79 of the Civil Code;
2) the user of the land parcel offered for sale who has used this land for agricultural activities for at least one year under a contract/contracts registered in the Register of Immovable Property – if he complies with the requirements set forth in Article 2(1) of this Law. The right of first priority specified in this point in respect of a legal person which itself may not acquire land due to the restriction on the area of agricultural land being acquired as stipulated in Article 3 of this Law may, at the person’s choice and in compliance with the requirements of this Law, be exercised by a participant of this legal person, provided that this legal person has used the land offered for sale under the contract registered in the Register of Immovable Property and has declared agricultural land and crops therein for at least five years;
2. The State shall enjoy the right of first priority (with the exception of the cases when the right of first priority is exercised by co-owners of a land parcel in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 4.79 of the Civil Code) to acquire, at the price at which it is offered for sale and under other same conditions, the private agricultural land which, according to valid detailed plans or special plans, is intended for public needs or the agricultural land intended for the implementation of the measures that are financed from the state budget and by European Union funds for improving the structure of agricultural holdings and reducing abandoned land. The price which the State may pay for purchased parcels of private agricultural land may not exceed the average market value of these plots estimated with the help of mass valuation performed in accordance with the procedure laid down by an institution authorised by the Government or the market value calculated by applying, by commission of an institution acting on behalf of the State or an undertaking, the individual valuation of property specified by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Bases of Property and Business Valuation, if the latter value is higher. The state enterprise the State Land Fund may lease the agricultural land required for the implementation of the measures that are financed from the state budget and by European Union funds for improving the structure of land holdings and reducing abandoned land (take over the lessor’s rights and duties in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6.559 of the Civil Code, provided that a lease contract has been registered in a public register) without an auction to the person/persons who used it on legal grounds prior to its passing into state ownership. A person who wishes to lease land without an auction shall have the right to pay for land lease in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government or its authorised institution in advance for the entire term of the lease or any part thereof. In this case, the funds accumulated for the state-owned land leased pursuant to this Law shall be allocated for the buying out of land required for the implementation of measures for improving the structure of land holdings and reducing abandoned land. If the person has prepaid, wholly or in part, for land lease and the value of land according to which the amount of land lease fee is calculated, or the rate of land lease fee, or another basis for the calculation of land lease fees has subsequently changed, the amount of the land lease fee for the period for which the land lease fee has been prepaid shall not be subject to change.
3. The owner of land shall give a notice of a decision to sell an agricultural land parcel to the selected notary or to a territorial unit of the National Land Service according to the location of the land parcel offered for sale. In his notice of the decision to sell the agricultural land parcel, the owner must indicate the user/users of the agricultural land parcel, where the agricultural land parcel is used by another person, and terms and conditions of sale. If the notice of the seller of the agricultural land parcel is submitted to the notary, the notary shall, no later than within two working days from the receipt of the notice, forward the notice to the territorial unit of the National Land Service according to the location of the land parcel offered for sale. Where a part of an agricultural land held by the right of common ownership is offered for sale, a notice of a decision to sell the part of the agricultural land parcel shall be given to a territorial unit of the National Land Service only if the co-owner of the land parcel does not exercise his right of first priority to purchase the land parcel in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4.79 of the Civil Code.
4. A territorial unit of the National Land Service shall give a written notice of an agricultural land parcel offered for sale, the terms and conditions of sale, and the conditions under which persons may exercise the right of first priority to acquire the agricultural land offered for sale not later than within five working days from the receipt of a notice from the owner of land to the user/users of the land parcel offered for sale, the director of municipal administration according to the location of the land or another institution concerned as regards the taking of land for public needs, where valid detailed or special plans envisage the use of the agricultural land parcel offered for sale for public needs, and to the state enterprise the National Land Fund. These persons must submit their consent (in the case of land acquisition into ownership of the State, a decision) for the purchase of the agricultural land parcel or refusal to purchase it to the territorial unit of the National Land Service not later than within 15 working days from the receipt of the notice. A territorial unit of the National Land Service shall, upon the receipt of a consent of the user/users of the land parcel offered for sale or his refusal to purchase the agricultural land parcel by the right of first priority and not later than within five working days from the receipt of the consent or refusal, give a written notice of the agricultural land parcel offered for sale, the terms and conditions of sale, and the conditions under which the persons may exercise the right of first priority to acquire the agricultural land offered for sale to the persons who hold by the right of ownership the land parcels bordering on the agricultural land parcel offered for sale. These persons must submit their consent (in the case of land acquisition into ownership of the State, a decision) for the purchase of the agricultural land parcel or refusal to purchase it to the territorial unit of the National Land Service not later than within 15 working days from the receipt of the notice. The persons, as referred to in points 1, 2 and 3 of paragraph 1 of this Article, wishing to exercise the right of first priority to acquire the agricultural land parcel offered for sale shall submit, together with the consent to purchase the land parcel, the documentation certifying their compliance with the requirements indicated in Article 2(1) of this Law.
5. A territorial unit of the National Land Service shall, upon receipt of a written consent/decision for the purchase of an agricultural land parcel and not later than within five working days from the expiry of a time limit within which the persons wishing to exercise the right of first priority to purchase the agricultural land parcel could have given their consent to purchase it, issue a certificate for the seller of the land parcel stating that the agricultural land parcel is sold in accordance with the procedure laid down in this Article to the person holding the right of first priority to purchase it. Where several persons wish to purchase the agricultural land parcel offered for sale by the right of first priority, the territorial unit of the National Land Service shall give a written notice to the persons wishing to acquire the agricultural land parcel that the land parcel will be sold to the persons in compliance with the order stipulated by this Law. Where several persons having equal right of first priority wish to purchase the agricultural land parcel offered for sale by the right of first priority, the certificate shall list all persons having the equal right of first priority, and the owner of land shall decide at his own discretion to which person or persons, where land is sold to several persons by the right of common ownership, to sell the agricultural land parcel under the terms and conditions proposed.
6. When the persons having the right of first priority refuse to purchase an agricultural land parcel or fail to submit a consent to purchase the agricultural land parcel within the specified time limit, a territorial unit of the National Land Service shall, not later than within five working days from the expiry of the time limit within which the persons wishing to exercise the right of first priority to purchase the agricultural land parcel could have submitted their consent to purchase it, issue a certificate that the persons having the right of first priority to purchase the agricultural land parcel offered for sale did not wish to purchase it according to provisions of this Article, and the owner of the land parcel may transfer this land parcel to other persons. Where the agricultural land parcel is sold to other persons at a lower price and/or under other terms and conditions than was indicated in the initial notice of the owner of land, a repeat notice must be given in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 3 of this Article.
7. An agricultural land parcel shall be sold in omission of the procedures stipulated in paragraphs 3-6 of this Article where the buyer selected by the owner of the agricultural land parcel complies with the requirements specified in paragraph 1 of this Article and there are no persons having a higher order of priority.
8. Where an agricultural land parcel is sold in violation of the right of first priority to purchase it, the person concerned shall have the right, within three months from the date when he became, or apparently could have become, aware of the sale of the agricultural land parcel, to refer to court requiring that he be transferred the buyer’s rights and duties.
Article 6. Liability of legal persons for failure to carry out agricultural activities in a land parcel
1. Failure to comply with the duty, as stipulated in Article 2(2) of this Law, to ensure the use of acquired agricultural land for agricultural activities shall be subject to a fine in the amount from five thousand litas up to ten thousand litas.
2. The amount of a fine to be imposed shall be determined according to the average of minimum and maximum amounts of the fine taking into account the mitigating or aggravating circumstances listed in paragraph 4 or 5 of this Article. In the presence of any mitigating circumstances, the amount of the fine shall be reduced from the average to the minimum, and in the presence of any aggravating circumstances the fine shall be increased from the average to the maximum amount. Substantiation of the reduction or increase of the amount of the fine shall be provided in a resolution on the case of the offence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article (hereinafter: the ‘offence’).
3. The court investigating an appeal against a resolution adopted in a case of an offence shall, taking into account the nature and extent of the committed offence, mitigating and other relevant circumstances (due to which a respective fine imposed on an offender would be excessive and disproportionate/inadequate in respect of the committed offence and therefore unfair) and acting in compliance with the principles of fairness and reasonableness, have the right to impose a fine in the amount smaller than the minimum amount stipulated in this Article.
4. The circumstances mitigating liability for an offence shall be as follows:
1) a legal person that has committed the offence assists in the detection of the offence and cooperates with the authority or officer investigating the offence in the course of investigation;
5. The circumstances aggravating liability for an offence shall be as follows:
2) a legal person has been punished for commission of the same offence within the period of three years before the commission of the offence;
Article 7. Investigation of a detected infringement of this Law and examination of an infringement case, adoption and execution of resolutions
1. Offences shall be investigated and records of offences shall be drawn up by officials of executive institutions of municipalities and the officials duly authorised by them. The records of offences shall be drawn up in two copies, one of which together with the material collected during the investigation shall be communicated to the commission referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article no later than within three working days from the date of the drawing up of a record and the other copy shall be forthwith served upon a legal person suspected of the commission of the offence. The record shall indicate the date and venue of its drawing up, the position, name, and surname of the person drawing up the record; data on the legal person held liable; the venue, time and subject matter of the offence committed; the names and surnames and addresses of witnesses, if any; clarifications of the authorised representative of the legal person held liable; other information necessary to examine the case. A record of offence shall be signed by the person who has drawn it up and the legal person held liable or its authorised representative; if there are witnesses, the record may also be signed by these persons. If the legal person held liable or its authorised representative refuses to sign the record, this shall be entered in the record. The legal person held liable or its authorised representative shall be entitled to attach to the record their clarifications and observations on the content of the record, as well as to state reasons for their refusal to sign the record.
2. Offences shall be examined by administrative commissions under municipal councils according to the place of commission of an offence. Cases shall be examined and resolutions on the offences contained in the cases shall be adopted within 20 working days from the receipt of a record and other material of a case by an administrative commission. The resolutions of the administrative commission shall be adopted by simple majority vote of the members of the commission present at a meeting, provided that the meeting is attended by at least half of the members of the commission.
3. A legal person suspected of the commission of an offence shall be notified of the date, time and venue of examination of his case not later than ten days in advance by registered mail at the address of the registered office of the legal person indicated in the Register of Legal Entities, except in the cases when the legal person indicates another address for correspondence or when the summons is sent to the electronic mail delivery address indicated in the Register of Legal Entities. Cases of offences shall be examined in accordance with the oral procedure. If the legal person suspected of the commission of the offence is given a timely and adequate notice of the date, time and venue of examination of the case, but the legal person or his representative fails to appear and does not provide documentation to justify his absence, the case may be examined in his absence. A meeting whereat parties to the case are heard and witnesses are examined shall be public. The commission referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article may, on its own initiative or at the request of the parties to the case, declare the meeting or a part thereof closed, if it is necessary to protect a state or official secret or a commercial secret of the legal person. If the commission referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article or another entity provides new evidence at any stage of the proceedings, the legal person shall be entitled to immediately access it and to provide clarifications regarding it no less than within five working days from obtaining access to the evidence provided. In this case, the time limit for the examination of the case and adoption of a resolution may be extended by five working days.
4. A legal person held liable for a suspected offence shall have the right to access the material of the case, provide clarifications on the offence prior to examination of the case, to participate in the examination of the case, present evidence, submit requests, benefit from the legal assistance of a lawyer or another authorised representative in the course of the examination of the case, express himself in his mother tongue or in the language which he understands, and make use of the services of an interpreter, if he does not speak the Lithuanian language. If witnesses are examined at a meeting of examination of the case, the legal person shall have the right to pose questions to them, as well as to call own witnesses and to provide other evidence.
5. Upon examining a case of offence, one of the following resolutions shall be adopted:
6. A resolution must indicate: the name of the commission which has adopted the resolution and is referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article; the date of the examination of a case; data on the legal person whose case is under examination; data on other parties involved in the case; the circumstances established during the examination of the case and their reasoned assessment; the article of a law or a paragraph thereof whose provisions have been violated by the legal person; a decision adopted in the case. The resolution shall be signed by the chair of a meeting of the commission indicated in paragraph 2 of this Article. A copy of the resolution shall, within three working days from the date of the adoption of the resolution, be sent by registered mail to or served on the legal person in respect whereof it has been adopted.
7. A resolution of the commission referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article to impose a fine may, within 20 working days from the date of service of a copy of the resolution, be appealed to an administrative court in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Administrative Proceedings. The appeal to court against the resolution in a case of offence shall suspend execution of the resolution.
8. The fines imposed in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law must be paid to the state budget not later than within 20 working days from the service of a resolution on the imposition of a fine on a legal person, and if such a resolution is appealed against and the court does not uphold the appeal - not later than within 20 working days from the date of the service of a copy of the decision of the court on the legal person. The unpaid fines shall be recovered in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania.
I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.