Meeting held on the draft Law on the amendments to the Law of Georgia on the Ownership of Agricultural Land

7 Jun '17

On June 6, a joint meeting of the Agrarian Committee and Legislative Framework Development Committee was held at the office of Business Association of Georgia.

The draft law on the amendment to the Law of Georgia on Ownership of Agricultural Land, which newly regulates agricultural land ownership issues, was discussed at the meeting, in particular: 

a) The state, municipality, LEPL, a citizen of Georgia, a resident legal entity more than 50% of share of which is owned by a resident company and / or a citizen of Georgia, resident bank, a microfinance organization and / or international financial institution  may benefit from an unrestricted right to own agricultural land; 

b) A number of restrictions, including permanent residence and / or investment residence permits, lease of land for more than 5 years and the appropriate permit issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and so on, are established for foreign physical persons;

c) The draft law also sets up a number of restrictions for foreign companies or resident legal entities, more than 50% of shares of which is owned by the foreign legal entity. In particular:

- Land area, not less than 5 and no more than 100 hectares;

- Documents confirming the legal use of the land plot (lease agreement, documents confirming the payment of property (land);

- Investment plan and guarantee / proof of implementation of this plan), etc.

At the meeting the representatives of the Association member companies expressed certain remarks on the draft law and the future action plan of the Association was planned.