You're reading: Kuchma vetoes law that declares land certificate sales illegal

KYIV, Nov. 24 (Ukrainian News) – President Leonid Kuchma has vetoed a law that declared agreements on the sale of land certificates illegal, the president’s parliamentary representative Roman Bezsmertny said.

“The president was absolutely right to veto the law and propose abolishing it,” Bezsmertny said.

Bezsmertny said that Kuchma noted that the law was in conflict with the norms of the Constitution and presidential decrees, which prohibit the restriction of Ukrainian citizens’ rights to acquire and manage assets, including land.

Meanwhile, Bezsmertny said that Kuchma showed understanding for the issues raised by parliamentarians but proposed that all the disputed issues should be resolved in the new Land Code and Civil Code.

Parliament adopted a law on November 2 declaring illegal all agreements on the purchase of government acts (certificates) for land plots, excluding cases of inheritance or succession, as earlier reported.

According to a December 10, 1994 presidential decree, rights to a land plot may be bought or sold. However, the procedures for this are not stipulated in the active Land Code.

6.1 million Ukrainian citizens hold certificates for about 26 million hectares of land.

There are 33 million hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine.