LAW 18 19/02/1991
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The Law No. 18/February 19, 1991Law on the land resources*)ISSUED BY: PARLIAMENTPUBLISHED IN: OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF ROMANIA, Part I, No. 37, February 20, 1991. *) The Law No. 18/February 19, 1991 - Law on the land resources was published in the "Monitorul Oficial" (Official Gazette of Romania), Part I, No. 37/February 20, 1991.Chapter 1 General provisionsArticle 1
Land of any kind, regardless of its destination, of the title on whose basis it is held, or of the public or private sector to which it belongs, shall constitute the land resources of Romania.Article 2
Depending on its destination, land shall be:a) land for agricultural purposes, namely: productive agricultural land - arable land, vineyards, orchards, viticultural nurseries, fruit-growing nurseries, hop and mulberry plantations, pastures, hay fields, hot houses, solaria, hotbeds and the like -, land with forest vegetation if it does not belong to forest planning, afforested pastures, land occupied by agricultural and zootechnic constructions and installations, piscicultural and land improvement arrangements, technological and agricultural operation roads, depositing grounds and platforms serving the needs of agricultural production, as well as unproductive grounds which can be fitted out and used for the agricultural production;b) land for forestry purposes, namely: afforested land or land serving the needs of forest culture, production, or administration, land for the purpose of afforestation and unproductive land - rocky regions, steep lands, blocks, cliffs, ravines, torrents - if they are included in forest planning;c) land permanently under water, namely: minor river beds, lake basins at maximum retention levels, bottom of interior maritime waters and of the territorial sea;d) land within the built-up area, appertaining to urban and rural localities on which there are located constructions and other arrangements of the localities, agricultural and forest land inclusive;e) land used for special purposes, such as land used for road, railway, naval, and air transports, with the corresponding constructions and installations, hydrotechnical and thermic constructions and installations and those for the transport of electricity, natural gas and for telecommunications, land for mining and oil exploitations, pits and waste dumps of any kind, land for defence needs, beaches, reservations, natural monuments, archaeological and historical sites and piles, and suchlike.Article 3
In the sense of the present law, by land holders there shall be understood the titulars of the property right, of other real rights on the land, or those who, according to civil law, have the quality of precarious holders or possessors.Article 4
Land may form the object of private property right or of other real rights, having natural or legal persons as titulars, or it may belong to public domain or private domain. Public domain may be of national interest, in which case the property on it, under public law regime, belongs to the State, or it may be of local interest, in which case the property, under public law regime, too, belongs to communes, towns, municipalities, or counties. The administration of the public domain of national interest shall be made by the bodies provided by law, and the administration of the public domain of local interest shall be made by mayoralties or by prefectures, as the case may be. Land from public domain shall be that appropriated to a public utility.Article 5
To public domain shall belong the land on which there are located constructions of public interest, markets, ways of communications, street networks and public parks, ports and airports, land for forestry management, river and stream beds, basins of public interest lakes, the bottom of interior maritime waters and of the territorial sea, the Black Sea coast, beaches inclusive, land for natural reservations and national parks, archaeological and historical monuments, sites and piles, natural monuments, land for defence needs or for other uses which, according to the law, belong to public domain or which, by their very nature, are of public use or interest. Land belonging to public domain shall be taken out of civil circuit, unless the law provides otherwise. The property right on it is imprescriptible.Article 6
Private domain of the State and of the communes, towns, municipalities, and counties respectively shall consist of land - other than that provided under Article 5 existing or having come in their property by ways and modes provided by law. It is subject to the common law provisions, unless the law provides otherwise.Article 7
The land resources and, correspondingly, the property right and other real rights shall be registered into the documents of land records and real-estate publicity provided by law.Chapter 2 Establishment of private property right on landArticle 8
The establishment of private property right on the land which is in the agricultural production cooperatives' patrimony shall be made under the terms of the present law, by reconstituting the property right or by constituting this right. By the provisions of the law shall benefit the agricultural production cooperatives' members who brought land in them or from whom land was taken over in any way by them, as well as, in terms of the civil law, their heirs, agricultural production cooperatives' members who brought no land in them, and other precisely specified people. The establishment of property right shall be made, on request, by issuing a property title within the limit of a minimum area of 0.5 ha for each entitled person, according to the present law, and of a maximum of 10 ha per family, in arable equivalent. By family there shall be understood the spouses and unmarried children, if they manage the homestead together with their parents.Article 9
Persons to whom the property right is reconstituted or constituted under the terms of the present law shall not be assigned in property more than 10 ha per family, in arable equivalent, even if the reconstitution or constitution of the property right is made in several localities. Persons provided under paragraph 1 shall attach to their application a statement on their own responsibility, showing the land areas they have or are entitled to receive under the terms of the present law.Article 10
The land area brought into the agricultural production cooperative shall be that resulting from: the cooperative's books, applications to join the cooperative, agricultural books from the date of joining the cooperative, property deeds, and land book, or, in their absence, from any other evidence, statements made by witnesses inclusive. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall correspondingly apply also with regard to areas taken over by cooperatives either on the basis of some special laws, or without any title, or in any other way. The establishment of property right shall be made on request, on the basis of the situation of the lands held by the cooperative on January 1, 1990, registered in the record system of the general land cadastre or of the agricultural register, corrected with the alienations legally effected by cooperative up to the date when the law has come into force. The application for the establishment of property right shall be forwarded and registered at the mayoralty within 30 days after the coming into force of the present law. The establishment of property right shall be concluded within 90 days at the most after the publication of the present law.Article 11
In order to establish the property right by its reconstitution or constitution, to effectively assign the land to the entitled persons, and to issue property titles, in each commune, town, or municipality, a commission led by the mayor shall be set up by a decision of the prefect's office. The communal, town, or municipal commissions shall operate under the guidance of a county commission, appointed by a decision of the prefect's office and led by the prefect. The commissions' setting-up procedure and manner of operation, as well as the pattern and mode of assignment of the new property titles shall be established by a Government's decision within 15 days after the date of publication of the present law. The commissions shall be composed of citizens designated by the community from all the entitled categories, specialists and civil servants. In the communes consisting of several villages, the citizens shall be designated proportionally to the numerical share of each village's inhabitants. The county commission shall be competent to solve contestations and to validate or invalidate the measures established by the subordinate commissions. Against the county commission's decision, the discontented party may lodge a complaint with the court of first instance within whose area the land is situated, within 30 days after the date when he/she took cognizance of the solution delivered by the county commission. The complaint shall suspend the execution. The court of first instance shall establish a day of appearance which shall be directly communicated to the party lodging the complaint, and it may request the county commission to designate one of its members to be present on the trial day in order to provide explanations. Judicial control shall be exclusively limited to the correct application of the peremptory provisions under the present law as regards the right to obtain the property title, the due land area, and, if such be the case, the accuracy of the reduction of this area, according to the law. The complaint shall be tried in court by a panel of two judges. The court's decision shall be final. On the basis of the court's decision, the county commission having issued the title shall modify, replace, or annul it, as the case may be.Article 12
The heir quality shall be established on the basis of the heir certificate or the final judicial decision, or, in their absence, of any other evidence from which it results the accepting of inheritance. Heirs who cannot prove this quality because the land was not in the civil circuit shall be considered reinstated de jure within the acceptance term with regard to their due share from the land that belonged to their author. They shall be considered as having accepted the inheritance by the application they make to the commission. The property title shall be issued with regard to the land area determined in the name of all the heirs, who are to proceed according to the common law.Article 13
Land belonging to agricultural production cooperatives situated outside the buildable area of localities shall become the cooperative members' or their heirs' property, as the case may be, in accordance with the land areas which were brought or taken in any way into the cooperative's patrimony. As a rule, the effective assignment of the land shall be made, on hillsides, on the former locations, and in plain zones, on fields established by the commission, and not necessarily on the former locations of the property, within the present cooperatives' perimeters. In case that, between the agricultural production cooperative's land area, as resulted by summing up the land areas brought by its members or taken over by the cooperative in any other way, and the present land area there shall have occurred modifications both with regard to the total land area and by utilization classes, the establishment of the cooperative members' or of their heirs' property shall be made by reducing a proportional share resulted from the subtraction of the areas legally used for other purposes from the initial total area, and proportionally to the existing agricultural utilization classes. Area holders with properties of less than 1 ha shall not be affected. Areas occupied by fruit-growing and vine-growing plantations, hot houses, ponds, piscicultural arrangements, nurseries, administrative, agricultural, and zootechnic constructions, as well as those required for the fodder base appertaining to the zootechnic production capacities existing in cooperatives may, on the basis of the owners' option, represent a contribution to the setting up of some private-type association forms, with or without legal personality.Article 14
Cooperative members who abandoned the cooperative, did not work in it, or do not live in the respective locality, as the case may be, as well as their heirs may receive land from the outside of built-up area, brought or taken in any way into the cooperative's patrimony. The provisions of the previous paragraph shall also apply to persons whose land passed into the cooperative's patrimony, with or without title, without having acquired the quality of cooperative members, as well as to their heirs, as the case may be. By the provisions of paragraph 2 shall also benefit the persons holding the titles of Knight of the Order of "Michael the Brave" and "Michael the Brave with Swords" and their heirs, who opted for and to whom arable land was allotted at the date of appropriation, and who do not own other land, except those who alienated it. The provisions of Article 13, paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be correspondingly applied. Land areas of 10,000 m� in arable equivalent shall be allotted in property, on request, to persons having totally or partly lost their working capacity and to the heirs of those deceased as a result of their participation in the fight for the victory of the December 1989 Revolution. For the land allotted, these beneficiaries shall be exempt from rates or taxes.Article 15
In cases in which, within the perimeter of some agricultural production cooperatives, there were also amalgamated agricultural lands belonging to private owners, who did not receive other land in compensation, at their request or at that of their heirs, they shall be reinstated in property and the areas shall be restored in an equivalent share, within certain fields established by the commission. The provisions of Article 13, paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be correspondingly applied.Article 16
In localities with Romanian citizens belonging to the German minority or inhabited by persons who were deported or displaced, dispossessed of land by statutory instruments after 1944, land areas from the reserve at commissions' disposal shall be assigned in property, on request, with priority to them or their heirs, or the procedure shall be pursuant to Article 36. On assignment, the land area they had in property shall be taken into consideration, without exceeding 10 ha per family, in arable equivalent.Article 17
Land from the outside of the built-up area brought or taken in any other way into the cooperative's patrimony from its members or other persons deceased without having any heirs, as well as unclaimed land shall remain at commission's disposal. All land belonging to the cooperative that was not assigned according to Articles 13-16, as well as State-owned land from the outside of the built-up area exploited by the cooperative shall also remain at commission's disposal, to be assigned to other entitled persons, according to the provisions of the present law. Unassigned land remaining at commission's disposal shall be transferred to State's private domain, to be placed at the disposal of those who wish to set up or develop agricultural exploitations, by lease, rent, or sale, under the terms of the law. Land transferred to State's private domain may be assigned, free of charge, in 1991, to the persons provided under paragraph 3, according to the provisions of the law. The Agency for Rural Development and Planning shall be set up by law with a view to managing this land. Until it will be taken over for being managed by the agency, the land shall be managed by mayoralties.Article 18
Active cooperative members who did not bring land into the cooperative, or who brought land with an area of less than 5,000 m� , as well as those who, without having the quality of cooperative members, worked in any way as employees during the last 3 years in the cooperative or in cooperative associations, may be assigned in property plots from the land provided under Article 17, if they are established or are going to establish themselves in the locality and do not hold land in property in other localities. The area assigned in property shall be determined by taking into account the land areas, the number of applicants, and the area assigned to those who brought land into the cooperative. The provisions under paragraph 1 shall also apply to the persons who were deported and do not benefit by the provisions under Articles 13-15. Up to 5,000 m� in arable equivalent per family may be assigned, on request, for agricultural utilization to the specialistic personnel from communal public services, as long as they work in the locality, if they or members of the family to which they belong have no land in property in the respective locality. The property right on this land belongs to the commune, town, or municipality, as the case may be. On leaving the locality, the persons mentioned under paragraph 3 are entitled to indemnifications for investments made, with the owner's preceding consent, and if they are useful on the assigned area.Article 19
In case that in some agricultural cooperatives there is no land left available to be assigned in the minimal area provided under Article 8, as well as for the persons provided under Articles 16 and 18, paragraphs 1 and 2, the commission shall decide a share reduction proportional to the area that is allotted, so as to assign land in property to these categories, too.Article 20
In localities with surplus of agricultural land area and with workforce deficit in agriculture, from the land provided under Article 17 up to 10 ha in arable equivalent may be assigned in property to all families which apply for it in writing and assume the obligation to work this area. Families without land or with little land from other localities which apply in writing, may receive up to 10 ha in arable equivalent from the outside of the buildable area, with the obligation to establish their domicile in the commune, town, or municipality, as the case may be, and to cultivate the land received, abandoning the property they held in their locality.Article 21
At the request of parish commissions or of other representative bodies of local cult communities - from the rural environment -, the commissions shall assign in property, out of agricultural land, an area of up to 5 ha in arable equivalent to each parish or hermitage belonging to the legally recognized cults, or up to 10 ha of agricultural land in arable equivalent for monasteries, in so far as all these establishments formerly possessed agricultural lands taken over by agricultural production cooperatives, and at present do not hold such lands or have restricted areas. In zones which did not belong to cooperatives, the reconstitution of the property right shall be made from the land existing in State property and under mayoralties' management, at their proposal, by a decision of the prefect's office. The provisions of Article 9, paragraph 2 shall correspondingly be applied.Article 22
There shall be and remain in the private property of cooperative members or of their heirs, as the case may be, regardless of their trade or domicile, the land corresponding to the dwelling house and household dependencies, as well as the courtyard and garden around them, determined according to Article 8 under the DecreeLaw No. 42/1990 on some measures for stimulating the peasantry. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall also apply to the persons from the zones belonging to cooperatives who did not have the cooperative-member quality.Article 23
Land within the built-up area that was assigned by cooperatives, according to the law, to cooperative members or other entitled persons, for the construction of dwellings and household dependencies, shall remain and be inscribed in the present holders' property, even if the assignment was made from land taken over, regardless of the manner applied, from the former owners. The former owners shall be compensated with an equivalent land area within the built-up area, and, in its absence, with land from the outside of the built-up area, but in the immediate neighbourhood.Article 24
In case the agricultural production cooperative assigned plots for utilization to some cooperative members, in the former owners' gardens within the built-up area, such land shall revert de jure in the initial holders' property. Persons who have received land in the terms of the preceding paragraph and on which they have made investments shall be entitled to an idemnification equal to their equivalent value, if they cannot be removed.Article 25
Land situated within the built-up area of a locality, that belonged to cooperative members or other persons who died, in both cases without having heirs, shall be transferred in the property of the commune, town, or municipality, as the case may be, and under the mayoralties' administration, in order to be sold, leased, or turned over for use to those who apply for the construction of dwellings and have no ground, or for the location of social-cultural or production-oriented objectives, according to the law, or for the compensations provided under Article 23. Until the operations provided under paragraph 1 shall be carried out, the land shall be inscribed and used according to their former purpose.Article 26
For their due areas, according to the present law, property titles shall be issued to entitled titulars, taking into consideration, if such be the case, their option to exploit the land individually or in various forms of private association, as a whole or in part, possession having to be given on these bases. On dissolving of the agricultural production cooperative, a winding-up commission set up within 15 days after the date of coming into force of the present law, by a decision of the prefect's office, at the mayoralty's proposal, within 9 months after the cooperative's dissolution shall proceed to the realization of assets and payment of liabilities, under the terms provided by law.Article 27
The winding-up commissions provided under Article 26 shall have the obligation to ascertain and establish any acts violating the law, to take measures for recovering the damages, according to the law, and to notify the bodies of criminal prosecution, if such be the case. Sums recovered in the terms of the preceding paragraph shall be considered realized assets and are to follow the destination of those provided under Article 26. At the expiry of the term provided under Article 26, the commissions shall present the winding-up balance sheet and the explanatory report to the specialistic body of the prefect's office or of the Mayoralty of the Municipality of Bucharest, invested with audit prerogatives, according to the law, for discharge. Liability statements to the State and other juristic persons remaining after the termination of the winding-up operations, drawn up by the commission, shall be advised and centralized by the Ministry of Finance, and thereafter the Government shall present them to Parliament, accompanied by resolution proposals.Article 28
The agricultural and zootechnic constructions, small-industry workshops, machines, tools, and other similar fixed assets that belonged to the wound-up agricultural production cooperative, as well as the underlying ground and the land required for their normal use, vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations, and the animals shall become property of the members of private-type associations with legal personality, if they will be set up. The former cooperative members' rights on the goods provided under paragraph 1 shall be established in a value share proportional to the land area brought into or taken in any way by the cooperative, and to the volume of the work done. Associate members shall constitute these rights as contribution in kind to the new association. Debt claims shall be established for the former cooperative members who do not become members of this association, proportionally to the value share that is due to them from the cooperative's patrimony, if they were not covered in another way. Payment of debts shall be made by the association, in kind or in cash, according to the winding-up commission's decision. In case such associations were not set up, the goods and animals provided under paragraph 1 shall be sold by public auction to natural or juristic persons. Debts of any kind of the former cooperative shall be paid from the price realized. Cattle and sheep as well as vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations shall be excepted, as they shall be assigned to the former cooperative members. Within 9 months after the cooperative's dissolution, the winding-up commission set up according to Article 26, paragraph 2 shall establish the cash rights due to each of the former cooperative members. The former cooperative members shall receive their due share from the turning to account by auction of the common goods, proportionally to the land area brought into the cooperative, in arable equivalent, and to the value volume of the work done. The goods provided under paragraph 1 which are not sold within a year after the cooperative's winding-up date shall be transferred in the private property of the communes, towns, and municipalities where they are situated, without any indemnification, and under the mayoralties' management. It shall be forbidden the demolition of the agricultural and zootechnic constructions, maintenance workshops, as well as household and small-industry dependencies and installations, forming the object of paragraph 1. By way of exception, if degraded or in any other way unserviceable, they may be dissolved with the permit of the prefect's office, and the recovered materials shall be turned to account by mayoralties, the resulting amounts having to be entered into the assets of the winding-up operations. Constructions designed for social or cultural utilization shall be transferred, free of charge, under the regime of public law, in the property of communes, towns, and municipalities, and under the mayoralties' management.Article 29
Intercooperative associations or State and cooperative ones in any domain may reorganize themselves in trading companies by shares within 90 days after the publication of the law. The land and other goods brought by the cooperative into the association, as well as the goods acquired by it, shall become the company's property, while the cooperative members and other persons entitled to reconstitute their property on the land belonging to the company, as well as its employees, may become shareholders, pursuant to the law. In case some cooperative members or other entitled persons provided under paragraph 2 do not choose to become shareholders of the trading company, their property right shall be established, in accordance with the provisions under Articles 13 and 14 of the present law, out of the land which was not brought by cooperative into association. In localities where there are no such possibilities, some inefficient farms of the association may be dissolved. The decision regarding this matter shall be adopted by the county commission at the proposal of the communal, town, or municipal commissions, as the case may be. The provisions under Article 33 shall correspondingly apply.Article 30
State-owned land under the exploitation of cooperatives shall be at the disposal of the commissions provided under Article 11, with a view to their assignment in the property of those entitled, according to the law. Unassigned land, remaining at the commission's disposal, shall be taken over by mayoralties in order to lease or rent them to the persons who want to exploit them.Article 31
Land assigned according to Article 18, paragraph 1, Article 20, and Article 39 shall not be alienated by inter vivos deeds for a period of 10 years calculated after the beginning of the year following upon that in which the property was inscribed, under the sanction of absolute nullity of the alienation deed. The ascertainment of nullity may be requested in court by the mayoralty, prefect's office, public prosecutor, as well as by any interested person.Article 32
Land derived from former communal - lawn and arable - commons, that was used by agricultural production cooperatives, shall be transferred in the private property of communes, towns, or municipalities, as the case may be, and under the mayoralties' management to be used as communal pastures and for the production of fodder and seed for fodder cultures.Article 33
Persons having received land in the terms of the present law, on which there are vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations, shall reimburse the outstanding credit difference, corresponding to the area received. The reimbursement shall be made in cash or in agricultural products, within the reimbursement term which the agricultural production cooperative was compelled to meet. Land-improvement works existing on the land received, the corresponding protection zones inclusive, shall be transferred in the property of units specialized in the exploitation of such works, pursuant to the law.Chapter 3 Provisions with regard to State-owned land and some special provisionsArticle 34
State-owned land shall be considered those areas entered in its patrimony pursuant to the legal provisions existing up to January 1, 1990 and registered as such in the record system of the general land cadastre and in the forest plannings. State-owned land managed by stations and institutes for scientific research, which have as purpose the research into and production of seed and seedling material from superior biological classes and pedigree stock, belongs to public domain and shall remain under their management. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall also apply to State-owned land used, at the date of the present law, by agricultural or sylvicultural type education units, and which passes under their management.Article 35
State-owned land situated within the built-up area of localities and which is under the mayoralties' management, at the date of the present law, shall be transferred in the property of communes, towns, or municipalities, following the legal conditions of land provided under Article 25. State-owned land situated within the built-up area of localities and assigned, according to the law, in perpetual use or in use for the duration of construction's existence, with a view to constructing private-property dwellings, or on the occasion of the buying of such dwellings from the State, shall be transferred, at the request of the present owners of dwellings, in their property, integrally or proportionally to the share held in construction, as the case may be. Lands assigned in use for the existence duration of the constructions of their holders, as an effect of the taking over of the land corresponding to constructions, pursuant to the terms of the provisions under Article 30 of the Law No. 58/1974 with regard to the systematization of territory and urban and rural localities, shall be transferred in the property of the present titulars of the right to use the land, owners of the dwellings. The provisions of Article 22 shall remain applicable. Lands without constructions, unaffected by details of systematization, from the buildable area of localities, under the mayoralties' management, considered as State property by application of the Decree No. 712/1966 shall, on request, be restored to the former owners or their heirs, as the case may be. The assignment in property of the lands provided under paragraphs 2-5 shall be made by a decision of the prefect's office, at the mayoralties' proposal made on the basis of the verification of the legal situation of lands.Article 36
Persons whose agricultural land was transferred in State property as an effect of some special laws, other than those of expropriation, and which is under the management of State agricultural units shall, on request, become shareholders in the trading companies set up on the basis of the Law No. 15/1990 from the present State agricultural units. By the same provisions shall benefit these persons' heirs, too. The application shall be forwarded, within 30 days after the coming into force of the present law, to the mayoralty in whose territorial area the land is situated. The number of shares received shall be proportional to the land area in arable equivalent transferred in the State's patrimony, without exceeding, however, the value of 10 ha of land per family, in arable equivalent. Persons whose land was confiscated as an effect of criminal convictions shall not benefit by the provisions of this article, except the persons specified in the Decree-Law No. 118/March 30, 1990 with regard to the granting of certain rights to the persons persecuted for political reasons by the dictatorship established on March 6, 1945.Article 37
Agricultural land without constructions, installations, and arrangements of public interest, transferred in State property and which is, at the date of the present law, under the mayoralties' management, shall be restored to the former owners or their heirs, without exceeding the area of 10 ha per family, in arable equivalent. The restitution of land shall be made, on request, in the terms of Article 10 under the present law, by a decision of the prefect's office, at the mayoralty's proposal. The provisions of the last paragraph of Article 36 shall correspondingly apply.Article 38
In localities with land deficit, in which the former owners' land is in State property, and they do not choose to receive shares in the terms of Article 36, and they or their heirs cannot be assigned the minimal area provided by the present law, the county commissions shall decide the assignment of an area of 5,000 m� per family, in arable equivalent, on request, from State-owned land. For the land difference up to which the former owners or their heirs are entitled according to the present law, the provisions under Article 36 shall correspondingly apply. Land areas on which investments were carried out, other than land improvements, shall not be assigned. Vine-growing or fruit-growing plantations may be affected in such cases only in the situation in which there is no land in another utilization class to be assigned in property.Article 39
In the mountain zone - unfavourably affected by natural factors, such as climate, altitude, slope, isolation - a land area of up to 10 ha in arable equivalent may be assigned in property, on request, to young peasant families coming from the mountain agricultural environment, having the necessary skill, and assuming in writing the obligation to create homesteads, to breed animals, and to rationally exploit the land to this end. Land provided in the preceding paragraph shall be granted from the land resources existing at the mayoralties' disposal. The assignment in property of land shall be made by a decision of the prefect's office, at the mayoralties' proposal.Article 40
Land resulting from former communal commons transmitted to State units, and which are at present used as pastures, hay fields, and as arable land shall be restored in the property of communes, towns, and municipalities, as the case may be, and under the mayoralties' management, in order to be used as communal pastures and for the production of fodder or seed for fodder cultures. There are excepted the areas occupied by vineyards, orchards and other trees, fodder seed trees, fish ponds, lakes, or those which have as purpose the growing of vegetables, fruit, raw material for canning factories, rice plantations, and experimental fields for agricultural research, which shall be compensated in equivalence by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation.Article 41
Land with forest vegetation, woods, riverside coppices, shrubberies, afforested pastures, that belonged to natural persons and, by the effect of some special laws, were transferred in State property, shall be restored, on request, to the former owners or their heirs, in an area equal to that transferred in State property, but not more than 1 ha. The provisions of Article 42 and Article 47 shall correspondingly apply. If on the land areas that are to be assigned under the terms of the preceding paragraph there are constructions or forest arrangements, or they are being executed or designed, other land areas shall be assigned, by observing the same terms. Land areas assigned under the terms of paragraph 1, together with the agricultural area in arable equivalent, reconstituted in keeping with the present law, shall not exceed 10 ha per family. Land provided under paragraph 1 shall be managed and exploited in sylvicultural conditions, according to the law. These areas shall be granted from isolated bodies or at forest skirts.Article 42
Romanian citizens having their domicile abroad and former Romanian citizens reacquiring Romanian citizenship may benefit, on request, by the provisions of the present law, if they establish their domicile in the country. Persons provided under paragraph 1 not having formulated applications for the reconstitution or constitution of the property right under the terms of the provisions of Article 10 may address themselves to the Agency for Rural Development and Planning in order to receive land by sale, grant, or lease.Article 43
Persons to whom property rights have been constituted on agricultural land shall be obliged to duly observe the terms provided under Articles 18, 20, and 39 under the present law, in connection with the establishment of the domicile and setting up of new homesteads. Non-observance of these terms shall entail loss of the property right on the land and constructions of any kind realized on it. No damages shall be granted for the land, and for the constructions the owner shall receive an indemnity equal to their real value. The body empowered to ascertain these situations shall be the Agency for Rural Development and Planning, under whose administration the respective land and constructions shall pass.Article 44
The territorial delimitation of the new properties resulting from the application of the present law shall start from the present organization of territory, and shall be made on the basis of some parcelling-out projects prepared by specialized bodies.Chapter 4 Legal circulation of the landArticle 45
Private land, regardless of its titular, is and shall remain in the civil circuit. It may be acquired and alienated in any of the ways established by the civil legislation, by observing the provisions under the present law.Article 46
Land situated within and outside the built-up area may be alienated, regardless of the area dimensions, by inter vivos legal deeds, concluded in certified form. In all cases of acquirement, by inter vivos legal deeds, the acquirer's property shall not exceed 100 ha of agricultural land, in arable equivalent, per family, under sanction of absolute nullity of the alienation deed.Article 47
Natural persons who are not Romanian citizens and do not have their domicile in Romania as well as juristic persons not having Romanian nationality and their headquarters in Romania shall not acquire land of any kind in property by inter vivos deeds. Persons provided under the preceding paragraph acquiring land in property by inheritance shall be compelled to alienate it within 1 year after the date of acquirement, under sanction of its transfer in State property, free of charge, and under the management of the Agency for Rural Development and Planning. Persons provided under paragraph 1, who acquired land in property before the date of the coming into force of the present law shall be compelled to alienate it within 1 year after this date, under sanction of its transfer in State property, free of charge, and under the management of the Agency for Rural Development and Planning.Article 48
Alienation by sale of agricultural land from the outside of the buildable area may be made by exercising the preemption right. The preemption right on alienation of any agricultural land from the outside of the buildable area devolves in the first place, on the joint owners, if such be the case, and in the second place on the neighbouring owners, and shall be exercised through the Agency for Rural Development and Planning. The owner of the land that is to be sold shall compulsorily inform the Agency for Rural Development and Planning, which shall notify in writing the persons provided under paragraph 2 about the intention, within 15 days after the date when it was informed. The titulars of the preemption right shall compulsorily pronounce their opinion on its exercise within 30 days after the date when they received the notification. When this term expires, the preemption right of the joint or neighbouring owners shall be considered extinguished. The preemption right on alienation of the land devolves on State through the Agency for Rural Development and Planning, which shall compulsorily pronounce its opinion within the term provided under paragraph 4. If the Agency does not pronounce its opinion within this term, the land shall be sold freely.Article 49
The alienation deed concluded with violation of the preemption right provided under Article 48 may be cancelled.Article 50
Agricultural land from the outside of the built-up area may form the object of forced or voluntary distraint only in the cases provided by law.Article 51
Exchange of land between natural persons shall be made with their accord, by a certified deed, the provisions under Article 46 being applicable. Exchange of land between juristic persons that have under management land on which the State holds a majority of shares, or between these legal persons and natural persons shall be made only with the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation or of the Ministry of the Environment, as the case may be. By the exchanges carried out, each piece of land acquires the legal status of the land it replaces, with the observance of the real rights.Article 52
Granting of the new holders' possession according to Article 51, paragraph 2 shall be made by the delegate of the county cadastre and territorial organization office, in presence of the interested parties, mentioning in the cadastral documents and in the agricultural register the modifications supervened.Chapter 5 Use of land for agricultural and sylvicultural productionArticle 53
All holders of agricultural land shall compulsorily ensure its cultivation and soil protection.Article 54
Land-owners who fail to fulfil the obligations provided under Article 53 shall be summoned in writing by the mayoralties of communes, towns, or municipalities, as the case may be, to carry out these obligations. Those who fail to comply with the summons and to carry out the obligations within the term set by mayoralty, for reasons imputable to them, shall be yearly sanctioned with the payment of a sum from 5,000 to 10,000 lei per ha, as against the land utilization class. The obligation to pay the sum shall be made by the mayoralty's grounded decision, and the sums shall be made revenue to the local budget.Article 55
All holders of land assigned in use according to the terms under the present law who fail to fulfil the obligations provided under Article 53 shall be summoned in the terms of Article 54, paragraph 1. In the case of the persons who fail to comply with the summons and to fulfil their obligations, the procedure shall be conformable to Article 54, paragraph 2. After a two-year period, they shall lose the use right.Article 56
Change of the utilization class of legal persons' arable land into other classes of agricultural utilization may be made with the advice of the county specialized agricultural bodies only in the following cases:a) arable land situated in hill zones, constituting enclaves in vineyard and orchard land masses, in acknowledged hills planted with vines and fruit-growing areas, established by specialized bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, may be converted into vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations;b) arable land from plain areas, required for the completion of viticultural land masses intended for table grapes and raisins, and the fruit-growing areas intended for peach and apricot trees, established by the specialized bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, may be converted into vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations;c) arable land with sandy soil may be arranged and converted into vine-growing and fruit-growing plantations;d) land registered as arable, situated in hill and mountain zones on slopes which cannot be mechanized, affected by surface and deep erosion, active or semistabilized slidings, that may no longer be improved and maintained for this utilization, may be arranged and converted into pastures and hay fields;e) arable land situated in the beds of rivers and of the Danube, which cannot be profitably used for other agricultural purposes, may be arranged as piscicultural basins.Article 57
Change of the utilization class of arable land, other than those provided under Article 56, pastures, hay fields, vineyards and orchards held by legal persons where the State holds the majority of shares, shall be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation. Change of the utilization class, for forest land, woods, osier culture, bush stands held by legal persons shall be approved by the Ministry of the Environment. Change of the utilization of agricultural land that constitutes protection zone for monuments shall be made with the agreement of the National Commission for Historical Monuments, Piles, and Sites.Article 58
Soil protection and improvement shall be achieved by works for protecting and controlling of soil pollution and degradation caused by natural phenomena or by economic and social activities. Works required for soil protection and improvement shall be established on the basis of studies and projects made on request by specialized research and designing bodies in correlation with those for planning and organization of territory, and shall be carried out by the holders of land or through their care, by units specialized in the execution of such works. The State underpins the achievement of works for soil protection and improvement, partly or wholly covering the expenditure within the limit of the approved budgetary appropriation, on the basis of substantiation notes elaborated by research and designing units, acknowledged by county specialized agricultural bodies, and approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation.Article 59
For the coordinated achievement of the works of common interest, according to the needs of agriculture, sylviculture, water management, ways of communication, human settlements, or other economic and social objectives, the ecological, economic, and technical documentations shall be jointly elaborated by the interested parties. By documentations there shall be established the interested parties' contribution and the execution order of works.Article 60
Works for regularization of water draining on slopes and for correction of torrents, which have as purpose the protection and conservation of systems of irrigations, embankments, drainings, reservoirs, or other hydrotechnical works, ways of communication, social and economic objectives shall be carried out concomitantly with the basic works.Article 61
Land that by degradation and pollution lost, wholly or partly, its production capacity for agricultural or forest culture shall be constituted in improvement perimeter. Land groups that enter into the improvement perimeters shall be established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation and the Ministry of the Environment, at the proposals based on situations forwarded by communes, towns, and municipalities. The delimitation of improvement perimeters shall be made by a commission of specialists whose composition and operation rules shall be established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation and the Ministry of the Environment. The prepared documentations shall be advised by the county agricultural and sylvicultural, and environmental protection bodies, and shall be forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, which, together with the interested ministries and departments, shall establish the designing, financing, and execution programmes.Article 62
Landholders shall have the obligation to put the land within the improvement perimeter at the disposal of the bodies in charge of the application of the measures and works provided in the improvement project, preserving their property right. The mayoralty's inclusion of a certain piece of land in the above-mentioned class may be made with the owner's agreement. In the assumption that the owner disagrees, the mayoralty shall make grounded proposals to the prefect's office, which shall decide on the matter.Article 63
In the interest of works for torrent correction and water management, the State may make equivalent land exchanges with the owners from the perimeter, when on their land arrangement works with a permanent character are to be carried out. The exchange shall be made only with the owners' agreement, by a certified deed, registered in the documents of land cadastre.Article 64
Degraded and polluted land, included in the improvement perimeter, shall be exempt from State, county, or communal rates and taxes for the duration of their improvement.Article 65
The execution on the spot of works for arrangement and enhancement of the value of degraded land from improvement perimeters shall be made by specialized units, depending on the specific character of the works. Works carried out for ground consolidation, such as soil terracing, modelling, levelling, and fixing, grass cultivation, afforestation, correction of torrents, and fencings, roads, bridges, footbridges with a permanent character, shall be achieved at the State's expense, in keeping with the improvement project.Article 66
Holders of degraded land, even if it is not included in an improvement perimeter, who, individually or jointly, wish to carry out, on their own initiative, grass cultivation, afforestation, correction of soil reaction, or other improvement works on their land shall receive from the State, free of charge, the necessary material - grass seed, seedlings, amendments and technical assistance in the execution of the works. Landholders who have received materials for grass cultivation, afforestation, and amendments, and have not use them according to the purpose which they asked them for, shall be compelled to pay their value.Article 67
The funds required for the research, planning, and execution of the works provided in the projects for arrangement, improvement, and enhancement of the value of degraded and polluted land included in the perimeter shall be ensured, depending on the specific character of the works, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, the Ministry of the Environment, and other interested ministries, from the land improvement fund and from budgetary appropriations. The necessary funds may be increased by the participation of communes, towns, municipalities, and counties, by the labour or money contribution of all those interested in these works, landholders, inhabitants deriving direct or indirect benefit from these improvements, and the institutions, companies, or self-managed public companies whose art works, roads, bridges, railways, constructions and similar works benefit by the advantages of the works for land arrangement and improvement. In case it is proved that certain areas were removed from agricultural or sylvicultural production by the degradation or pollution of the soil, by the guilty fault of natural or juristic persons, the land-owners, mayoralty, or the agricultural or sylvicultural body may request compensation, by the culprit, of the expenses required for the soil restoration and improvement.Article 68
The Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, the Ministry of the Environment, together with the Academy of Agricultural and Sylvicultural Sciences shall take measures for the development of the national surveillance, estimation, prognosis, and warning system with regard to the quality condition of agricultural and sylvicultural soils, on the basis of an informational system and provision of databanks at country and county levels, and shall propose the necessary measures for land protection and improvement, in order to maintain and increase the production capacity.Chapter 6 Temporary or final use of land for other purposes than agricultural and sylvicultural productionArticle 69
The temporary or final use of some pieces of land from the agricultural or sylvicultural production area for other purposes than agricultural and sylvicultural production shall be made only in the terms provided by law.Article 70
The location of any kind of new constructions shall be made within the localities' built-up area. By way of exception, some constructions which, by their nature, may cause pollution effects to environmental factors may be located outside the built-up area. In this case, the locations shall be established on the basis of ecological studies, advised by specialized bodies with regard to the environmental protection. Likewise, there shall be excepted constructions which, by their nature, cannot be located within the built-up area, as well as sheds and shelters for animals.Article 71
The location of any kind of constructions on agricultural land from the outside of the built-up area of the first and second quality class, on land with improvement works and arrangements, as well as on that planted with vineyards and orchards, national parks, reservations, archaeological and historical monuments and piles shall be forbidden. There shall be excepted from the provisions of the preceding paragraph the constructions serving agricultural activities, those for military purposes, railways, particularly important highroads, high-tension electrical lines, oil well drilling and derrick equipment, oil and gas exploitation works, main oil or gas pipe lines, water-managements and water-catchment works. The final removal of land from the agricultural and sylvicultural circuit shall be made with the payment, by the titulars of approval, of the equivalent value to the owners and of the taxes provided in Appendixes Nos. 1 and 2. From these taxes there shall be constituted the Fund for the Improvement of the Land Resources, at the disposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation and the Ministry of the Environment. Land definitively removed from the agricultural and sylvicultural circuit for constructions serving agricultural and sylvicultural activities, land improvement works and those for water-course regularization, realization of drinking-water catchment and meteorological objectives shall be exempt from the taxes provided under the preceding paragraph.Article 72
For the temporary removal of land from the agricultural and sylvicultural production, the titular of the approval shall have the obligation to deposit a guaranty in cash equal to the tax provided for the final removal of land from the agricultural circuit, with the Fund for the Improvement of the Land Resources. After fulfilling the obligations provided with regard to the return of land, to the confirmation of the county agricultural or sylvicultural bodies and of the owner of land, the titular shall receive the deposited guaranty. In case the titular of the approval shall not have executed the works at the quality standard and within the terms provided in the approval deeds, the specialized agricultural or sylvicultural body, on the basis of the findings on the de facto situation, shall order the execution of returning works with expenditure from the deposited guaranty. If the titular of the approval fails to carry out the works within a new term and at the quality established by the agricultural or sylvicultural body, the whole guaranty shall remain in the Fund for the Improvement of the Land Resources.Article 73
The final or temporary use of agricultural land for other purposes than agricultural production shall be approved as follows:a) by the county agricultural bodies through the Office of the Cadastre and Organization of County Territory or of the Municipality of Bucharest, for agricultural land of up to 1 ha. Approval for any extension of this land area shall be given by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation;b) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation, for agricultural land with an area of up to 100 ha;c) by the Government, for agricultural land with an area exceeding 100 ha.Article 74
The final or temporary use of forest land for other purposes than sylvicultural ones shall be approved by the county sylvicultural body, for areas up to 1 ha, by the Ministry of the Environment, for areas up to 100 ha, and by the Government, for areas exceeding 100 ha.Article 75
The approval provided under Articles 73 and 74 is subject to the previous approval of the landholders. Likewise, the advices of the agricultural or sylvicultural bodies of the county and of the Municipality of Bucharest, as the case may be, are required for obtaining the approval provided under Article 73, subparagraphs b) and c) and Article 74.Article 76
In order to obtain the Government's approval, there shall be also compulsorily presented the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation for agricultural land and of the Ministry of the Environment for forest land and with waters, and, if such be the case, of the Ministry of Culture, for the protection of monuments.Article 77
Land within the localities' buildable area shall be that existing on January 1, 1990, recorded in the land cadastre; it may be modified only in the terms of the law.Article 78
Land from abandoned river beds that has become available as a result of regularization works shall be arranged for agricultural, piscicultural, or sylvicultural production, as the case may be, simultaneously with the basic works carried out by its titular.Article 79
The titulars of investment or production objectives located on agricultural and sylvicultural land shall be compelled to take measures, preliminarily to the execution of the construction of these objectives, for the removal of the layer of fertile soil from the areas of the approved locations, depositing and levelling it out on non-productive or poorly-productive land, indicated by the agricultural or sylvicultural bodies, in order to enhance its value or to improve it. The depositing may be made only with the agreement of land-owners, who cannot be compelled to any payment for the value surplus thus added to the land, nor can they claim indemnities for the period of its disuse.Article 80
Titulars of investment or production works holding land they no longer use in the production process, such as that remaining after the excavation of raw materials - coal, kaolin, clay, gravel -, abandoned oil wells, and other similar ones, shall be compelled to take the necessary arrangement and levelling measures for bringing the land into agricultural use and, if this is not possible, into piscicultural or sylvicultural use. No approval shall be given for removal from agricultural or sylvicultural production of other land to beneficiaries of the works provided under paragraph 1 who have not complied with the provisions under this article. The execution of these works shall be made by specialized units of the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation and the Ministry of the Environment, from the funds provided at the beneficiaries, under the terms of the law.Article 81
Telecommunication lines, electric-power transport and distribution lines, transport pipes for water supply, sewerage, oil products, gas, as well as other similar installations shall be grouped and located along and close to the ways of communication - roads, railways -, dams, irrigation and draining channels, and other forced limits from the territory, in such a way as not to hinder the execution of agricultural works. Approval for the occupation of land in such cases shall be given by the Office of the Cadastre and Organization of County Territory or of the Municipality of Bucharest, regardless of the dimension of the area required, on the basis of the landholders' agreement. Approval in other conditions than those provided under paragraph 1 shall be given by the bodies provided under Articles 73 and 74.Article 82
Occupation of land required for the repair of faults or damages in case of breakdown, and execution of some maintenance works at the objectives provided under Article 81, which have an expeditious character and which are carried out over a period of up to 30 days shall be made on the basis of the landholders' preliminary agreement, or, in case of refusal, with the approval of the county prefect's office or of the mayoralty of the Municipality of Bucharest. In all cases, the landholders are entitled to compensation for the damages produced.Chapter 7 Organization and arrangement of agricultural territoryArticle 83
The task of the organization and arrangement of agricultural territory shall aim to create conditions for a better use of the land for agricultural-production purposes, which shall be carried out on the basis of studies and projects, at the land-owners' request, in order to:a) correlate the development of agriculture in zone with the other economic and social activities, establishing measures that should lead to an increase of agricultural production and the overall exploitation of the territory;b) group the lands through amalgamation, by owners and purposes of use, in agreement with the property structures and forms of soil cultivation, resulted after associations, to establish the perimeters of each property, amalgamating dispersed land and rectifying unreasonably-located boundaries;c) elaborate studies and projects of organization and arrangement of agricultural exploitations;d) establish the network of agricultural roads as a completion of the network of roads of general interest, integrated in the overall organization and arrangement of the territory, for the purpose of carrying out the transport of products and the access of the agricultural machinery necessary for the production process.Article 84
Studies and projects of organization and arrangement of agricultural territory shall be elaborated by specialized central or county study, designing, and research units, and shall be raised for the discussion of the land-owners from the interested zone. In case they are adopted by a majority vote of the land-owners holding two thirds of the area and approved by the county agricultural bodies, the application of the measures and works provided shall become compulsory for all land-owners.Chapter 8 SanctionsArticle 85
Violation of the provisions of the present law shall entail civil, contraventional, or criminal responsibility, as the case may be.Article 86
The degradation of agricultural and sylvicultural land, of its surrounding, destruction and degradation of agricultural cultures, of land improvement works, of topographical or geodesic signs and stones, of historical monuments and archaeological sites and piles, or hindrance of the conservation measures of such goods, as well as removal of such measures, shall constitute destruction offences and shall be punished according to the provisions of the Criminal Code.Article 87
Occupation wholly or in part of any kind of land, setting up or removal of boundary signs and landmarks without approval given in the terms of the law shall constitute offences of possession disturbance and shall be punished according to the provisions of the Criminal Code.Article 88
There shall constitute contraventions to the norms on record, protection, use, and improvement of agricultural or sylvicultural land the following facts, unless they are committed in such conditions that, according to the criminal law, they constitute offences:a) the performance of land exchanges and change of the land utilization class from a superior rank to an inferior one, as well as the final or temporary use of agricultural and sylvicultural land for other purposes than agricultural and sylvicultural production;b) possessors' failure to declare to the county bodies of land cadastre, within 30 days after their approval, of land exchanges and the change of its utilization class, as well as the data with regard to the dimension of its area and its utilization class;c) failure of land possessors and authorized persons to take measures for the conservation in good conditions of the geodesic and topographical stones, of metallic surveying guide marks, of geodesic point signalling pyramids and landmarks, as well as their guilty degradation and destruction;d) investment beneficiaries' failure to remove the layer of fertile soil before the execution of location works of some objectives and failure to deposit this layer on the areas established by agricultural bodies, as well as failure to take the arrangement and levelling measures for the land remaining after excavation of coal, kaolin, clay, gravel, abandoned oil wells, and other similar ones;e) location of any kind of objectives, except those provided under Article 71 under the present law, on land situated outside the built-up area, without the advices and approvals provided by law;f) occupation and use of land approved to be taken definitively or temporarily from agricultural production before being delimited, marked with boundary stones, and transferred;g) degradation of land and crops by storage of materials or wastes of gravel, debris, sand, prefabs, metallic constructions, residues, domestic wastes, garbage, and other similar ones;h) legal or natural persons' failure to take adequate measures for avoiding the alteration of adjacent land through residues from production activities and drainings of any kind.Article 89
Contraventions provided under Article 88 of the present law shall be sanctioned as follows:a) those under subparagraphs a)-c), with fines from 10,000 lei to 20,000 lei;b) those under subparagraphs d)-h), with fines from 20,000 lei to 50,000 lei.Article 90*
Sanctions may be also applied to juristic persons. On application of sanctions, in addition to circumstances provided under the law, there shall be also considered the dimensions of the area, the utilization class, and the fertility class of the land affected.-------- * Article 90 was modified by the Romanian Government's Statutory Order No. 23/1992 on the modification of some contraventional sanctions, as follows:Sanctions may be also applied to juristic persons, as follows:a) those under Article 88, subparagraphs a)-c), with fines from 100,000 lei to 200,000 lei;b) those under subparagraphs d)-h), with fines from 200,000 lei to 500,000 lei. The Government's Statutory Order No. 23/1992 was approved by the Law No. 115/December 7, 1992, published in the "Monitorul Oficial" (Official Gazette of Romania), Part I, No. 318/December 8, 1992.Article 91
Ascertainment of contraventions and application of sanctions shall be made by specialists empowered to this end by the Ministry of Agriculture and Alimentation and the Ministry of the Environment, by authorized agents of prefect's offices and of the agricultural and sylvicultural bodies of counties and of the Municipality of Bucharest, as well as by mayors. Through the ascertainment report of contravention, the previous situation shall be re-established and there are decided the damages to be paid by the guilty parties.Article 92
To the extent in which the present law does not provide otherwise, to the contraventions provided under Article 88 shall be applied the provisions under the Law No. 32/1968 on the ascertainment and sanctioning of contraventions.Chapter 9 Final and transitory provisionsArticle 93
Within 30 days after the coming into force of the present law, the communal, town, and municipal commissions set up according to Article 11 shall carry out the works and operations given by law in their competence, forwarding the whole documentation to county commissions with a view to issuing property titles for the situations provided under Article 8, Article 14, Article 15, Article 16, Article 18, paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 20, Article 21, Article 22, Article 23, Article 24, Article 25, Article 28, Article 32, Article 35, Article 38, Article 39, Article 40, Article 41, and Article 95, as well as the necessary operations for granting the possession. At the same time, for the situations provided under Article 18, paragraph 3, the communal, town, and municipal commissions shall establish the areas that are to be assigned in use, and the mayoralties shall issue decisions in this sense. In the cases provided under Article 16, Article 29, paragraph 2, and Article 36, the county commissions, at the proposal of the communal, town, and municipal commissions, as the case may be, shall issue decisions for entitled titulars with a view to establishing their right to shares. The county commission's decision shall be transmitted to the natural persons interested and to the trading company involved, within the term provided under paragraph 1. The communal, town, and municipal commissions shall cease their activity by a decision of the prefect's office, and the county commissions, respectively of the Municipality of Bucharest, by a decision of the Government.Article 94
Over the operation period of the communal, town, and municipal commissions, as well as of the winding-up commissions, their members employed with labour contract shall be considered delegates, and the other members of the commissions shall receive an allowance that will be established by the rules for the application of the law.Article 95
The specialized staff provided under Article 8 of the Decree-Law No. 43/1990 with regard to some measures for the stimulation of peasantry and the economic activity of the State and cooperative agricultural units, who carried out their activity in cooperative agricultural units which were dissolved or reorganized into trading companies shall benefit with priority by the provisions of Article 18, paragraph 1, or Article 20 under the present law.Article 96
Historical monuments, archaeological objectives and vestiges, treasures that will be discovered on the surface layer or in subsoil shall be under protection of law. Land-owners and landholders shall be compelled to ensure the integrity of land, to notify the State bodies, and to allow the performance of conservation and research works. Land-owners shall be indemnified for the damages suffered and land transferred in the public domain, in cash or equivalent land, as the case may be.Article 97
Natural persons whose property right has been reconstituted or constituted in the terms of the present law, as well as private-type associations that will be set up according to Article 28, paragraph 1 under the law, shall be exempt from payment of the agricultural land tax over a period of 3 years, beginning with 1991. The taxation and crediting system, as well as other advantages by which natural or legal persons shall benefit, whose property right has been established in the terms of the present law, as well as the pensions of the former members of agricultural production cooperatives, shall be regulated by special laws. The time worked by former cooperative members within the framework of agricultural production cooperatives shall be considered years of service when they will be granted their pensions and the other social insurance rights.Article 98
Within 60 days from the coming into force of the law, the Government shall present to Parliament the draft law on the general land cadastre and on real-estate publicity, as well as the draft laws provided under Article 97, paragraph 2. Until the new law shall come into force, there shall be applied the present regulations with regard to the land record and real-estate publicity.Article 99
Expenditure for the 1991 production spent on the land assigned in the terms of the present law, up to the date of the granting of possession, shall be covered by the new titulars of the property or utilization right, as the case may be.Article 100
The financing of the activities for the general land cadastre, for geodesic, photogrammetric, and territorial-planning works, as well as of the databanks corresponding to them, at county and national levels, shall be achieved from the budget.Article 101
Appendixes Nos. 1 and 2 shall form an integral part of the present law.Article 102
The present law shall come into force on the date of its publication in the "Monitorul Oficial" (Official Gazette of Romania). At the date the present law comes into force, there shall be abrogated:– Articles 1-36 and 51-79 under the Law No. 59/1974 with regard to the land resources, published in the "Buletinul Oficial" (Official Bulletin) No. 138/November 5, 1974.– Decree-Law No. 42/1990 with regard to some measures for the stimulation of peasantry, published in the "Monitorul Oficial" (Official Gazette of Romania) No. 17/January 30, 1990, except Articles 8-11.– Law No. 9/1990 with regard to the temporary interdiction of the alienation of land by inter vivos deeds, published in the "Monitorul Oficial" (Official Gazette of Romania) No. 95/August 1, 1990, except Article 2.– Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 656/1975 for the ascertainment and sanctioning of contraventions to the norms on record, use, protection, and improvement of agricultural land, published in the "Buletinul Oficial" (Official Bulletin) No. 74/July 16, 1975.– Decree No. 115/1959 for the elimination of the remains of any forms of the exploitation of man by man in agriculture, for the purpose of the continuous raising of the material and cultural living standard of working peasantry and the development of the socialist construction, published in the Official Bulletin of the Great National Assembly of the Romanian People's Republic No. 10/March 30, 1959.– Any other provisions contrary to the present law. APPENDIX No. 1 PERCENTAGE TAX due for the definitive removal from agricultural circuit of land situated outside the built-up area�������������������������������������������������������������� Class of agricultural land ������������������������������������� 1 2 3 4 5 ������������������������������������� Percentage tax applied to the selling price 800 800 700 600 500�������������������������������������������������������������� NOTE: The percentage shall be applied to the value of the land declared as price by the parties in the alienation contract. If the value declared by the parties is smaller than the normal land circulation value, calculated by multiplying by 25 the yearly taxable income for the respective land, the percentage shall be calculated to the value thus established. In the same way it shall be calculated the tax in case the land has not been alienated. APPENDIX No. 2 TAX due for the definitive use of forest land for other purposes than forest production and clearing of woods�������������������������������������������������������������� Quality class ������������������������������������� 1 2 3 4 5 ������������������������������������� Percentage tax applied to the selling price 600 550 500 400 300�������������������������������������������������������������� The percentage shall be applied to the rent value established for the volume achieved at exploitable degree by the basic species in zone, considered at the assortment set as aim, established by planning or assimilated to it. -------
