On 17th of August 2010, the new Law of Ukraine "On Lands for Energy Facilities and the Legal Regime of Special Areas for Energy Facilities" came into force.
The main purpose of this law is to define the main legal and organizational basis of the procedure of land allocation and the use of lands for energy facilities, including setting and observing the legal regime of lands for energy facilities provided for the continuous operation of such objects.
The law permits obtaining of leasehold and freehold rights to state or communal lands for development of energy facilities not just from the lands designated for energy purposes, but also from lands of other designations without the need to change of land zoning. At the first glance, the land allocation procedure is considerably simplified; however, Ukrainian law does not regulates the procedure of registration of servitudes that makes the establishment of rights to use such lands almost impossible.
The law also imposes commitments to reimburse landowners and land users for losses in case of the setting of land use restrictions linked to the establishment of special territories surrounding the energy facilities, so called "special zones", that are designated to secure the safe operation of energy facilities.
In addition, the law also introduces amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine, and other laws. In particular, the law amends the Law of Ukraine "On Payment for Lands" and provides for a lower land tax rate for the land plots under energy facilities producing the energy from the alternative power sources, compared to the land tax rate established for lands zoned for other energy facilities that produce the energy from traditional sources. Thus, the new law encourages the development of the alternative power sources energy facilities.
In general, this law is a positive step from the point of view of allocation and development the lands designated for energy needs, subject to the amendment of legislative acts related to land rights registration issues.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
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The original publication date for this article was 20/08/2010.
