Каталог статей из сборников научных конференций и научных журналов- Government property management authorities and departments on agricultural lands in the Republic of Bulgaria

Valeri Velkovski, PhD student,

e-mail: jurist57@abv.bg,

Economic Academy, "Dimitar A. Tsenov",

Svishtov, Bulgaria

Introduction:

According to the text of Article 21, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, land is a basic national wealth, which benefits from the special protection of the state and society [www.lex.bg].

In a more specific aspect, the text of Article 2 of the Agricultural Land Ownership Act [www.lex.bg] is classified as agricultural land, which is intended for agricultural production.

Land management includes a wide range of measures and actors that implement management in line with the agrarian policy and agrarian objectives of the state. The complexity of the agrarian sector as a system and, at the same time, an organization requires precise regulation of the land ownership bodies.

This regulation is the subject of specific texts in a number of normative documents but the basic texts are basically included in two legal acts: the Act on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land and the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land [www.lex.bg]. The aim of the author is, and in the proposed material, to characterize the authorities in the Republic of Bulgaria involved in the management of the land relations.

The author's tasks are mainly related to the analysis and grouping of the functions of these bodies. The report is based on some specific aspects of the package of agricultural legislation in force in the Republic of Bulgaria.

In terms of their role, functions and responsibilities, the management bodies of the agrarian sector or land use respectively can be grouped into four groups:

First, bodies that perform basic management functions;

Second, bodies of central and local government, whose functions are part of the technological chain of starting or finalizing a particular management process;

Third, consultative-technical bodies, which on the basis of their specialization create specific conditions for realization of the ultimate goal of a certain management cycle;

Fourthly, civil structures that enter into relationships with the first three groups of bodies but also under statutory regulations have specific management functions.

1.    Basic bodies of the landed property in the Republic of Bulgaria.

According to the wording of Article 31 (1) of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land and the text of Article 57 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the bodies of the landed property are:

a / Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of the Republic of Bulgaria;

b) Regional Directorates "Agriculture";

c / The Municipal Services of Agriculture.

The said authorities shall have the power to:

a / management;

b / control;

c / regulation of land relations.

The functions of the holder of the first basic body – the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, are detailed in the text of Article 59 (1) of the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land. These functions have a diverse character – leadership, coordination, prescriptive, and so on.

For example, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry has been given the role of coordinating the implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land and the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land.

In addition, the Minister approves the categories of agricultural land and also creates and maintains specialized maps and registers of agricultural lands. The Minister shall determine the conditions and the procedure for renting and leasing land from the State Land Fund, shall determine the lands of the State Land Fund, which will be provided for compensation and entitle the land to use on the State Land Fund.

The Minister also carries out a number of other functions, which are provided to him by the law, but he also has the legal capacity to authorize another person to perform the functions that the legal regulations validate.

One of the main managerial functions of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is regulated in the text of Art. 59, para. 1, item 2 of the Rules for Implementation of the Act on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land – the management of the municipal services Agriculture and Regional Directorates "Agriculture".

The Regional Directorates "Agriculture" are a specialized territorial administration to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, according to the regulation of art. 33, par. 1 of the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land Act. They are legal entities under budget support.

The municipal services of agriculture are territorial units of the regional directorates "Agriculture". The Regional Directorates for Agriculture are qualified in the text of Art. 59b of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land as bodies which carry out the state agricultural policy on the territory of the district and manage, control and coordinate the activities of the municipal services on agriculture.

According to the provisions of Article 60 (6) of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Municipal Agricultural Offices also perform functions of a diverse nature such as:

- restoration of ownership of agricultural land;

- keep, maintain and update land-use plans;

- issue and validate sketches in the course of disposals, dividends, compensation, landing, expropriation, change of purpose and valuation of agricultural lands;

- give opinions to the regional directorates "Agriculture" on the request for lease and lease of lands from the state land fund and for replacement with private agricultural lands;

- participate in committees when conducting tenders and competitions for renting or renting agricultural land;

- participate in the commissions for determining the land use areas;

- change the way of permanent use of the land;

- keep records of agricultural land and their use;

- in the case of open violations of a legal nature and violations related to the ownership and use of the agricultural land from the State Land Fund, notify the Regional Directorates "Agriculture" for sanctioning the offenders;

- the employees of the municipal agricultural services have the right of access to the agricultural land and the properties within the urban territories for the placement of durable signs when marking the boundaries of ownership and use. Coordinating functions among the listed bodies are the Regional Governor in his capacity as a representative of the central government.

According to the text of Article 61, Paragraph 3 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Regional Governor coordinates the interaction between the Regional Directorates of Agriculture and the Municipal Services for Agriculture and Municipalities, the Mayoralties, the Regional Branch Unions of producers and businesses in the area.

2.    Bodies of central and local government involved in the management of land ownership.

Participation in the processes of land ownership management in the Republic of Bulgaria, according to the positions and commitments they have in the legal norms, take representatives of the central and local authorities - the Council of Ministers, ministries, agencies, regional governors and so on. All these bodies operate in sync with the objectives and guidelines of agrarian policy that are being conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

For example, the text of Article 31 (2) of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Council of Ministers, on a proposal from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, approves a tariff for state fees, maintaining and updating the land division plans and for the performance of other administrative services by the authorities of the landed property.

This tariff is agreed in advance between two ministries – the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Ministry of Finance. Charges collected are paid into the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. The text of Article 31 (3) regulates a specific emphasis on the relationship between the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and other state bodies.

According to this regulation, under conditions stipulated by contract, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry provides free of charge to state bodies that are budget spenders and municipalities digital information from the map of the restored property for the fulfillment of their powers.

At the same time, state and municipal authorities have legal commitments to the basic land management bodies. For example, the norm of Article 61 (1) of the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land obliges state and municipal authorities to assist the municipal agricultural services in carrying out their activities.

The participation of the District Governors in the processes of land ownership management is regulated by specific legal regulations. For example, in accordance with the provisions of Article 28 (b) (2) of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, and paragraph 4 of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Ownership and Use of Agricultural lands, plans of newly-built land for land granted for use by citizens shall be approved by the Regional Governor.

The participation of mayors in the processes of management is mainly in the field of management of the municipal land fund – for example, according to the text of Article 100, paragraph 1 of the Rules for Implementation of the Act on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the distribution of land plots the municipal land fund, is carried out by a committee appointed by the mayor of the municipality.

The mayor of the municipality, according to the norm of art. 100, para 9, shall conclude a contract for rent or lease for the properties of the municipal land fund or for parts thereof and with the owners of fruit plantations according to the norm of art. 100, para 1, which were created on agricultural land from the municipal land fund under certain conditions.

Those wishing to be owners submit an application to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry through the Mayor of the Land Land Fund.

Applications are considered by a commission appointed by the Mayor of the municipality. The Commission carries out a field inspection, which ends with a finding record of the results. The mayor returns the application in a motivated letter when it is established that the property that is the subject of the application is not an orchard.

There are also some legal norms that regulate the relationship between the Municipal Services of Agriculture and the municipal councils. For example, according to the regulation of Article 19, paragraph 1 of the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Municipal Agricultural Service makes a motivated proposal through the Mayor of the Municipality, to the Municipal Council for compensation of the owners of the municipal land fund on a basis compensation plan.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 45 of the Rules on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, agricultural land remaining after the restoration of ownership and handed over to the municipality by decision of the City Council, projects for sites with agricultural use.

3.    Participation of consultative-technical bodies in the processes of land ownership management.

The processes of land ownership management and ownership arrangements require the active participation of advisory and technical bodies. The functions of these bodies have a basic, securing nature, but they are also a prerequisite for the efficient management of land ownership processes.

Who are these bodies?

First of all, these are the authorities whose competence relates to geodetic and cartographic activities;

Secondly, these are authorities with competence in spatial planning and spatial planning;

Third, these are authorities with technical competence and so on. The functions of all these bodies are directly related to the functions of all other bodies involved in the land ownership processes.

These functions are also legally regulated. For example, according to the wording of Article 72, "b", paragraph 1 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, in the Commission under Article 37, "Para 1 of the Ownership and the use of farmland, a legal opportunity to set up land-use plots by agreement between the owner-users, determined by an order of the director of the regional directorate "Agriculture" shall include a representative of the geodesy, cartography and cadastre service, where the land is approved cadastral map and k dastralni registers.

The said commission has management and technical functions – according to the regulation of art. 72, b, para 2, it manages the conclusion of the agreement on the use of the arrays and secures this process with a draft for the official distribution of the land use for arrays.

Another process – the consolidation of agricultural land, is also managed and includes advisory and technical bodies. The consolidation plan, according to the wording of Article 85, paragraph 1 of the Rules for Implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, shall be prepared by a person authorized to carry out activities on the cadastre.

The Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, and the geodesy, cartography and cadastre services provide the necessary materials and data for the elaboration of a consolidation plan at the request of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

In addition, according to the regulation of Article 84 (2) of the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the consolidation of agricultural lands shall be assisted by gratuitous provision of up-to-date materials and data held by the authorities of the landed property and by Agency and Services of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre.

Upon the necessity of designing sites and facilities that are related to the use of the properties, specially competent persons and bodies are also involved. According to the wording of Article 89, paragraph 5 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the valuations of the properties included in the consolidation plan are carried out by independent appraisers certified for evaluation of agricultural land and permanent plantations.

Pursuant to the regulation of Article 96, paragraph 1 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, for land with approved cadastral map and cadastral registers, the Office for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre shall submit a project for alteration of the cadastral map, which project was developed on the basis of another project – the consolidation plan project.

The Office of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre reflects this project in the cadastral map. Upon approval of the merger plan, the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Department officially transmits to the Municipal Office of Agriculture an up-to-date digital model of the cadastral map for the issuance of solutions for the consolidated properties.

When in the approved map (cadastral plan) there are data about their property limits on which, in other cases, the right to property is restored according to the text of Article 13a, paragraph 1 and 5 of the Rules for the Application of the Property Act and the utilization of the agricultural lands for their establishment is elaborated an auxiliary plan as such plan is elaborated by persons authorized according to the Law for the cadastre and property register, persons.

An important place in the land ownership management processes is the registry offices. For example, according to the wording of Article 7, paragraph 1 of the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Registry Offices shall notify the municipal agricultural offices about the entries of disposals of agricultural land within one month from making the entry.

4.    Civil structures – actors in the management of land relations and planning activities.

Natural persons also enter into active land relations with those mentioned in the present report, participants in land relations management and management of planning events.

These individuals also participate in governance through their specific structures.

For example, the preparation of a consolidation plan within the meaning of Chapter Nine - consolidation of agricultural land by agreement of the owners of the Rules for Implementation of the Act on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land is started with a specific decision by a special body - general meeting of the owners of agricultural properties.

The functions and powers of the general meeting of the owners are regulated in detail in Art. 90, para 2 of the Rules for Implementation of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land.

General Assembly:

a) defines the properties included in the consolidation plan;

b) submits a draft budget for expenditure and decides on the financing of the consolidation plan;

c) take a decision to set up another local authority body and elect members of the local committee by making changes to its composition under certain conditions;

d) when the Local Committee begins to function as a stand-alone body, the General Assembly adopts its reports on the status and progress of the consolidation plan;

e) accepts the draft of the consolidation plan.

It is a legal requirement for a meeting of the General Assembly to draw up a record with details of:

- owners wishing to be included in the consolidation plan (or authorized persons);

- property data: identifier, area, category, usage, restrictions.

What are the functions and powers of the local committee? According to the text of Article 91, paragraph 1 of the Rules for the Application of the Law on the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land, the Local Committee:

a) announces the forthcoming elaboration of a consolidation plan and the deadline for the inclusion of new participants in it, by making announcements for this in the City Hall;

b) defines the scope of the draft consolidation plan;

c) approves the inclusion of new owners in the consolidation plan;

d) defines the final territory for alteration of the map of the restored property or the cadastral map.

Conclusion

The complexity of the relationships between authorities involved in land management, land ownership and land plotting on agricultural lands, in some cases, negatively affects and leads to a negative effect.

Certain regulatory imperfections lead, for example, to the duplication of functions of individual bodies or to the emphasis on the essence of executive functions, while control aspects are more limited.

The functions of actors in land management are subject to administrative and judicial control in accordance with the law.

In practical terms, there are contradictory effects between the two varieties of control, which aggravates the expected outcome of the management actions and functions of each of the authorities that have a bearing on land ownership in the agrarian sector.

From the point of view of the complexity of the relations between the participants in the management of the land relations, the complex characteristic of these participants in their quality as well as the performers and the managers is very important.

Knowing and competent enforcement of statutory regulations is just one side of effective governance. It is also necessary, in the selection of each participant in the management, to approach both complex and differentiated from the positions of the complexity and diversity of the management functions.

Personal qualities and professionalism are an important part of the complex characteristics of actors in land relations management, including their adaptability to the dynamics of the environment, the ability to overcome conflicts, crisis situations and so on.

Sources:

1. Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria;

2. Law on the ownership and use of agricultural land;

3. Rules for Implementation of the Law on Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land;

4. www.lex.bg