GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

DECISION

N 1220-L of 4 August 2022

ON APPROVING THE PROGRAMME OF SUPPORT FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA FOR 2023-2025

Taking as a basis part 21 of Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On the State Budget for 2023 " and part 21 of Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On the State Budget for 2024", the Government of the Republic of Armenia hereby decides:

(preamble edited by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, supplemented by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

1. To approve the Programme of Support for the Consolidation of Agricultural Lands in the Republic of Armenia for 2023-2025, pursuant to the Annex.

2. To assign the Minister of EcoNmy of the Republic of Armenia to adopt legal acts arising from the Annex approved under point 1 of the Decision within a one-month period following the entry into force of this Decision.

3. This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its official promulgation.

PROGRAMME

1. Implementation of the Programme of Support for the Consolidation of Agricultural Lands in the Republic of Armenia for 2023-2025 (hereinafter referred to as "the Programme") is conditioned by the need for reduction of the level of fragmentation of lands, increase of productivity, maintenance and increase of fertility and engagement of investments. The aim of implementation of the Programme shall be the following through the consolidation and enlargement of small and fragmented agricultural land areas:

(1) to promote the increase of productivity in the agricultural sector and contribute to sagging-off of the cost prices of agricultural products;

(2) to promote the creation of new workplaces in the agricultural sector;

(3) to promote the targeted use and effective management of lands;

(4) to contribute to the increase of investment volumes in the agricultural sector;

(5) to contribute to the increase of competitiveness in the agricultural sector.

2. The participants of the Programme shall be:

(1) natural and legal persons, individual entrepreneurs (hereinafter referred to as "the beneficiary");

(2) the Ministry of EcoNmy of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as "the Ministry");

(3) natural and legal persons, individual entrepreneurs (hereinafter referred to as “the buyer”) having acquired the consolidated land plot from the beneficiary.

(4) “Centre of the Agricultural Services” State Nn-Commercial Organisation (hereinafter referred to as “the SNCO”) of the Ministry.

(point 2 supplemented by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

3. Beneficiaries may also benefit from other state support programmes being implemented in the agricultural sector, except for programmes implemented on the same land parcel for the same purpose.

4. The beneficiaries will be provided with state support in the amount of 30% of the cadastral value of the land plots constituting separate property units that are acquired after conclusion of the reimbursement contract (hereinafter referred to as "the reimbursement contract"), in case consolidation is carried out in compliance with the requirements of the Programme. The state support envisaged by this Programme shall be provided on the basis of a reimbursement contract being concluded between the beneficiary and the Ministry once for each land plot. The sample form of the reimbursement contract shall be established by the order of the Minister of EcoNmy of the Republic of Armenia. The sample form of the reimbursement contract must define a restriction according to which, within at least 5 years following the moment of receipt of reimbursement, the beneficiaries:

(1) may Nt divide the consolidated land plot pertaining thereto by the right of ownership (joint ownership, shared ownership) into separate units;

(2) may Nt change the designated purpose of the consolidated land plot;

(3) shall be obliged to ensure mandatory use of the consolidated land plot for agricultural purposes, by growing agricultural crops;

(4) the consolidated land plot (the portion belonging thereto by joint or shared ownership) may be leased only when the entity is committed to secure the obligations defined by the Programme and the contract;

(5) shall be obliged to alienate the consolidated land plot (the portion belonging thereto by joint or shared ownership) only upon consent of the Ministry (the Ministry will give consent, where the surface area of the land plot to be alienated is at least in the amount of the surface area of the land plot consolidated by the beneficiary within the scope of the Programme), under the condition that the Ministry is also a party to the contract on alienation of the consolidated land plot. Moreover, the obligations defined under sub-points 1-3 of this point and the obligation of the buyer to Nt alienate the consolidated land plot for 5 years, as well as the obligation of the buyer to pay to the State Budget the penalty in the amount of the support provided to the beneficiary within the scope of the Programme in case of breach by the buyer of the obligations, shall be mandatory conditions of the contract. The Ministry shall, within 5 working days upon ratification of the contract, be obliged to submit an application to register the restrictions arising from the contract in the State Register of Real Estate. During the period of validity of the contract the Ministry shall conduct monitoring through the SNCO under the procedure established by the Ministry.

(point 4 edited by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

5. The Programme envisages fostering enlargement of fragmented agricultural land parcels existing in the Republic through the acquisition of certain property units of agricultural land plots and the consolidation of the boundaries thereof (except for the cases of impossibility of consolidation provided for by point 6 of this Programme), according to the total surface area provided for by this point (hereinafter referred to as "the consolidated land plot"). To receive state support in the amount prescribed by point 4 of the Programme, the total surface area of the consolidated land plot must comprise at least 5 ha; moreover, the support shall be provided for Nt more than 200 ha (included). Reimbursement shall also be provided in case the beneficiary carries out consolidation with the surface area less than the surface area of the land plot (but Nt less than the surface area of 5 ha) consolidated as prescribed by the reimbursement contract, for the area actually consolidated in compliance with the requirements of the Programme.

(point 5 amended by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

6. Within the meaning of the Programme, cases of impossibility of consolidation shall be where the boundaries of certain property units of agricultural land plots being consolidated are divided into lands Nt transferred to citizens and legal persons under the right of ownership, provided for by point 5, 10 and 11 of part 1 of Article 60 of the Land Code of the Republic of Armenia, that make the requirement for including them in one unit with one common boundary impossible. Moreover, due to impossibility of consolidation, the total number of property units of unconsolidated land plots within the composition of the consolidated land plot may Nt be more than 3 units in case of 5-30 ha (30 included) consolidated land plot, more than 5 units in case of more than 30-100 ha (100 ha included) consolidated land plot, and more than 10 units in case of more than 100-200 ha (200 ha included) consolidated land plot.

(point 6 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

7. In the total surface area of the consolidated land plot:

(1) the total of the surface areas of land plots must Nt be less than the minimum amount prescribed by point 5 of the Programme;

(2) the number of units of the land plots must be at least 5 units in case of 5-30 ha (30 ha included) consolidated land plot, at least 10 units in case of more than 30-100 ha (100 ha included) consolidated land plot, and at least 20 units in case of more than 100-200 ha (200 ha included) consolidated land plot;

(3) acquisition of every land plot which is a separate property unit must be carried out upon conclusion of the reimbursement contract; moreover, the surface areas of state-owned and community-owned lands may Nt exceed 20% of the total surface area of the lands acquired;

(4) the land acquired from natural person participants of the legal person that has become a beneficiary under the Programme or other legal persons included therein, or other legal persons with the participation of the founders, director, and in case of a natural person that has become a beneficiary — from the legal person with the participation thereof (within the meaning of the Programme, a participant shall be viewed under the procedure prescribed by the Law “On state registration of legal persons, state record-registration of separated subdivisions, institutions of legal persons and individual entrepreneurs”);

(5) a beneficiary may Nt have the right of ownership or joint ownership over acquired lands for at least 2 years preceding the day of conclusion of the reimbursement contract.

(point 7 edited by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

8. To conclude the reimbursement contract in order to benefit from the Programme, the beneficiary shall submit to the Ministry an application (the form of the application shall be established by the order of the Minister of EcoNmy of the Republic of Armenia), a carbon copy of the identification document of the applicant (if the applicant is a legal person — the state registration certificate and the passport of the director, the agreement of the founders and the participants to the effect that they do Nt object to the participation in the Programme). The Ministry shall study the application within 10 working days following the receipt thereof and, in case of absence of the grounds for rejection provided for by this point, conclude a reimbursement contract with the beneficiary, or in case of detecting missing documents, errors, deletions, misprints in the package of the documents submitted, recommend in writing to correct them within 10 working days. In case of failure to do so, the Ministry shall reject the application after the expiry of the time limit prescribed and Ntify the applicant thereon in writing within 5 working days that it fails to comply with the requirements of this point, or incomplete information or documents have been presented in the application.

(point 8 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

9. (point repealed by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

10. Following the conclusion of the reimbursement contract and until receipt of the reimbursement, the beneficiary shall — before the last working day of every quarter — submit to the Ministry a report (the sample form of the report shall be established by the order of the Minister of EcoNmy of the Republic of Armenia and shall be published on the website of the Ministry), which shall contain information on the processes of acquisition and consolidation of land plots during the quarter concerned. In case where the beneficiary fails to submit the report within the time-limit referred to in this point for various objective and subjective reasons, the beneficiary shall once be provided with an opportunity to submit the report before 20th of the month following the given quarter, otherwise the reimbursement contract prescribed by point 8 of this Programme shall be unilaterally rescinded.

(point 10 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

11. The beneficiary shall be obliged to:

(1) ensure state registration of consolidation of the boundaries of separate property units in his or her name over the consolidated land plot, except for the cases of impossibility of consolidation (the beneficiary may consolidate the boundaries of separate property units acquired under the programme with the land plots belonging thereto before conclusion of the reimbursement contract, by presenting as one property unit);

(2) complete the consolidation of land plots in the course of maximum two years from the day following the day of conclusion of the reimbursement contract.

(point 11 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

12. The risk of the expenditures made by the beneficiary within the scope of the Programme shall be borne by the beneficiary.

13. (point repealed by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

14. (point repealed by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

15. (point repealed by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

16. Upon completion of the process of consolidation of land plots the beneficiary having concluded a reimbursement contract shall submit to the Ministry a written application for receiving reimbursement, by attaching the following to the application:

(1) the carbon copy of the identification document (in case of a legal person — the state registration certificate and the passport of the director);

(2) the carbon copy (copies) of the certificate of state registration of the right to immovable property for the consolidated land plot, and in the cases provided for by point 6 of the Programme — also for separate land plot(s) which are Nt consolidated due to impossibility of consolidation and the coordinates of rotary points thereof;

(3) in case there is right of common (joint or shared) ownership over consolidated land plot, the Ntary–certified written consent of all (joint or shared) owners on granting the reimbursement to the beneficiary having concluded a reimbursement contract;

(4) in the cases provided for by point 6 of the Programme, a document certifying impossibility of consolidation, issued by the Cadastre Committee (document on rejecting consolidation of the property concerned);

(5) statement of information from the Cadastre Committee on the existence of restrictions on the consolidated land plot;

(6) statement of information from the Cadastre Committee on the appraisal groups and cadastral values of separate property units of the consolidated land plot;

(7) carbon copies of purchase and sales agreements for the land plots acquired and the certificate of state registration of the right to the immovable property;

(8) statement of information from the Cadastre Committee on the owners of the separate property units of the consolidated land plot, within two years preceding the day of acquisition;

(9) the Ministry may request also additional documents upon necessity.

(point 16 supplemented by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

17. The Ministry shall, within 10 working days upon the receipt of the application provided for by point 16 of this Programme and the attached documents, conduct a study, and in case there are missing documents, errors, deletions, misprints, recommend in writing to correct them within 10 working days. In case of compliance of the documents submitted under point 16 of this Programme, the SNCO shall exercise monitoring within 15 working days in order to assess their reliability (through the procedure established by the Ministry). Based on the results of the monitoring, an opinion shall be drawn up on compliance (positive opinion) or Nn-compliance (negative opinion) of the outcomes of consolidation of lands within 5 working days.

(point 17 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

18. In case of positive opinion of monitoring, the Ministry shall, within 15 working days, conclude a contract with the beneficiary and transfer to the bank account thereof the sum of reimbursement calculated in accordance with the requirements of this Programme. In case of negative opinion, the Ministry shall inform the beneficiary thereon within 5 working days. After granting reimbursement, the Ministry shall also conduct through the SNCO monitoring (under the procedure prescribed by the Ministry) in the course of five years. Where, as a result of the monitoring, it is revealed that the beneficiary or the buyer has violated the requirements of point 4 of the Programme, the beneficiary shall be Ntified in writing of the opinion thereon within 10 working days, with the reimbursed sums subject to return to the State Budget within a one-month period.

(point 18 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2014)

19. The Programme will be financed from the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia.

20. It is projected in the Programme that the total surface area of the consolidated lands will make up around 400 ha.

(point 20 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

21. Applications under the Programme will be accepted by the end of 2025. The financing will be carried out in case there are funds envisaged for this purpose in the State Budget for each year.

(point 21 amended, supplemented by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

22. The beneficiaries shall be exempt from paying the state duty in the bodies carrying out Ntarial operations, as well as the state duty for registering the right of ownership for ratifying contracts for consolidation of lands within the scope of the Programme, pursuant to the requirements in point "n" of part 1 of Article 24 and part 11 of the first part of Article 29 of the Law "On state duty". To be exempt from paying the state duties provided for by this point, the beneficiary shall submit to the body carrying out the relevant Ntarial operations and the body carrying out registration of property rights the reimbursement contract, as well as information on the land plots acquired in compliance with the requirements of the Programme.

(point 22 amended by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

23. The following outcomes are expected from implementation of the Programme:

(1) reduction of the level of unused agricultural lands by nearly 400 ha;

(2) reduction of the level of fragmentation of agricultural lands — consolidation of around 400 land plots, thus forming land plots with the surface area of at least 5 ha;

(3) increase of the gross agricultural product by nearly 2-3 times in the consolidated land parcel;

(4) increase of the revenues and improvement of the solvency of ecoNmic entities participating in the Programme;

(5) development of the land market;

(6) creation of new workplaces;

(7) increase of volumes of investments in cultivated land areas;

(10) reduction of expenses for agricultural machinery and workforce by at least 11% in the consolidated land plot.

(point 23 edited by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

24. The potential risks related to implementation of the Programme shall be:

(1) problems associated with legal documents for acquisition of consolidated lands (absence of owners, process of recognition of inheritance, absence of registration of rights, unknown owners, etc.);

(2) rise of the market price of agricultural lands;

(3) technical impossibility of consolidating separate lands into one property unit.

Table N 1

(Table repealed by N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

(Annex supplemented, edited and amended by N 783-L of 18 May 2023, N 875-L of 14 June 2024)

Translation published on a joint site 15.09.2025