About lands of stock and lands of reserve fund

There are 9 categories of lands counted in Ukraine: agricultural lands; for housing and public building-up; lands of nature reserves and other environment protection use; lands of health-improving use; lands of the recreational use; lands of the historic and culture use; lands of forestry use; lands of water fund; lands   of industry,  transport,  telecommunications, energy, defense and of other use.
At the same time there are certain legal constructions which render certain parcels (or territories) with a special legal status. These parcels keep the primary (original) end-use, but utilization of them has distinctive features. The specific of the legal status of these parcels does not allow attribute them to some additional category of lands and requires additional explanations. This is said about lands of stock and lands of reserve funds.
Land parcels of every category of lands which are not transferred into property or use of citizens or legal entities may be attributed to lands of stock (part 2 of article 19 of Land Code). This normative determination of lands of stock allows for the following conclusions to be made:
1) land parcels of any of 9 categories of lands of Ukraine can be in a stock;
2) attribution of a parcel to lands of stock does not influence the end-use of that parcel;
3) only parcels of state or communal property may be in stock;
4) only parcels which have not been transferred into property ore use of citizens and legal entities may be attributed to lands of stock.
The Land Code of 1990 considered lands of stock as an independent category (article 7). The result was that lands of stock were given for any use (although the law had required giving them mainly for the agricultural use - article 81). Such position did not facilitate rational and effective land-use. For this reason in the new Land Code of 2001 lands of stock are not considered as a separate category.
The attribution of parcels to lands of stock signifies that a settlement has territorial reserve for the development of certain types of activity (depending on lands of what categories are in a stock).
The legal consequences of being in stock are that these lands are eliminated from land-fiscal relations (neither tax nor ground rent is paid); secondly, these lands can be the subject of lease (purchase), and interested persons can claim them from local authorities. By the way, the Land Code of Ukraine of 1990 explicitly specified in many articles that land shall be given to citizens and organizations on account of lands of stock.
In our view, bodies of local self-government would considerably promote the degree of transparency of the land relations and improve the investment climate in settlements, if the list of parcels in stock was promulgated and accessible to all interested persons.
According to the official information of the State Committee of Ukraine on Land Resources, the general area of lands of stock as of January 01, 2006 made 9.0 million ha. Within the boundaries of settlements the area of lands of stock as of January 1, 2005 made up 1.8128 million ha.
In addition, there is a concept of lands of reserve fund. Strange enough, but words "stock" and "reserve"  are synonyms and have an identical meaning (though word "reserve" in Ukrainian bears more official colouring), and legal categories "lands of stock" and "lands of reserve fund" are not quite the same and touch upon sufficiently different things. How formed and what the lands of reserve fund are intended for?
In the process of privatization of state and communal agricultural enterprises part of lands of the agricultural use remains in property of the state or territorial communities. The organs of executive power or organs of local self-government in the process of privatization of agricultural enterprises create the reserve fund of lands. The location of these parcels is agreed upon with the workers of these enterprises,  establishments and organizations  and also retired workers from their number. The area of reserve fund may take up to 15 per cent of all agricultural lands which were in the permanent use of the enterprises, establishments and organizations being privatized (part 9 of article 25 of Land Code). The lands of reserve fund are in the state or communal property and shall be a subject to subsequent redistribution and use according to their end-use.
These provisions of the law signify the following features of the legal regime of lands of reserve fund:
1) lands of reserve fund are of agricultural use exceptionally;
2) lands of reserve fund are of state or communal property;
3) these lands appear as a result of privatization of state and communal agricultural enterprises;
4) decisions about creation of the reserve fund are taken by public authorities or organs of local self-governance (depending whether without or within the limits of settlement the respective parcels are);
5) the location of lands of reserve fund shall be agreed upon with the workers of enterprises being privatized, and with pensioners from their number;
6) the area of lands of reserve fund makes up to 15% of all agricultural lands which were in permanent use of enterprises, establishments and organizations being privatized;
7) lands of reserve fund may be rented and shall be utilized according to their end-use;
8) lands of reserve fund may be left in permanent use of their original users;
9) lands of reserve fund may be transferred into property of citizens, including by way of gratuitous privatization, to legal entities, and shall be utilized according to their end-use.
This last conclusion in particular is confirmed positions of sub-item " ґ" of point of 4 Sections "Conclusive Provisions" of the Land code which obligates the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to take measures on providing teachers, doctors, other workers of social sphere of rural areas, and also citizens suffered as a result of Chernobyl catastrophe and evacuated (transmigrated) from the zone of absolute (obligatory) or the assured voluntarily settling out, which live in rural locality, with land plots for running  personal farms and gardens (within the limits of norms for gratuitous privatization), and also for truck farming and for hayfields on account of lands of of stock and of reserve fund.
According to the official information of the State Committee of Ukraine on Land Resources, as of April 01, 2006 the lands of reserve fund make up 3271.4 thousands ha, or 12% of shared agricultural lands. The vastest areas in reserve fund are in Crimea - 7.6%, Kherson Oblast - 6.8%, Kharkiv Oblast - 6.5%,  Odessa Oblast - 6.3%, Mykolaiv Oblast - 6.1% and Donetsk Oblast - 6.1%.
Lands of reserve fund are distributed as follows:
- in the permanent use of previous users 515.6 thousand ha (15.8%);
- given to citizens for individual housing 17.7 thousand ha (0.5%);
- given to citizens for running personal farms 590.2 thousand ha (18%);
- given to other enterprises, establishments, to citizens 894.7 thousand ha (27.4%);
- transferred into common property of previous users, according to their needs, 710.2 thousand ha (21.7%);
- lands of reserve fund useless for agriculture 543.0 thousand ha (16.6%).
On account of lands of reserve fund 462.1 thousand ha were given to the workers of the social sphere of rural areas (14.1%).

Center for Land Reform Policy in Ukraine