Foreign citizens living in Georgia have nine days to register their land plots until the new State Constitution, banning Georgia’s agricultural lands to be sold to foreign nationals, comes into force on December 16, Trend reports referring to Agenda.ge.
Today the Constitutional Court of Georgia declared unconstitutional the moratorium imposed by the Government of Georgia regarding the sale of agricultural lands to foreign citizens.
The lawsuit was filed by citizens of Greece, who failed to register their inherited land plots in Georgia.
The moratorium on alienation of agricultural lands to foreigners has been declared void, although the restrictions were withdrawn only until December 16 when the new constitution comes into effect. The new Constitution will again impose restrictions envisaged by the moratorium. But the foreign citizens have a nine-day deadline to register their lands.
In June 2017 the Parliament of Georgia adopted a legislative amendment that placed a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land to foreign citizens and stateless persons. Under the amendments foreigners, legal entities registered abroad and legal entities registered by foreigners in Georgia were not able to purchase agricultural land in Georgia.
Legislators say that given that Georgia is a country with a small amount of land with an average of 0.24 hectares of agricultural land being cultivated per capita, its agricultural lands are of vital importance to the country, and that it is closely linked with the protection of the country's political and economic independence and cultural and historical heritage.