51 people's deputies of Ukraine have filed a petition with the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the law "On De-Sovietization of the Legislation of Ukraine" (No. 2215-ИХ), adopted in April 2022. The provisions that repeal a number of Soviet regulatory legal acts that previously regulated land rights were under scrutiny.
The Law on De-Sovietization, in particular, establishes that the following acts are no longer applicable in Ukraine:
- Law of the USSR "On the Approval of the Fundamentals of the Land Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics" (1968),
- "The Basic Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics on Land" (1990),
- Land Code of the Ukrainian SSR (1970),
- Decrees and resolutions of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR that accompanied the entry into force of these acts.
The MPs emphasize that over the more than 20 years of the validity of these regulatory legal acts, numerous land plots were issued to citizens, enterprises, and organizations. However, de-Sovietization has called into question the legitimacy of rights obtained on the basis of already invalid legislation.
If land rights were issued under Soviet or Ukrainian SSR legislation and have not been reissued under current Ukrainian legislation, their validity may be challenged. In cases of dispute, it will be difficult to prove the legitimacy of such rights, as the source of the right is no longer recognized.
The MPs express serious concern about possible legal conflicts. They emphasize that this could create massive difficulties for landowners and land users, in particular during legal proceedings or when reissuing documents.
The submission is currently being processed by the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. If the court finds certain provisions of the law unconstitutional, this could affect a significant number of land relations and lead to changes in the practice of registering land rights.
