THE PREEMPTION RIGHT REGARDING THE TRANSACTIONS OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE BUILT-UP AREAS

The sale of agricultural lands located out-side the built-up areas has been recently limited through the obligation to follow the preemption procedure based on Law no. 17/2014, as subsequently amended (”Law 17”)2 on the regulation measures for sale of agricultural lands located out-side the built-up areas and for the amendment of Law no. 268/2011 on the privatization of companies holding in administration public or private State owned agricultural lands and the establishment of the State Domains Agency. The preemptors are: (i) the joint owners, (ii) the lessees, (iii) the neighboring owners, (iv) Romanian State, through State Domain Agency. The preemption procedure commence with posting by the seller of its sale offer at the competent city hall and ends with the issuance of the positive/negative sale approval or, as the case may be, the conclusion of the sale agreement with one of the pre-emptors