78-FZ "On land management" with changes

The process of land management in ancient times was regulated legislatively. At present, little has changed. In the Russian Federation there is a 78-FZ "On Land Management", which fixes all the basic norms relating to the study, planning and organization of land works. It is this normative act that will be considered in the article.

Basic terms

Article 1 of the 78-FZ "On Land Management" contains a number of important concepts that will be used in subsequent provisions of the normative act.

The first and most important concept is, of course, the very process of land management. What it is? The law speaks of a set of special measures aimed at studying the state of the soil, rational planning and organization of the use of land areas, their protection, characterization of the location of land management objects, as well as their boundaries, rational use of available territories, etc.

Thus, land management is a very complex and ramified process that is necessary for the construction or modernization of the territories of the subjects of the Russian Federation. By the way, the second concept, given in article 1, is the objects of land management. 78-FZ "On Land Management" states that such objects are the state regions themselves. This includes various municipalities, territories of settlements, specialized zones, etc.

For the qualitative implementation of the land management process, documentation of the appropriate type is necessary. According to the law, these are the documents that were received and issued during the land management works.

Grounds for Land Management

Land management work can not begin without special permission. All the same, these are rather complex and extensive processes, and therefore there must be special reasons for their conduct. According to Article 4 of the 78-FZ "On Land Management", such grounds are:

• Decisions of authorized vessels;
• Decisions of federal authorities, as well as regional authorities and local government authorities;
• Specially issued and certified contracts for land management.

In this area, there is one very important principle. This, according to Article 3 of the normative act under consideration, the principle of mandatory. In which cases should it be applied? The law states the following situations:

• Change of boundaries of land management objects;
• Identification of lands that have certain violations (such as salinization, erosion of water or wind, waterlogging and flooding, mudflow, desiccation, pollution, etc.);
• Implementation of a number of measures for the restoration, modernization or conservation of territories.

The remaining principles of work in this area are, as they say, classical. This is the principle of legality, justice, humanism, compliance with regulatory acts, etc.

On the powers of the state

Article 5 of the Law No. 78-FZ "On Land Management" establishes the powers of the federal Russian authorities in respect of the works in question. Here are the following powers of the federation:

• Formation and adoption of a certain order of land management works;
• Holding them on the territories owned by federal bodies;
• Coordination of activities and regulation of the functions of federal executive bodies;
• Development and adoption of relevant regulations;
• Formation and adoption of a special procedure for the examination of documentation of the land management level;
• Organization and conduct of federal supervision in this field;
• Formation and implementation of land management general scheme of the territory of the Russian Federation;
• Management of a specialized state fund of land management data;
• Some other functions.

Here it is worth remembering Article 72 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, point "B", which refers to the regulation of land works by federal bodies in conjunction with regional ones. So, the powers of the Russian Federation in this area can be fulfilled by state territorial entities.

On the study of the state of land

What is included in the process of land management? This is worth telling a little more. Federal Law No. 78-FZ "On Land Management", namely Article 9, establishes standards relating to the study of land.

The purpose of their study is to obtain special information about their qualitative and quantitative state. The work to resolve this issue is as follows:

• Assessment of the quality of land areas;
• Land inventory;
• A survey of soil, geobotanical or any other type.

Specialists are mainly engaged in cartographic and geodetic professional activities. These works are the basis for the implementation of all other functions. Research in the form of a soil survey is necessary to study the condition of the land area. In the course of such surveys it is possible to understand whether there is a violation in the territory or not.

Land assessment and inventory

According to N 78-FZ "On Land Management", land valuation is an important stage during the land management works. During the evaluation, information on the properties of plots as a means of production in agriculture can be obtained.

In the Russian Federation there are special areas where the assessment is conducted to achieve very specific goals. For example, in the Far East the soil is tested to support the productivity of deer pastures. Special bioresources, so necessary for the traditional way of life of peoples of a small type, should not be violated.

Another important process is an inventory. It is conducted to identify lands that are irrationally used or unused at all. The purpose of the inventory is to prioritize the application of each territory.

On land use planning and location description

In order to improve the work on the distribution of land areas in strict accordance with economic prospects, Article 14 of the Law No. 78-FZ "On Land Management" of 18.06.2001 establishes the rules relating to the organization and planning of land use in a rational manner. For this, the following types of work should be carried out in a timely manner:

• Zoning of lands at the natural-agricultural level;
• Formation of a proposal on the use of territories, their protection, etc.

It should be noted that all work should be carried out in strict accordance with the documentation of the town-planning type.

The next level in conducting land management will be the description of the location of the boundaries of objects. The order of location is determined by the Government.

On-farm land management

Article 18 N 78-FZ "On Land Management" of June 18, 2001 provides for the procedure for land management at the farm level. Rational use of the territories and their protection are especially needed in the east of the country.

According to the law, the following types of activities are included in the land management process of the intraeconomic type:

• Formation and execution of measures for the modernization of agricultural lands, the development of new lands, conservation or restoration of territories, etc .;
• Work on the organization of rational use of land for the quality of agricultural activities.

The implementation of all the above actions would be impossible without working with the special documentation. It is about the documents and will be discussed further.

About the documentation

Chapter 4 of the 78-FZ "On Land Management", as amended on 13.07.2015, gives the main types of documentation. So, here it is worth highlighting:

• General schemes of a federal nature, as well as regional schemes relating to land management;
• Maps of objects;
• Projects of internal economy;
• Projects to improve agricultural land;
• Special maps and atlases.

The card, according to Article 20, is a document that reflects the objects of land management in graphic and written forms. The location of objects, their shape, size and boundaries are indicated.

About responsibility and changes in the law

Article 25 refers to the occurrence of civil or criminal liability for violation of the rules prescribed in the law in question. Article 26 establishes rules on the possibility of resolving disputes relating to land management. It is also worth turning to Article 64 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, which states that all land disputes can only be considered in judicial instances. The parties to the dispute have the opportunity to apply to the arbitral tribunal (non-governmental instance).

And what changes were made to the normative act in 2015? These changes, I must say, are quite insignificant: the legislators slightly corrected the definition of the term "land management objects".