To implement and monitor agricultural policy, record agricultural holdings and family holdings, and conduct analytics and statistics for the needs of the Ministry responsible for agriculture affairs, the Directorate for Agricultural Payments maintains the Register of Agricultural Holdings.
Rulebook on registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, data changes and renewal of registration, electronic processing, as well as on conditions for passive status of agrarian holdings (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 25/2023, 110/2023, 3/2024 and 34/2024) (hereinafter: Rulebook) prescribes the manner and conditions of registration and management of the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the conditions and manner of changing data in the Register of Agricultural Holdings and renewal of registration, the method of storing data entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the electronic form in which submissions and attachments are submitted, and to the parties, the decisions made in the procedures for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, renewal of registration, changes to data entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings and deletion from the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the way of providing support to the subjects of registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings in connection with electronic processing, the application form for registering an agricultural holding in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the application form for renewal of registration, attachment forms and documentation to be submitted with the application, as well as the conditions for the passive status of the agricultural holding.
Conditions for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings
Enrollment subjects
The following is entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings:
- an agricultural holding on which an entrepreneur, business company, agricultural cooperative, institution or other legal entity based in the Republic of Serbia performs:
– agricultural production
– processing of agricultural products
– other non-agricultural activities (rural tourism, old crafts, etc.) - a family agricultural holding where a natural person – a farmer residing in the Republic of Serbia, independently or together with members of his household performs:
– agricultural production,
– other non-agricultural activities (rural tourism, old crafts, etc.).
Agricultural production
The agricultural production of the subject of registration in the territory of the Republic of Serbia is entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, namely:
- production of plant crops following the Code Book of Plant Production and Other Uses of Land Plots, which is printed with the Rulebook and forms an integral part of it
- raising animals following the Code Book of Animals Raised on Agricultural Holdings, which is printed with the Rulebook and forms an integral part.
In the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the production of plant crops is entered following the Code Book of Plant Production and Other Uses of Land Plots, which is printed with the Rulebook and is an integral part of it on at least 0.5 hectares of agricultural land. Exceptionally, the following can also be registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings:
- production of plant crops on less than 0.5 hectares of agricultural land if the following plant crops are produced:
– cultivated mushrooms
– growing vegetables in a protected area
– table grapes
– grapes of wine varieties - use of uncultivated land for ponds on less than 0.5 hectares of agricultural land if fish farming is also registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings.
In the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the production of plant crops on land designated as forest land in the real estate cadastre according to the type of land can be entered if the following plant crops are produced:
- forest planting material
- rootstocks of ornamental plants
- seedlings of ornamental trees and shrubs
- forests.
In the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the raising of animals shall be entered following the Code Book of Animals Raised on Agricultural Holdings, which is a printed with Rulebook and forms an integral part of it, if animals are raised that are marked and registered in the Central Database on Animal Marking, following the law regulates veterinary medicine.
Processing of agricultural products
The processing of agricultural products is entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings if the agricultural holding on which an entrepreneur, business company, agricultural cooperative, institution or other legal entity, with its seat in the Republic of Serbia, is registered in the competent register maintained by the Business Registers Agency under the law regulating the registration procedure in the Business Registers Agency has registered the predominant activity following the Code book of processing of agricultural products, which is printed with the Rulebook and forms an integral part of it.
Other non-agricultural activities
In the Register of Agricultural Holdings, the performance of other non-agricultural activities (rural tourism, old crafts, etc.) is entered if the agricultural holding or family agricultural holding performs activities following the Code Book of other non-agricultural activities, which is printed with the Rulebook and forms an integral part of it.
The basis of land use
In the Register of Agricultural Holdings, are entered the production of plant crops and the performance of other non-agricultural activities (rural tourism, old crafts, etc.) on the agricultural land used by the agricultural holding and family holding based on:
- Property rights
- Decisions – extracts on the distribution of the agrarian regroupment mass
- Lease agreement or agreement on assignment of land for use, provided that the term of validity of those agreements cannot expire before October 31 of the year to which the entry or renewal of registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings refers
- The right to use agricultural land in the social property acquired through legal transaction for value.
A contract for the lease of land in social ownership is a legal basis for the use of land eligible for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings per the Rulebook only if the lessor is registered as the land user in the real estate cadastre.
A lease agreement or an agreement on assignment of the use of land in private or cooperative ownership, with the lessor, i.e. the assignor, a legal entity, constitutes a legal basis for the use of land eligible for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings following the Rulebook only if the lessee, i.e. the user is not:
- a person who has special duties towards the company of the lessor, i.e. the transferor, by the law governing companies and the founding act, i.e. the statute
- a related person concerning a legal entity that is a lessor, that is, an assignor, per the law governing companies
- a person the lessor employs, i.e., a legal entity’s assignor.
Special conditions for registration of family agricultural holdings
In the registration of a family holding, a natural person – a farmer who owns a family holding is registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, and members of the family holding can also be registered.
A member of a family agricultural household is an adult member of the same household, i.e. a natural person who is registered at the same address of residence as the holder of the family agricultural holding, who is permanently or occasionally engaged in work on the holding and who is registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings as a member of the family agricultural holding based on a statement that he is a member of a family holding, i.e., a minor member of the same household, based on a statement of a parent, or legal guardian.
A natural person – a farmer can be registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings as the holder or member of only one family agricultural holding.
An agriculture holding member who is the owner or lessee, i.e., the land user referred to in Article 3, paragraphs 2-4. and Article 4 of the Rulebook may, by its declaration, designate the owner of the family holding as the user of that land in the sense of the Rulebook.
Suppose the family holding has two or more registered members in the event of the death of the holder of the family holding. In that case, the remaining registered members of the family holding agree to appoint a temporary holder from among themselves until the end of the probate process and the implementation of the change in the real estate cadastre. Also, they notify the Ministry responsible for agriculture. – The Administration for Agrarian Payments within 30 days.
Suppose the family holding has one registered member in the event of the death of the owner of the family holding. In that case, the registered member becomes the temporary holder of that family holding until the end of the probate process and the implementation of changes in the Real Estate Registry.
Suppose the family holding does not have any member registered in the event of the death of the owner of the family holding. In that case, that family holding shall be deleted from the Register of Agricultural Holdings.
Conditions for the passive status of the agricultural holding
An agricultural holding registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings can be active or passive.
Agricultural holdings are kept in the Register of Agricultural Holdings in active status unless the conditions for passive status prescribed in Article 26 of the Rulebook are met.
An agricultural holding in a passive status cannot implement measures to encourage the development of agricultural production, to which it would be entitled according to special regulations, nor can the land fund be subject to the registration of another agrarian holding. The decision should reject the submitted request for agricultural holdings in passive status for the use of incentives.
In case of termination of some conditions for registration or non-fulfilment of assumed obligations, the passive status is determined automatically by the termination of one of the conditions for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings, i.e. on the due date of the assumed obligations, about which a notification is delivered to the agricultural holding. In other cases prescribed by Article 26 of the Rulebook, the passive status, as well as the restoration of the active status of the agricultural holding, is determined by the decision of the Director of the Administration for Agrarian Payments.
An appeal against the established passive status can be filed with the Minister through the Administration for Agrarian Payments. The Minister’s decision is final.
Passive status lasts:
- until re-acquiring the conditions for registration in the Register of Agricultural Holdings
- until the cause is removed (payment of overdue loan or loan instalments, i.e. overdue instalments for the lease of agricultural land in state ownership, return of more funds received, etc.)
- one year from the adoption of the decision on the determination of passive status, if the agricultural holding has not entered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings all cadastral parcels of land on which it performs agricultural production, as well as if it is determined that the agricultural holding provided false information in the application for registration, i.e. renewal registration or change of data in the Register of Agricultural Holdings or the request for the use of incentives, as well as in the attached documentation, and these data have an impact on the realization of the right to incentives
- three years from the adoption of the decision to determine passive status, in the case referred to in Article 26, paragraph 2, item 4) sub items (2), (3), (3a) and (6) to (22) of the Rulebook. After half of the duration of the passive status, the agricultural holding can submit a request for the early termination of the passive status and the renewal of the active status in which it states justified reasons for the early termination of the passive status, the agricultural holding can submit only one request. The agricultural holding submits the request to the Passive Status Assessment Committee. The Minister’s decision on the request for early termination of passive and active status restoration is final. Within 30 days of receipt of the formal request, the Commission considers the request and submits to the Minister a reasoned proposal for a decision regarding the request
- five years from the adoption of the decision to determine passive status, in the cases referred to in Article 26, paragraph 2, item 4) sub items (1), (4), (4a), (5) and (23) to (26) of the Rulebook.
The agrarian holding submits the request for early termination of the passive status and restoration of the active status of the agricultural holding to the Passive Status Assessment Committee, which the Minister establishes.
Premature, incomplete and inadmissible requests for early termination of passive status and restoration of active status of agricultural holdings will be rejected without consideration.
Within 30 days of receipt of the formal request, the Passive Status Assessment Committee reviews the request and submits a reasoned proposal for a decision regarding the request to the Minister.
When considering the request, the Passive Status Assessment Committee assesses the justification of the reason for the termination of the passive status, taking into account all the circumstances of the specific case, and in particular, whether the agricultural holding was previously in passive status for the same reason, as well as whether the agricultural holding was based on which the passive status was determined, the damage occurred, i.e. whether the agricultural holding eliminated or compensated this damage.
The Minister’s decision on the request for early termination of passive and active status restoration is final.
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