Resource information
This Act provides the general framework for principles regulating land relations in the USSR and the Union Republics. Union and autonomous Republics are to promulgate more detailed legislation within this framework. This Act excludes relations regarding mining, forestry, water and the protection of flora, fauna and the atmosphere. The Act is directed towards the creation of conditions for the rational use and protection of land, the regeneration of soil fertility, the preservation and improvement of the natural environment, and the equal development of all forms of economy. The Act categorizes all land of the USSR, including for agricultural and nature protection purposes and forestry and water funds. The Act also specifies land uses and requires that land suitable for the needs of agriculture be granted above all for agricultural purposes. Procedures for land allocation, land use, land withdrawal and land dispute resolution are specified for each category of land use and possession. For specified purposes including peasant husbandry, personal subsidiary husbandry, gardening and livestock farming, the Act grants to each citizen of the USSR the right to a land plot which the citizen possesses for life and which is inheritable. The Act prohibits the purchase-sale, gift, pledge and arbitrary exchange of land plots. Rights and duties of land possessors and land-users are set out and include not allowing the ecological situation on the land to deteriorate as a result of the land's economic activities.Compensation and other guaranteed for land possession are provided. An appeal procedure is provided for compensation disputes. The Act provides for land tax, land leases and rent, the termination and transfer of right of possession and right to use a land plot, the monitoring of land, a state land cadastre and the organization of land tenure. The Act provides civil, administrative or criminal liability for specified offences, including arbitrarily occupying land plots, damaging agricultural and other land, polluting land with chemical and radioactive substances and failing to fulfil duties to bring land into a state suitable for being used for its intended purpose.
