transferred significant authority to local governments, aiming to promote more responsive and efficient land use planning.

_2020–2021: Liberalization of the Agricultural Land Market and Spatial Planning Reforms:_ The period from 2020 to 2021 was one of the most active phases of land reform. In March 2020, Parliament passed legislation lifting the long-standing moratorium on the sale of agricultural land in two stages: Ukrainian individuals could buy agricultural land up to a maximum of 100 ha each from July 1, 2021. On January 1, 2024, the limit was increased to 10,000 ha and fully Ukrainian owned legal entities were also allowed to purchase land. Laws were also put in place to mandate public reporting of land prices and establish a public land market monitoring system; restructure institutions to increase transparency via digital registry-cadaster interoperability; improve public land management by transferring ownership of such land to local governments subject to central land use controls; require transfer of lease rights to public land via electronic auction;<sup>13</sup> and establish of a partial credit guarantee facility to ease small producers’ access to financial markets.<sup>14</sup> Beyond deregulation of land management procedures, reforms initiated a national geospatial data infrastructure, and involved the adoption of modern legislation on spatial planning, aligning Ukraine's practices with European Union standards.

_2022 and Beyond: Adapting to Wartime Challenges and Continuing Reforms:_ Intensified conflict due to Russian aggression in early 2022 posed unprecedented challenges and prompted government to enact emergency legislation to simplify procedures to allocate land for urgent public needs, particularly defense and reconstruction. Spatial planning processes were adjusted to account for security considerations, and measures were implemented to ensure the resilience of public registers and the protection of land records under wartime conditions.

# **3.2 Advances and remaining challenges for more transparent land valuation and property taxation**

The fact that laws on land valuation were among the first tax-related Acts by independent Ukraine highlights the importance of the topic.<sup>15</sup> Yet, mechanisms established remained rudimentary with tax rates stipulated by law for each region, irrespective of land plots’ characteristics or location. To establish prerequisites for more differentiated agricultural land valuation, a comprehensive assessment of soil quality for crop agriculture referred to as soil _bonitation_ was conducted in 1993. Scores between 1 and 100 provided a measure of soil fertility based on soil composition (clay, sand, humus), depth of the horizon, acidity, and

> 13 The mandatory shift from centralized, in-person to fully electronic auctions run by local authorities for any transfer of use rights to public land instantaneously increased lease prices by 175% (Deininger _et al._ 2023). 14 The numbers of relevant laws are 552 (turnover law opening agricultural land sales market), 340 (anti-raider law, including price reporting), 711 (local planning), 554 (spatial data interoperability), 985 (state support), 1423 (institutional reform of SGC and decentralization), 1444 (mandatory e-auctions for public land ), and 3205 (partial credit guarantee facility).

> 15 Law of Ukraine dated July 3, 1992, No. 2535-XII "On Payment for Land".

10