If Order to Restore Farmland Is Not Complied With, Enforcement Penalty Can Be 'Imposed and Collected Annually'

Amendment and Enforcement of the Farmland Act
Only Farmland Owned for Over 3 Years Can Be Entrusted to Farmland Banks or Leased to Weekend and Experiential Farmers

A legal basis has been established to impose and collect enforcement fines annually on those who fail to comply with orders to restore farmland to its original state.

On the 15th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that a partial amendment to the Farmland Act containing this provision will be revised and promulgated on the 16th.

Among the amendments to the Farmland Act, provisions that do not require subordinate legislation will take effect immediately after promulgation, while other provisions will be enforced six months after the promulgation following the preparation of subordinate legislation.

The main content to be implemented immediately from the 16th includes establishing a legal basis to impose and collect enforcement fines annually on those who fail to comply with orders to restore farmland to its original state, and changing the calculation point to apply the appraised value or individual publicly announced land price of the relevant land on the day following the expiration of the disposal order or restoration order compliance period for the enforcement fines.

Additionally, the amendment stipulates that farmland owned by farmers can only be leased to those who intend to engage in weekend or experiential farming, or entrusted to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's Farmland Bank for leasing, if the farmland has been owned for more than three years after acquisition. This is to prevent speculation on farmland. In fact, according to the 2021 Board of Audit and Inspection report, among 528 suspected speculative farmland plots entrusted to the Korea Rural Community Corporation within one year of acquisition for agricultural management purposes, about 81% (428 plots) were sold within three years of acquisition.

To supplement legislative deficiencies from the 2021 amendment to the Farmland Act, a ten-year retention obligation was imposed on weekend and experiential farming plans, similar to agricultural management plans. Furthermore, to prevent evasion of farmland disposal obligations through loopholes, the targets prohibited from farmland disposal will be stipulated in the enforcement rules of the Farmland Act. When local governments conduct farmland use status surveys, provisions were established to request data submission if necessary and to authorize local government officials or agencies entrusted with farmland surveys to access the land. Grounds for imposing fines on those who refuse, evade, or obstruct data submission and surveys were also established. These provisions will be enforced six months after promulgation following the preparation of subordinate legislation.

Lee Seung-han, Director of the Farmland Division at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "Through this institutional improvement, we will establish order under the Farmland Act by enhancing the enforceability of administrative measures, and we will make every effort to systematically manage farmland by timely preparing and implementing delegated matters in subordinate legislation of the Farmland Act in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.