FIG/FAO International Seminar State L and Management in Transitional Countries

1. Two Decades of the Process of Restitution in the Czech RepublicAntonín Kubačák, Karel Jacko and Libor Tomandl FIG/FAO International Seminar State Land Management in Transitional Countries Budapest, Hungary, 20-21 September 2012

2. Content • “Restitution“ • Disruptions of Proprietary Rightsto Land in the 20th-century • Restitution Aim and Form, Rules and Tools • Results - statistics • Privatization and State Policy for LM • Active Role of the Cadastre • Municipal property and Church restitution • Conclusion

3. 1) What is it “Restitution“? • Restitution “The act of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, lost, or surrendered.“ • Expropriation • “The process of taking over property, especially real property, of another by any process, lawful or not.“

4. 2) Disruptions of Proprietary Rightsto Land in the 20th-century Austro-Hungarian Empire breakup in 1918 1st Land Reform • Economic influence of aristocracy and large farmers was restricted • 1918 - Law on Sequestration of large farms • 1919 - Confiscation Law (farms>150 haof agr.land) • 1920 – Allocation Law – how to handle confiscated property

5. After the Second World War 1945 2nd Land Reform • 1945 - Decrees of the President of Czechoslovakia • 12/1945 Coll. - confiscation of German and Hungarian properties • 28/1945 Coll. - expedited settlement of confiscated land • 1947 - Law on the Revision of the 1st Land Reform • 1948 –February 25,1948 • new communist “land reform“ • individual land ownership was restricted and suppressed • all three stages meant a deep interference into the ownership in villages • lives of hundreds of thousands of people were heavily affected

6. 3) RestitutionAim and Form, RulesandTools(1/2) • Aim: • to alleviate the consequences of previous ownership injustices • to improve the care of agricultural and forest land by restoration of ownership rights • to modify interests of rural economic development in accordance with the requirements for landscaping and environmental protection • Form: recovery of the property to original owners or their successors in title

7. 3) RestitutionAim and Form, RulesandTools(2/2) • Rules: • request could have invoked only by a natural person (not by legal person), with the Czech citizenship, not later than November 30, 1996 • former property of a citizen had passed to the state or a state or cooperative organization • restitution for one person must not have meant expropriation for other one • Tools: • Act. No 229/91 Coll. – Law on Land • responsibility for the process of restitution was assigned to new Land Offices

8. 4) Results - Statistics • Overview of the Land Structure • agricultural land:42,292 km253% • forests: 26,598 km234% • water area: 1,634 km22% • built-up area:1,317 km22% • other area: 7,025 km29% Area of the Czech Republic:78,866 km2

9. Statistics on Restitution Proceedings to 31.12.2011

10. 5) Privatization and State Policy on LM(1/3) • Land Fund of the Czech Republic • established by the Act No.569/1991 Coll. on January 1, 1992, independent on the state budget • administers state-owned real estate • enters into contracts on leases on state-owned land • creates state reserves for road constructions or reservations

11. 5) Privatization and State Policy on LM(2/3) • Land Fund of the Czech Republic • satisfies rightful persons´ requirements for replacement land for land unreturned in direct restitution • transfers or sells state agricultural land according to privatization projects • sells state agricultural land to natural persons – farmers or owners of adjoining plots • LF has transferred or sold more than 796,000 plots in the total area of 547,000 ha in the period of 25.5.1999 – 31.12.2011 (approx. 1/8 of the total area of agricultural land in the CR)

12. 5) Privatization and State Policy on LM(3/3) • Agricultural land: • the intention is to transfer as much land as possible into private hands (area of 2,700 km2 is administrated by The Land Fund of the CR) • Forest land: • ratio between the total area of state forests and private forests is essentially unchanged • Municipal forests:4,200 km2 • Private forests:6,370 km2 • State forests:16,000 km2 (area of 13,000 km2 is managed by The Forests of the CR, s.e.)

13. 6) Active Role of the Cadastre • close collaboration with Land offices • in the restitution process - the identification of the restituted properties by comparing the current status of the Cadastre against the state at the time of the forced and unlawful seizure of properties by the state • within land consolidation • cooperation with Land Fund of the CR • providing information on properties which can be affected by municipal property and church restitution

14. Cadastral ArchivesLand Registry Book

15. Cadastral ArchivesMaps of the Cadastre of Lands and Plot protocols

16. Cadastral ArchivesGraphical allotment plans and Written proposals of allocations of the land and buildings

17. Cadastre of Real EstateCadastral map and Owner´s folio

18. Final document for a decision of a Land Office

19. 7) Municipal property and Church restitution(1/2) Self administrated municipalities • Act No.172/1991 Coll., on the transfer of certain assets from the CR ownership to the ownership of municipalities • Section 1: • on the date of its efficiency, the self administered municipalities became the owners of the Czech Republic properties, which at that time were managed by the then Municipal and Local National (Administrative) Committees • Section 2: • had the nature of the restitution regulations - the municipalities became the owners of the properties, which were owned by the Czech Republic before the Act became effective and which municipalities had registered in the Land Register at the date of December 31, 1950 • The 2001 Amendment to Act has stipulated that as of the effective date of the amendment, municipalities are the owners of those properties that were allocated to them in the frame of the post-war allotments

20. 7) Municipal property and Church restitution(2/2) Church restitution • one of the hottest political topics in the CR at the moment • Act No.298/1990 Coll. it only dealt with the return of the most important buildings, which allowed the religious orders and congregations to resume their activities (170 properties directly named in the Act) - rather symbolic restitution • in the Law on land of 1991, the lands that could be affected by the Church restitutions were blocked and cannot be disposed until such time as the Church restitution is finally decided • long-unresolved unfavourable situation brings about relatively large problems, such as to the municipalities when planning the development of a village, to the Land Fund during the sale of the state-owned agricultural land or to the Land offices when dealing with the land consolidations

21. Premonstrate Monastery Tepla in 1950 – more than 1000 plots of arable land, forests, meadows and pastures in 20 cadastral areas (villages)

22. 8) Conclusions • Restitution in the Czech Republic met its basic purpose • Restitution process was successfully completed • The human factor and the availability of relevant documents were the decisive factors in the implementation of restitution • Restitution as the first step has to be followed by land consolidation as the second and final step

23. Thank you for your attention!