Consent of THE national center of agriculturAL supp ort for the purchase of agricultural property as a new instrument for real estate turnover

In 2016 the rules concerning the agricultural land market in Poland changed. This legal reform was aimed at closing access for EU foreigners to the Polish agricultural land market. Prior to these new regulations being introduced, it was speculated whether these changes would lead to the agricultural land market “freezing up”, as the relevant jurisdiction and responsibilities, formerly granted to the Agricultural Property Agency, were taken over by the National Center of Agricultural Support (KOWR ). The analysis was conducted on the basis of subject literature and data was obtained from KOWR . The investigated problems included formal and legal aspects of issuing consents by KOWR for the acquisition of agricultural land located in the Republic of Poland, as well as actual use of the above mentioned instrument by KOWR ’s branch unit in Cracow. The regulation, aimed at closing access for EU foreigners to Polish agricultural land, was constructed in such a way that access to agricultural land was either impeded or made impossible not only for foreign entities but also certain Polish citizens. In accordance with Art. 2a par.4 of the Act on shaping the agricultural system (UKUR ), consent of KOWR is required in the case of agricultural land purchase by entities other than those mentioned in Art 2a par. 3 of UKUR . According to the data obtained from KOWR and presented in the paper, it is evident that this instrument is being practically applied in the Malopolska Province.