Text file: 5937.txt
author: ahac36 nuncij
downvotes: 2
end consideration date: 2014-07-01
id: '5937'
number comments: 0
number views: 8224
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment\nThe conditions\
  \ for obtaining the status of a farmer are laid down in Article 24 of the Agricultural\
  \ Land Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No 71/2011 and No 58/2012;\
  \ hereinafter referred to as the 'ALA'). In order to obtain the status of a farmer,\
  \ a natural person must fulfil one of the following conditions:\nhe/she owns, leases\
  \ or otherwise uses agricultural land, cultivates the land himself/herself or with\
  \ the help of others, is duly qualified for such cultivation and derives a significant\
  \ part of his/her income from agricultural activity;\nis a member of the family\
  \ of a person referred to in the previous point, provided that he/she carries out\
  \ the agricultural activity on the farm as his/her sole or main activity and is\
  \ duly qualified to do so;\nhas derived a significant part of his or her income\
  \ from the agricultural activity on the farm but, owing to old age or incapacity\
  \ for work, is not engaged in the agricultural activity on the farm, provided that\
  \ he or she takes care of the cultivation of the agricultural land;\ndeclares on\
  \ the record before the administrative unit that he/she will, himself/herself or\
  \ with the assistance of others, cultivate agricultural land which he/she proves\
  \ that he/she will acquire, that he/she will derive a significant part of his/her\
  \ income from agricultural activity on that land and that he/she fulfils the qualification\
  \ conditions.\nIn doing so, it shall be considered:\n a farmer is adequately qualified\
  \ to carry out an agricultural activity if he holds a vocational qualification of\
  \ at least level IV in agriculture, or any course of education of at least level\
  \ IV, and has passed a knowledge test under the current curriculum of the agricultural\
  \ vocational or secondary schools in the field of the agricultural activity which\
  \ he carries out or intends to carry out, or if he has obtained a national vocational\
  \ qualification in agriculture in accordance with the law governing national vocational\
  \ qualifications. Notwithstanding the above, a farmer shall also be deemed to be\
  \ adequately qualified to carry out an agricultural activity if he is over 30 years\
  \ of age and has at least five years' experience of working on a farm or in a specific\
  \ agricultural activity since the age of 15 (111. Article 111 of the Agricultural\
  \ Act); agricultural activity means all agricultural activities according to the\
  \ provisions on the standard classification of activities; significant income from\
  \ agricultural activity under this Act includes the value of agricultural produce\
  \ on the farm, including income from agricultural policy measures and State aid,\
  \ in the marketing year preceding the determination of eligibility, which amounts\
  \ to at least 2/3 of the annual average wage per employee in the Republic of Slovenia\
  \ in the same period.\nThe administrative unit in the territory of which the main\
  \ part of the agricultural land used by the natural person is located shall determine\
  \ whether a natural person fulfils the above conditions for acquiring the status\
  \ of farmer. The administrative unit shall therefore decide on the farmer's status\
  \ in the administrative procedure by issuing a decision.\nIn the procedure for approving\
  \ an agricultural land transaction, the administrative unit may rely on the decision\
  \ granting the natural person the status of farmer. It should be noted, however,\
  \ that a decision granting the status of farmer (especially if it is of an earlier\
  \ date) does not in itself mean that the person to whom the decision relates is\
  \ in fact a farmer within the meaning of the provisions of the Land Code. Article\
  \ 24(6) of the ZKZ therefore provides that, in the event of doubt as to whether\
  \ a natural person is a farmer, it is for the administrative unit in whose area\
  \ the main part of the agricultural land used by the natural person is situated\
  \ to decide. The existence of the status of a farmer in the past does not therefore\
  \ mean that the person concerned still fulfils the conditions for being recognised\
  \ as a farmer, but the administrative authority may, in the course of the procedure\
  \ for approving the transaction, verify whether such a person still fulfils the\
  \ conditions.  From the point of view of the legal turnover of agricultural land,\
  \ there is no need to amend the Land Code in the sense of a new provision obliging\
  \ administrative units to verify annually the conditions for maintaining the status\
  \ of a farmer, since the administrative unit, as the administrative body of first\
  \ instance, is obliged, when examining an application for the approval of a concluded\
  \ transaction between a seller and a buyer, to establish fully and completely the\
  \ factual and legal situation of the case with regard to the order of priority of\
  \ the pre-emptive beneficiaries (who have accepted the offer) in all respects -\
  \ both with regard to the question of whether they qualify as a farmer under the\
  \ provisions of Article 18(1)(b) of the Land Code. Article 24 of the ZKZ, as well\
  \ as where they objectively rank in the order of priority provided for in Article\
  \ 23 (as in the judgment II U 106/2009 of 6 October 2010).\n "
response date: 2014-07-22
response due date: null
sent date: 2014-06-02
title: Cancellation of farmer status for persons who do not meet the eligibility conditions
upvotes: 18
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/5937
