New guarantees for the protection of agricultural land in the legal regulation of their conversion to another category due to subsoil use

Ignateva Inna Anatol'evna Doctor of Law Professor; Faculty of Law; Lomonosov Moscow State University 119234, Russia, Moscow, Ramenki district, ter. Leninskie Gory, 1 p. 13 land@law.msu.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Agriculture and subsurface use form two types of activities that are of increased importance for the development of the country. The special position of these areas of the economy is reflected in the strategic planning documents ^{[1, 2]}, emphasized in the regulation of related groups of public relations, including land. The case when the subsurface areas provided for use are located under agricultural land creates a serious dilemma caused by the need to decide which type of activity should be preferred.

To create a balance in taking into account the essentially multidirectional public interests in such a situation is one of the urgent tasks of law. Land and legal norms occupy a large place in the alignment of priorities between agriculture and the use of mineral resources. In a special study conducted by the author of this article earlier ^[3], it was found that the priority position of subsurface use in relation to the agricultural sector in regulating land relations is currently reflected in the procedure for transferring lands and land plots to another category (in terms of lands and land plots classified as agricultural land, to another category in order to extraction of minerals), as well as in the order of seizure of land, including in the interests of the subsurface user.

Based on the legal regime of the category of agricultural land, it is not allowed to use agricultural land directly for subsurface use. In this regard, Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ of December 21, 2004 "On the transfer of lands or Land Plots from one category to another" (hereinafter referred to as Federal Law No. 172–FZ) provides that the transfer of agricultural land (to the questions to the specified wording, since it is not about the category, and about the type of land as part of agricultural land, V.V. Ustyukov draws attention ^[4]) or land plots as part of such lands from agricultural land to another category is allowed in exceptional cases related, among other reasons, to mining in the presence of an approved land reclamation project. In the Review of Judicial Practice on the application of environmental protection legislation, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 06/24/2022 (Bulletin of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, 2022, No. 10), it was noted that "an agricultural land plot can be used for mining operations only after the transfer of this plot from the specified category" (paragraph 8). Currently, for this purpose, it is allowed to transfer lands and land plots classified as agricultural land as part of agricultural land to another category, even if the cadastral value of agricultural land is 50% or more higher than the average cadastral value for a municipal district, municipal district, urban district, or if they They are classified as particularly valuable productive agricultural land.

At the same time, the CC RF provides for the priority of preserving such lands and the specifics of their use (subclause 6, paragraph 1, art. 1, art. 79). The contradictory assessments that often manifest themselves in the application of these legal principles, it seems, have always testified to the presence of some inconsistency in approaches to the protection of agricultural land in modern land legislation when declaring the priority of their conservation and at the same time formulating a fairly wide range of exceptions to this rule. Therefore, changes in the land law regulation in this part, which will come into force over the next few years, should be considered in the context of the issues raised by practice and as a consistent implementation into specific legal norms and mechanisms for the implementation of the vector initially set by the CC RF for the protection of agricultural land.

Novels on the procedure for transferring agricultural land to another category

Federal Law No. 52-FZ of April 1, 2025 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" (hereinafter referred to as Federal Law No. 52–FZ) introduces significant changes to the procedure for transferring lands and land plots classified as agricultural land to another category if they are necessary for subsurface use. Additional stages have been added to the rules for reviewing an application and adopting an act on the transfer of lands and land plots from one category to another, set out in Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ. They entered into force on March 1 of this year and are provided exclusively for cases when it comes to the transfer of agricultural land to another category. This significantly complicates the procedure for transferring such lands.

First of all, it is established that the transfer of agricultural land to another category must be provided for by the law of the subject of the Russian Federation (Part 9 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ). It is with the rules of the regional law that the executive body of the subject of the Russian Federation is instructed to correlate the act on the transfer of lands and land plots of the specified category adopted by this body, unless the lands are classified as federal property.

Thus, the competence of bodies authorized to transfer agricultural land to another category is now precisely defined in Federal Law No. 172-FZ, and not in Article 8 of the CC RF, the wording of which in the part under consideration was amended by Federal Law No. 52-FZ with the removal of specifics in determining the competence of bodies authorized to transfer land in the following cases: when the lands are classified as agricultural land, and the inclusion of references to other federal laws (apparently, such a change should be linked to the desire to avoid duplication of legal provisions in different legislative acts).

If the authorized body has not established grounds for refusing to accept the application, within 1 month from the date of receipt of the application, it is now obliged to send a proposal to the highest official of the subject of the Russian Federation on the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands to another category. As follows from paragraph 4 of Article 20 of Federal Law No. 414-FZ dated December 21, 2021 "On General Principles of the organization of public Authority in the Subjects of the Russian Federation", the title of the position of the highest official of a subject of the Russian Federation is, in accordance with the constitution (charter) of a particular region, the name "Head" or "Governor" with further indication of the name a subject of the Russian Federation.

The highest official of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation may express agreement or disagreement with the proposal of the authorized body on the transfer of lands provided for in Parts 11 and 12 of art. 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ. It is unlikely that such a decision can be made according to the subjective feeling of the said official. However, the legislation does not provide for any legal grounds, criteria, or conditions for the consent or disagreement of a senior official of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, nor does it refer in this part to regulatory legal acts that would need to be adopted to resolve the issue of the validity of the said person's decision. At the same time, the disagreement of the highest official of the region directly determines the adoption by the executive body of the subject of the Russian Federation of an act of refusal to transfer land or land plots.

I believe that it would be possible to resolve such issues in the process of developing legal regulation at the regional level, especially since the analyzed amendments to Federal Law No. 172-FZ, among other things, involve the adoption of regional laws. However, so far such a development of the land legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation is not taking place. In particular, the Law of the Kirov region of February 20, 2026 No. 462-ZO "On certain issues of transferring agricultural land or land plots within such lands from one category to another in the Kirov region" elementary repeats provisions from federal legislation on the possible agreement or disagreement of the Governor of the region with the proposal of the authorized body on the transfer of land. (paragraphs 6 and 7 of art. 2).

Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ establishes that if the Head/Governor of the region agrees with the transfer proposal made by the authorized body, he/she sends to the legislative body of the subject of the Russian Federation a legislative initiative providing for the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands from one category to another.

Within the meaning of the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and current legislation at both the federal and regional levels, the legislative initiative is related to the preparation of the relevant draft law. Thus, according to the Regulations of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (appendix Resolution of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation dated January 22, 1998 No. 2134-II of the State Duma), a subject that has the right to legislative initiative submits a bill to the legislature, not the initiative itself; the State Duma at the same time considers the issue of a bill submitted by the subject of legislative initiative.

In different regions of the Russian Federation, the issue of registration of legislative initiatives is not always directly reflected in the procedure of the legislative body. The Regulations of the Legislative Assembly of the Kaluga Region (Appendix No. 1 to Resolution No. 683 of the Legislative Assembly of the Kaluga Region dated December 22, 2022) have resolved this issue: it is stipulated that subjects of the right of legislative initiative submit draft laws and resolutions to the specified legislative body. In a number of subjects of the Russian Federation, the issue of registration of a legislative initiative has not been reflected in special procedural norms, and it seems, among other things, due to the unambiguity of consolidating appropriate approaches at the federal level.

In the specialized literature, the implementation of the right of legislative initiative is also considered in direct connection with the introduction of draft laws to the legislative authority ^{[5, 6, 7]}.

Nevertheless, Part 11 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ indicates that the highest official of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation sends to the legislative body of the region the legislative initiative itself, and not the bill, which raises the question of which entity is responsible for preparing the relevant bill, if the legislative body further decides that there are grounds. for the adoption of the law on the transfer of lands. By the way, based on Part 13 of the same article, the legislative body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation also considers a legislative initiative, not a draft law. At this stage of the decision on the transfer of land, a special authority of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia is also provided – the preparation of an opinion on the specified legislative initiative.

Which document should be adopted as a result of consideration of a legislative initiative by the legislative body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation is not specified in Part 13. At the same time, it is obvious that Part 9 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ (which specifies the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation providing for the transfer of land) should be read in a systematic connection with Part 13 of the same article (although there is no formal correlation between them, and Part 13 does not mention the adoption of a regional law so that to conclude that these parts refer to the same regional act).

Consequently, the legal regulation regarding the introduction of additional stages in the transfer of agricultural land to another category, the powers and procedures for the implementation of actions of state bodies is not yet sufficiently complete and specific, it clearly needs to be clarified in terms of establishing clearer legal links between different legal provisions and bringing them to an unambiguous understanding in law enforcement. It is significant in this regard that the possible sequence of actions under the new rules of Federal Law No. 172-FZ by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia in a letter dated October 17, 2025, No. AR-15-27/22432 (SPS ConsultantPlus) is considered in three (!) variants.

In general, it should be noted that the structure fixed in the legislation on the issue under consideration, based on a combination of actions of various branches and bodies of state power at different levels, as well as the highest official of the subject of the Russian Federation, looks rather controversial. It is difficult to agree with the approach that responding to a petition from an individual subject – by sending a legislative initiative from the highest official of the subject of the Russian Federation to the legislative body of the subject of the Russian Federation – requires the mandatory adoption of a law at the regional level. If a regional law providing for the transfer of agricultural land for each specific case of transfer is included in this system of decision-making of an essentially managerial nature, then this law thus fulfills the role of an individual act. Further, the situation seems even more legally unclear, since the adoption of a separate law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on land transfer nevertheless provides for the adoption of an act on land transfer by the executive body of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. A law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation adopted on a specific issue has greater legal force than an act (some constituent entities of the Russian Federation have defined in their legislation what specific form is given to this act) of a regional executive body, that is, a by-law. In this situation, there is a redundancy of legal acts with the same subject.

It seems that it would be more legally justified in Part 9 of Article 3 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ to imply in a reference to a regional law "providing for the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands from one category to another" such a law, which defines the grounds and conditions specific to a particular subject of the Russian Federation, the criteria for such a transfer, that is, the actual rules of law, and not the establishment of an individual character. Then, in Part 13 of the same article, it would be necessary to indicate the form of the act to be adopted by the legislative body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation in order to record the result of "consideration of a legislative initiative", and thereby distinguish these acts from each other.

But today there are no direct grounds for such an interpretation in federal legislation. The subjects of the Russian Federation have perceived the new provisions of Federal Law No. 172-FZ precisely as the need to adopt regional laws in each specific case of the transfer of agricultural land, with the exception of federally owned land. Thus, in the almost identical provisions of the laws of the Republic of Karelia dated February 24, 2026, No. 3147-SAM "On certain issues of implementation in the Republic of Karelia of the Federal Law "On the Transfer of Lands or Land Plots from one category to another"", Belgorod Region dated February 27, 2026, No. 32 "On implementation in the Belgorod Region the provisions of the Federal Law "On the Transfer of Lands or Land Plots from one Category to another", Bryansk Region dated February 27, 2026 No. 19-Z "On the transfer of agricultural land or land Plots within such lands from the category of agricultural land to another category in the territory of the Bryansk region" provide for the adoption of laws specifically (plural) of the relevant subject of the Russian Federation, providing for the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands from one category to another. In other words, by "providing for the transfer" we mean the laws on each individual case of the transfer of agricultural land.

In addition, the inclusion of stages in the land transfer process involving a senior official and the legislative body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, can significantly affect the total time required to make a decision on land transfer, which can have significant consequences if, in particular, the terms of the license for the use of mineral resources are implemented. For example, the above-mentioned Law of the Kirov region establishes that the deadline for consideration of the petition by the authorized body (2 months from the date of receipt of the petition) does not include: a) the deadline for consideration of a legislative initiative providing for the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands from the category of agricultural land to another category by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation from the date it was sent by the Governor of the Kirov Region; b) the deadline for consideration of a legislative initiative by the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region from the date the legislative initiative was submitted to the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region until when the relevant regional law comes into force, or until the day the legislature decides to reject the draft law providing for the transfer of land.

Thus, complicating the procedure for transferring land without introducing special criteria into legislation, regulating procedures, etc., as well as creating an organizational and legal structure with the adoption of two acts on the same issue (a law plus an act of the executive body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation) cannot in themselves be considered as additional guarantees for the preservation of agricultural land. in the initial land category. Rather, these innovations should be assessed from this point of view as formative stages and actions, the binding nature of which seems rather controversial, which have consolidated legal provisions that have not been worked out in detail and do not exclude the variability of understanding their meaning. Taken together, such legal provisions cannot ensure the exclusion of corruption-related risks.

New edition of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ

Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ establishes the grounds and conditions for the transfer of agricultural land as part of agricultural land to another category. From January 1, 2027 It will be presented in a new version.

First of all, the list of exceptional cases that are the basis for the transfer of lands and land plots representing agricultural land from the category of agricultural land to another category has been reduced by almost half – from 9 to 5 cases.

The application of such a legal basis for transfer to another category as mining has been retained in the new edition, but is limited by the introduction of an exception to the general rule set out in Part 3 of the analyzed article, which was first added to its new edition. This exception is made in cases where it is necessary to extract common minerals: transfer in such a situation becomes unacceptable. It should be noted that Federal Law No. 52-FZ also prohibits the withdrawal for state or municipal needs of land plots from agricultural land occupied by agricultural land for the purpose of extracting common minerals (Clause 9 of Article 56.3 of the RF CC).

The very original wording that transfers are carried out in exceptional cases related to stipulated conditions and specific types of activities does not change. This means that the basis for the formation of contradictory judicial practice will remain, diverging on the question of whether the types of activities actually envisaged are those exceptional cases when agricultural land should be transferred to another category, or in such a situation additional arguments and assessments are required ^{[3, 4]}.

At the same time, Article 4 of Federal Law No. 52-FZ applies a rather complex model for the introduction of new standards for the protection of agricultural land. Literally, part 1 of the named article is established: "Until January 1, 2027, the provisions of Federal Law No. 172-FZ of December 21, 2004 "On the Transfer of Lands or Land Plots from One Category to Another", as amended before the date of entry into force of this Federal Law, regarding the transfer of agricultural lands or land plots within such lands from agricultural lands appointments to another category for the purposes of mining shall not apply to relations for the extraction of common minerals, unless otherwise established by Part 3 of this Article."

The ambiguity of the above wording is formed taking into account the fact that Federal Law No. 52-FZ entered into force on March 1 of this year, except for paragraph 3 of its Article 2 (this is exactly the paragraph that introduces a new version of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ), which comes into force on January 1 next year. And only in the new edition of this article, widespread minerals are specifically highlighted when deciding on the possibility of transferring agricultural land for mining. They are not reflected in other amendments to Federal Law No. 172-FZ. But the problem is that the current version of this article does not change in the period either before or after the entry into force of Federal Law No. 52-FZ.

Confirmation that Part 1 of Article 4 of Federal Law No. 52-FZ refers exclusively to the rules of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ (why not point it out directly?) and the transitional procedure for their application is being determined, which, for its part, is the content of Part 3 of Article 4 of Federal Law No. 52-FZ. This part formulates an exception to the approach set out in Part 1 of Article 4 of the same law: cases of transferring agricultural land or land plots within such lands from agricultural land to another category in the period up to December 31, 2033 for the purpose of extracting widespread minerals, if necessary for the implementation of priority modernization projects. and infrastructure expansion, as specified in Federal Law No. 254-FZ of July 31, 2020 "On the Specifics of Regulating Certain Relations in order to Implement Priority Infrastructure Modernization and Expansion Projects and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation." In other words, in the indicated cases, the transfer of agricultural land, which is agricultural land, is allowed, even if it is planned to extract common minerals. Therefore, since this is an exception to the general rule, the general rule is to prohibit the transfer of agricultural land that is agricultural land for the extraction of common minerals, and it turns out that it has been in effect since March 1, 2026, that is, until the entry into force of the new version of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ in as a whole (including the restriction in question).

Obviously, from the point of view of legal technique, a clearer formulation could have been chosen here. In judicial practice, the statement of exceptions to the rules that have not yet entered into force has not been accepted. Thus, in the cassation ruling of the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction dated July 9, 2025 No. 88a-13759/2025, the court concluded that "the ban on the transfer of agricultural land or land plots within such lands from agricultural land to another category for the purpose of extracting common minerals will enter into force only from January 1, 2027.".

A significant change is taking place in the preparation of a land reclamation project for the transfer of a land plot to another category. Paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ in the new version does not provide for the existence of such a project as a condition for the transfer of agricultural land to another category in order to ensure the extraction of minerals. Previously, this circumstance was crucial for establishing the legality of transferring agricultural land to another category for subsurface use (see, for example: Decision of the Arbitration Court of the Far Eastern District of May 20, 2025 No. F03-931/2025 in case No. A51-14010/2024; Decision of the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District of January 16, 2026 No. F07-11840/2025 in case no. A13-1609/2025).

On the one hand, this change in legal regulation makes it somewhat easier for a subsurface user to solve the problem of transferring a land plot to the desired category: it reduces its time and financial costs at this stage. In addition, it is well known that some of the measures provided for in the reclamation project are also indicated in the technical design or other project documentation required for the use of subsurface resources. This results in a partial duplication of the regulations required by the subsurface user. Sometimes this leads to incorrect estimates of the value of the remediation project. It is noteworthy in this aspect that the court proceedings on the administrative claim of several citizens regarding the invalidation of the decree of the Government of the Leningrad Region on the transfer of land necessary for exploration and production of sands at the Nadino deposit from the category of agricultural land to the category of industrial and other special purpose land are invalid. The body that issued the contested act emphasized that the subsurface user has a duly agreed technical project for quarrying at the specified field, which contains provisions on land reclamation, and therefore the regional Government considered that the preparation of a separate project for the reclamation of disturbed lands was not required in such a situation. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in its appeal ruling No. 33-APA19-8 dated May 15, 2019, noted that the technical project is not a reclamation project, and the presence of the latter is considered a necessary condition for the transfer of land.

On the other hand, the legal regulation regarding the mandatory availability of a reclamation project in subsurface use activities does not change. Thus, according to Article 12 of the Law of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 1992 No. 2395-1 "On Subsoil", the terms of preparation of the reclamation project, along with other information, constitute the content of the license for the use of subsoil. In accordance with clause 2 of Article 39.8 of the CC RF, the condition for carrying out work on the reclamation of a land plot that is in state or municipal ownership and is provided for the use of mineral resources is necessarily included in the lease agreement for the land plot. According to paragraphs 1, 9, 33 of the Rules for Land Reclamation and Conservation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 05/29/2025 No. 781, land reclamation is carried out in accordance with the approved land reclamation project, which must be prepared by the person providing land reclamation.

Thus, the reclamation project continues to be a necessary document ensuring compliance with the requirements for the protection of lands and soils during the use of subsurface resources.

Protection of especially valuable productive agricultural lands during the transfer of land for the purpose of subsurface use

According to Part 2 of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ, as amended from January 1, 2027, the transfer of lands and land plots classified as agricultural land from the category of agricultural land to another category is not allowed if they are included in the list of particularly valuable productive agricultural land.

There is no definition of these lands with the allocation of their general characteristics in the land legislation. However, paragraph 4 of Article 79 of the CC RF identifies their specific examples. In particular, especially valuable productive agricultural lands include agricultural lands of experimental production units of scientific organizations and educational and experimental units of educational organizations of higher education, agricultural lands, the cadastral value of which significantly exceeds the average cadastral value for a municipal area (municipal district, urban district). Experts fairly assess this list as open ^[8].

The establishment of specific types of agricultural land, which represent particularly valuable productive agricultural land in the subject of the Russian Federation, is carried out at the level of regional legislation. In accordance with the legislation of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, such lands may be included in the list of lands that are not allowed to be used for other purposes. The regions are implementing the opportunity provided for by federal legislation: As S.A. Lipsky points out, 49 regions have identified particularly valuable productive agricultural land ^[9].

Prior to the introduction of amendments to the land legislation by Federal Law No. 52-FZ, the possibility of establishing this restriction at the regional level was not coordinated with the rules of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 172-FZ. The ban on the use of these lands for other purposes, established by the legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation, was actually overcome by the application of a federal law allowing the transfer of lands, including those representing particularly valuable productive agricultural land, in particular, for mining.

Moreover, in the legislation of some subjects of the Russian Federation, this situation was initially taken into account when determining the legal regime of the respective lands. Thus, in Article 5 of the Law of the Moscow Region of June 12, 2004 No. 75/2004-OZ "On the turnover of agricultural land in the territory of the Moscow Region," a number of agricultural lands are classified as particularly valuable productive agricultural land, and it is also determined that their use is for non-agricultural needs, for the construction of garden houses, residential buildings, household buildings and garages are not allowed. At the same time, the cases established by Federal Law No. 172-FZ are recognized as an exception to this prohibition (from January 1, 2027, the provision of the said regional law on the existence of an exception to the general rule becomes invalid). Article 12-1 of the Leningrad Region Regional Law No. 107-oz dated December 2, 2005 "On Certain Issues of agricultural Land Turnover in the Leningrad Region" defines particularly valuable productive agricultural land. At the same time, the wording from Federal Law No. 172-FZ was repeated, stating that the cases established by clauses 3, 6, 7 and 8 of Part 1 of Article 7 of this Federal Law constitute exceptions to the rule prohibiting their transfer to another category. Article 8 of the Volgograd Region Law No. 855-OD dated July 17, 2003 "On the Turnover of agricultural Land in the Volgograd Region" establishes that the transfer of especially valuable productive agricultural land as part of agricultural land to another category of land is not allowed, except in cases established by federal law.

Consequently, some subjects of the Russian Federation, which provided for the formation of lists of especially valuable productive agricultural lands in their legislation, at the same time took into account the possibility of transferring such lands to another category for subsequent use for other purposes. With the introduction of a ban on the transfer of particularly valuable productive agricultural land in a particular region into the rules of land transfer, the legal regulation in this aspect has received the necessary consistency and consistency.

Information about the location of agricultural land

The considered restrictions on the transfer of lands and land plots necessary for subsurface use should certainly be based on a clear understanding of what agricultural land is, what are the features of the legal regime for their use and protection, as well as up-to-date data on the presence or absence of agricultural land on the relevant lands and land plots.

Agricultural lands are defined in the legislation by listing their types – arable land, hayfields, pastures, fallows, lands occupied by perennial plantings (paragraph 1 of Article 79 of the RF CC). Their presence determines the allocation of agricultural land zones as part of agricultural use zones in accordance with Part 9 of Article 35 of the Urban Planning Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the GrK RF). Gardens and vineyards are specifically named among the perennial plantings in the CC RF and the CC RF, but in general their list is not closed.

Unlike the LC of the Russian Federation, which determined the classification of lands on which vineyards are located as agricultural land, Federal Law No. 468-FZ of December 27, 2019 "On Viticulture and Winemaking in the Russian Federation" does not single out agricultural land proper among lands with vineyards. According to Article 3 of the aforementioned Federal Law, a vineyard is a complex thing that includes not only grape plantations, but also agricultural land, land plots within this category of land or parts thereof, as well as those located in an agricultural use area in populated areas. Thus, there is some discrepancy in the conceptual framework used in the CC RF and the designated Federal Law.

It should be noted that information about agricultural land is still not reflected in the Unified State Register of Real Estate (EGRN). Currently, using the EGRN data, it is only possible to determine whether a land plot belongs to agricultural land. At the same time, the determining information will be the establishment of the type of permitted use of a land plot with codes 1.2 and 1.3, as well as, with certain conditions, 1.4–1.6, 1.8, 1.12 Classifier of types of permitted use of land plots, approved by Rosreestr Order No. P/0412 dated November 10, 2020. In general, information about agricultural land, as the researchers emphasize, has not been reflected in the land registry documentation since 2008 ^{[10, p. 46]}.

On July 1, 2026, amendments to Federal Law No. 218-FZ dated July 13, 2015 "On State Registration of Real Estate" will enter into force in terms of entering information on the boundaries of agricultural land as part of agricultural land into the register of boundaries. This law has been supplemented by Article 60.4, which provides for the specifics of state cadastral registration in connection with the clarification of the boundaries of land plots, the boundaries of which cross the boundaries of agricultural land as part of agricultural land.

Federal Law No. 52-FZ amended Article 79 of the CC RF to define the rules for establishing the boundaries of agricultural land. In particular, as follows from the new paragraph 7 of Article 79 of the CC RF, these boundaries are established and changed by decisions of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia. Moreover, information about the boundaries of agricultural land with a graphical description of the location of the boundaries and a list of coordinates of characteristic points of these boundaries constitute mandatory appendices to decisions on the establishment and modification of agricultural land boundaries. The procedure for establishing and changing these boundaries is defined in the Regulation on the Procedure for Establishing and Changing the Boundaries of Agricultural Land as Part of Agricultural Land, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1943 dated November 28, 2025.

In addition, complete and reliable information about agricultural lands is entered in the state register of agricultural lands. As follows from Article 22.1 of Federal Law No. 101-FZ of July 16, 1998 "On State Regulation of ensuring the fertility of agricultural lands" (until March 1, 2026 – from Article 15.1 of the same Law), this register combines information about agricultural lands.

A unified federal state information system on agricultural lands and lands used or provided for agriculture as part of lands of other categories has been created, on the electronic cartographic basis of which the boundaries of agricultural lands are reproduced (Article 22.2 of the Federal Law "On State Regulation of ensuring the fertility of Agricultural Lands"). In this regard, researchers reasonably conclude that through the maintenance of the state register of agricultural lands, a digital inventory of agricultural land is carried out ^{[11, p. 475]}.

Some of the information about agricultural land is contained exclusively in the named register, in particular, about its types and classification as particularly valuable productive agricultural land, included in accordance with the legislation of the subject of the Russian Federation in the list of lands, the use of which for other purposes is not allowed. The register also contains a description of the location of the boundaries of agricultural land (clause 5 of the Rules for Maintaining the State Register of Agricultural Land, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 154 dated February 2, 2023).

To determine whether and where agricultural land is located within a particular territory, data from the federal register of grape-growing lands is important. Such a register is a unified state information system for accounting for grape-growing lands, including information on land plots that have been used for the cultivation of grape plantations for at least 5 years over the past 50 years, in accordance with Article 3 of the Federal Law "On Viticulture and Winemaking in the Russian Federation."

Thus, strict compliance with the new rules for transferring agricultural land, including agricultural land within such lands, to another category is largely ensured by the creation of a data system on the boundaries of agricultural land.

Conclusions

Thus, the land and related legislation establishes a system of new legal provisions providing for a more complex procedure for transferring agricultural land, and especially agricultural land within this category of land, as well as the corresponding land plots to another category, including for ensuring the use of mineral resources.

This procedure, if lands and land plots are not classified as federal property, provides for making decisions on the transfer of agricultural land in compliance with a number of stages and with the participation of various bodies of the subject of the Russian Federation, its highest official. The Russian Ministry of Agriculture may prepare an opinion on the transfer of agricultural land. It seems advisable to provide at the federal level areas for the appropriate development of regional land legislation in order to form clear legal conditions, grounds and criteria for decision-making on the issue of land transfer.

The transitional provisions of Federal Law No. 52-FZ regarding the transfer of land for the extraction of common minerals are not clearly established, which may lead to a variety of understanding in law enforcement activities.

Especially valuable productive agricultural lands receive full protection from the transfer of agricultural land to another category for mining. In addition, there is a ban on the transfer of agricultural land as part of agricultural land to another category for the extraction of common minerals.

The implementation of these new legal provisions in practice, regardless of the designated dates for their entry into force, becomes possible only upon completion of work on entering information on the boundaries of agricultural land into the Unified State Register of Natural Resources and specialized registries.

The article is published in the version approved by the reviewers (after receiving a positive review recommending the manuscript for publication) with corrections made by the author (after receiving the editor’s comments, if any).
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