According to the trade press, the Romanian government intends to limit access to foreign nationals buying large areas of forest and farmland in the country by imposing taxes.

It is expressed that: “The Agriculture Minister welcomes foreign investment as long as they do not prevent Romanians from competing on equal terms”.

In addition to introducing taxes, the Minister for Agriculture will prevent profits from being taken out of the country.

We have made some inquires with some competent sources in Romania and received the following response:

According to the EU accession treaty, Romania has to open up and allow foreign individuals to buy farmland in Romania from 2014 (until 2014 it is possible for foreign individuals to buy land, but only if they set up a Romanian company and buy property in this Romanian company).

There is a heated debate in the press about this at the moment and the current Minister of Agriculture has given these calming public statements that during 2013 he will develop rules for the public body, Domain Agency, so that it must individually approve foreign individuals who want to buy land in Romania, and may require some business experience as a condition, as well as introducing some limits in respect of the number of hectares that can be purchased by a single foreign individual. Therefore, the set of rules will be similar to those that have been in force in Denmark for some time.

Romanian (foreign owned) companies will not be affected by these changes.

According to EU rules, to prevent the profits from leaving the country is unthinkable. Romania is a full member of the EU and therefore cannot introduce such a unilateral provision.The statements have been given as part of the election campaign leading up to the parliamentary elections on 9 December, where one should expect calm regarding this when the election is over.

The status concerning horticulture is that the general picture everywhere of the rapeseed and wheat fields is very satisfactory, so a good foundation has been laid for these crops for 2013.

Yours sincerely,

Richardt Duus

CEO