Ukraine passes reforms on transparency in land cadastre procedures

On 10 September 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted amendments to Resolution No. 1051, which updated the procedure for maintaining the state land cadastre. These amendments introduced new approaches to the consideration of applications and documents for entering or changing information into the state land cadastre. The innovations are consistent with the principles of the Ukrainian law On Administrative Procedure with the goal of reducing bureaucratic barriers in land matters.

The enactment of the Law of Ukraine On Administrative Procedure in 2021 represented a significant milestone in Ukraine’s fulfilment of its EU-accession commitments, aligning domestic public-administration standards with those prevailing across Europe. For more information about the law please refer to Administrative procedure law finally passed in Ukraine. Since the law’s entry into force in 2023, legislators have progressively amended sector-specific instruments to ensure their coherent application, including in the sphere of land use.

Now, an application to the cadastre is no longer rejected outright because of formal defects. If an application is submitted by an unauthorised person, without a digital signature or electronic identification and with an incomplete set of documents, the cadastral registrar leaves the application pending, giving the applicant information and time to correct it.

If there are grounds for refusing to accept an application (e.g. the repeated submission of the same application, the pendency of related court proceedings, applications outside the scope of the law or those containing offensive statements), the registrar is obliged to refuse immediately. Throughout the examination process, the registrar employs newly standardised cadastre forms, enhancing procedural transparency and predictability.

The procedure for resubmissions has been clarified separately. If an applicant resubmits an application for state registration of a land plot, the cadastral registrar cannot refuse on new grounds, except in cases where previous deficiencies have not been remedied.

Thus, the innovations in the procedure for maintaining the state land cadastre are designed to ensure that applicants receive positive decisions and avoid unjustified refusals.

For more information on Ukraine’s land use matters, contact your CMS client partner or our CMS Ukrainian experts: Natalia Kushniruk, Mykhaylo Soroka.