Algeria Agricultural law: prison and financial fines against agricultural estate remitters

Algerian government declared war on the agricultural estate mafia oriented to agricultural use in a bid to curb the phenomenon of using this kind of estate and turned it into another direction.A draft bill, which is now at the parliament for discussion devoted a full chapter for punitive provisions. They consist in four articles, on top the article 87 stipulating one to five years prison punishments and a fine from ten million to fifty million centimes for anyone who changes the agricultural shape of any land classified as rural or intended to agricultural exploitation. This is according to the index which determines agricultural estate properties and the way they must be exploited.

That bill concerning agricultural guidance doesn’t neglect  estates classified as being highlands, and singled out penalties against anyone who engages in damaging them, as stated in article 88  setting the penalty between one and six months imprisonment and material fine between 15 million and 50 million centimes.

The new draft bill confirmed that penalties will not be applied only on common persons but moral persons too including agricultural professional organizations as it’s stated in article 89. It confirmed that the fine in this case could not be less than four times the maximum one assessed for a natural person in addition to one or more supplementary penalties set in article 18. It is also possible to double those penalties in case of a repeated crime.

The bill stated the establishment of a national agricultural council, as an advisory body to make recommendations and views regarding all aspects of agricultural development, nutrition and food. The bill regarded farmers’ rights for damage compensation. The legislator introduced this aid within the national solidarity leaving details of compensation until the promulgation of executive decrees regulating the process. The article 71 stressed the necessity of insuring investors’ farming activities at insurance companies.