Removal of land from the agricultural land fund (ZPF)

Removing land from the agricultural land fund (odnětí ze ZPF) means releasing farmland for non-agricultural use, such as a house, garage or paved areas. Under Section 9 of Czech Act No. 334/1992 Coll., it requires consent from the agricultural land protection authority, and the project cannot be permitted without it. Removal may be permanent, or temporary with a duty to restore the land afterwards. In practice it is often called 'vynětí ze ZPF'.

Who decides and when consent is not needed

Consent is granted by the municipal office of the municipality with extended powers for up to 1 ha, by the regional authority above 1 ha, and in a national park by its administration. For projects requiring a single environmental opinion (jednotné environmentální stanovisko) under Act No. 148/2023 Coll., no separate consent is issued and the assessment is part of that opinion. No consent is needed, for example, for:

• a structure of up to 25 m² including related built-up areas in the built-up area
• a project on the unbuilt part of a built-up building plot with a family house if the plot is smaller than 1,000 m²
• non-agricultural use shorter than 1 year, notified to the authority at least 15 days in advance
• a well or borehole of up to 55 m²

The authority considers whether non-agricultural land or land in the built-up area and development areas could be used, and removes lower-quality land first. Land in protection classes I and II may be removed only where another public interest clearly prevails; this does not apply to areas the zoning plan has designated for non-agricultural use.

The removal levy

The authority sets the levy only after construction starts, under the annex to the Act: the base price by BPEJ from the valuation decree is multiplied by an ecological weight (for example in protected areas) and by a protection class coefficient, which since 1 July 2024 is 11, 8, 5, 4 and 4 for classes I to V. For a family house, only the area of the building and related paved surfaces is removed if the rest of the plot is to serve as a garden. If a private individual builds the house for their own housing, the ecological weight is not applied. The levy for permanent removal is paid in one sum and falls due on the 30th day after the levy decision becomes final; levies up to CZK 100 are not collected. For a building started without a permit after 1 July 2024, the levy is multiplied by twenty.

Example

Illustrative example: a private individual builds a family house for their own housing in a development area on class II land with a BPEJ base price of CZK 10 per m². They remove 150 m² for the house and paved areas. The levy is 150 × 10 × 8 = CZK 12,000.