Facts
X., a retired rose grower, is the owner of a 9'840 m2 plot located in an agricultural and forest zone. He requested the Agricultural Land Commission of the Canton of Geneva to pronounce the de-subjection of this plot, as the operation was no longer profitable and he had not found a successor. The Commission granted this request, but the Administrative Court annulled this decision, considering that a public offer was necessary to determine whether the property continued to have an agricultural character. X. then published an advertisement, but no personal operator came forward. The Commission finally pronounced the de-subjection of the plot, a decision that the Administrative Court confirmed. The Federal Office of Justice appealed this decision to the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the procedure to establish that a property located outside a building zone is excluded from the scope of the Federal Act on Rural Land Ownership (RLRA) is distinct from the authorization procedure for acquisition by a non-operator in a personal capacity provided for in Art. 64 para. 1 let. f RLRA. In the first case, the aim is to establish that a property is of no use to agriculture and therefore does not have to be subject to the protective measures provided for by the RLRA. In the second case, the property remains subject to the RLRA, but…