Decision on Amending the Two Laws

Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the the People's Republic of China Land Administration Law and the the People's Republic of China Urban Real Estate Administration Law
(Adopted at the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on August 26, 2019)

the People's Republic of China Presidential Order No. 32

The Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending the the People's Republic of China Land Administration Law and the the People's Republic of China Urban Real Estate Administration Law, as adopted at the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the the People's Republic of China of Representatives on August 26, 2019, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on January 1, 2020.

the People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping

26 August 2019

The 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress decides:

1. to amend the the People's Republic of China Land Administration Law

One article is (I) added as Article 6: "Agencies authorized by the State Council shall supervise the land use and land management of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, as well as the urban people's governments determined by the State Council."

The (II) merges Articles 11, 12 and 13 as Article 12 and amends them to read: "The registration of ownership and use rights of land shall be carried out in accordance with the laws and administrative regulations on real estate registration.

"The ownership and use right of land registered in accordance with the law shall be protected by law, and no unit or individual may infringe upon it."

The (III) merges Article 14 and Article 15 as Article 13 and amends it to read: "Farmland, woodland, grassland, and other land used for agriculture according to law that are collectively owned by farmers and owned by the state according to law shall be contracted in the form of family contracts within rural collective economic organizations, and barren hills, ditches, hills, beaches, etc. that are not suitable for family contracts, it may be contracted by means of bidding, auction and public consultation to engage in crop production, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The contract period of cultivated land contracted by households is 30 years, that of grassland is 30 to 50 years, and that of forest land is 30 to 70 years. After the expiration of the contract period of cultivated land, it will be extended for another 30 years, and the contract period of grassland and forest land will be extended accordingly according to law.

"Land owned by the state that is used for agriculture in accordance with the law may be contracted by units or individuals to engage in planting, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery production.

"The contracting party and the contractor shall conclude a contract in accordance with the law, stipulating the rights and obligations of both parties. Units and individuals contracting for land management shall have the obligation to protect and make rational use of the land in accordance with the purposes agreed upon in the contract."

Article 19 of the (IV) is changed as Article 17 and amended to read: "The overall plan for land use shall be prepared in accordance with the following principles:

"(I) implement the requirements for the development and protection of national land and space, and strictly control land use;

"(II) strictly protect permanent basic farmland and strictly control the occupation of agricultural land for non-agricultural construction;

"(III) raise the level of economical and intensive use of land;

"(IV) the overall arrangement of urban and rural production, living, and ecological land to meet the reasonable needs of rural industries and infrastructure land, and promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas;

"(V) protect and improve the ecological environment and guarantee the sustainable use of land;

"The amount of cultivated land occupied by (VI) and the development of reclaimed cultivated land are balanced and of equal quality."

One article is (V) added as Article 18: "The State establishes a territorial and spatial planning system. The preparation of land space planning should adhere to ecological priority, green and sustainable development, scientific and orderly overall arrangement of ecological, agricultural, urban and other functional spaces, optimize the structure and layout of land space, and improve the quality and efficiency of land space development and protection.

"The land space plan approved in accordance with the law is the basic basis for all kinds of development, protection and construction activities. If the land space plan has been prepared, the overall land use plan and urban and rural planning will no longer be prepared."

Article 24 of the (VI) is changed to Article 23, and the second paragraph is revised as follows: "The annual land use plan shall be based on the national economic and social development plan, the state industrial policy, the overall land use plan, and the actual construction land and land use. Compile the situation. The annual plan for land use shall make reasonable arrangements for the use of land for collective business construction as provided for in Article 63 of this Law. The procedures for the preparation and approval of the annual land use plan are the same as the procedures for the preparation and approval of the overall land use plan. Once the approval is issued, it must be strictly implemented."

The (VII) changes Article 29 to Article 28, and the second and third paragraphs are revised as follows: "The statistical institutions of the people's governments at or above the county level and the natural resources authorities shall conduct land statistical surveys in accordance with the law and regularly release land statistical data. The owner or user of the land shall provide the relevant information, and shall not refuse to report or delay the report, and shall not provide untrue or incomplete information.

"The land area statistics jointly issued by statistical agencies and natural resources authorities are the basis for the people's governments at all levels to formulate overall land use plans."

The (VIII) shall change Article 33 to Article 32 and amend it to read: "The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall strictly implement the overall land use plans and annual land use plans, and take measures to ensure that the total amount of cultivated land in their administrative areas does not decrease, and the quality does not decrease. If the total amount of cultivated land is reduced, the State Council shall order the reclamation of cultivated land equivalent to the quantity and quality of the reduced cultivated land within a prescribed time limit; if the quality of cultivated land is reduced, the State Council shall order the organization of rectification within a prescribed time limit. The cultivated land newly reclaimed and renovated shall be checked and accepted by the department in charge of natural resources under the State Council in conjunction with the departments in charge of agriculture and rural areas.

"If some provinces and municipalities directly under the central government are indeed short of land reserve resources, and the amount of newly reclaimed cultivated land is not enough to compensate for the amount of cultivated land occupied after the new construction land is added, it must be reported to the State Council for approval to reduce or reduce the amount of cultivated land reclaimed in their respective administrative areas, and cultivated land with the same quantity and quality shall be reclaimed."

The (IX) changes the first and second paragraphs of Article 34 to Article 33 and revises it as: "The state implements a permanent basic farmland protection system. The following cultivated land shall be designated as permanent basic farmland in accordance with the overall plan for land use and shall be under strict protection:

"(I) the cultivated land within the production bases of grain, cotton, oil, sugar and other important agricultural products determined with the approval of the competent agricultural and rural departments of the State Council or the local people's governments at or above the county level;

"(II) cultivated land with good water conservancy and soil and water conservation facilities, the transformation plan is being implemented, as well as the medium and low-yield fields that can be transformed and the high-standard farmland that has been built;

"(III) vegetable production bases;

"(IV) experimental fields for agricultural scientific research and teaching;

"Other cultivated land that shall be classified as permanent basic farmland in (V) with the provisions of the State Council.

"The permanent basic farmland designated by each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government shall generally account for more than 80% of the cultivated land within its administrative area, and the specific proportion shall be determined by the State Council in accordance with the actual conditions of cultivated land in each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government."

The (X) changes the third paragraph of Article 34 to Article 34 and revises it as follows: "The designation of permanent basic farmland shall be carried out on the basis of townships (towns), and the natural resources department of the people's government at the county level shall be in conjunction with the agricultural and rural authorities at the same level. Organize the implementation. Permanent basic farmland should be implemented to the land, into the national database of permanent basic farmland strict management.

"The township (town) people's government shall announce the location and scope of permanent basic farmland to the public, and set up protection signs."

(11) One article is added as Article 35: "After permanent basic farmland has been designated according to law, no unit or individual may occupy or change its use without authorization. The site selection of national energy, transportation, water conservancy, military facilities and other key construction projects is indeed difficult to avoid permanent basic farmland. If it involves the conversion of agricultural land or land acquisition, it must be approved by the State Council.

"It is forbidden to evade the examination and approval of the conversion of permanent basic farmland to agricultural land or land expropriation by adjusting the overall land use planning at the county level and the overall land use planning of townships (towns) without authorization."

(12) Article 35 is changed to Article 36 and amended to read: "People's governments at all levels shall take measures to guide rotation and fallow in accordance with local conditions, improve soil, improve soil fertility, maintain drainage and irrigation engineering facilities, and prevent land desertification, Salinization, soil erosion and soil pollution."

(13) Article 37 is changed to Article 38 and paragraph 3 is deleted.

(14) Article 43 shall be deleted.

(15) The second, third and fourth paragraphs of Article 44 are amended to read: "The conversion of permanent basic farmland into construction land shall be approved by the State Council.

"Within the scope of the scale of construction land for cities, villages and market towns determined by the overall land use plan, if agricultural land other than permanent basic farmland is converted into construction land for the implementation of the plan, it shall be approved by the organ that originally approved the overall land use plan or its authorized organ in batches according to the provisions of the State Council according to the annual land use plan. Within the scope of the approved conversion of agricultural land, the land for specific construction projects may be approved by the municipal and county people's governments.

"The conversion of agricultural land other than permanent basic farmland into construction land outside the scale of construction land in cities, villages, and market towns determined by the overall land use plan shall be approved by the State Council or the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities authorized by the State Council."

(16) One article is added as Article 45: "In order to meet the needs of the public interest, if it is really necessary to expropriate land collectively owned by farmers under any of the following circumstances, expropriation may be carried out in accordance with the law:

"(I) the use of land for military and diplomatic needs;

"(II) the need for land for infrastructure construction such as energy, transportation, water conservancy, communications, and postal services organized and implemented by the government;

"(III) public utilities such as science and technology, education, culture, health, sports, ecological environment and resource protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, cultural relics protection, community comprehensive services, social welfare, municipal public utilities, preferential care and placement, and protection of heroes organized and implemented by the government require land;

"(IV) the need for land for the construction of poverty alleviation and relocation and affordable housing projects organized and implemented by the government;

"(V) that, within the scope of urban construction land determined by the overall land use plan, land needs to be used for development and construction organized and implemented by the local people's government at or above the county level with the approval of the people's government at or above the provincial level;

"(VI) other circumstances where the law provides for the expropriation of land collectively owned by farmers in the public interest.

"The construction activities specified in the preceding paragraph shall conform to the national economic and social development plan, the overall land use plan, the urban and rural plan and the special plan; the construction activities specified in items (IV) and (V) shall also be included in the annual national economic and social development plan; the piece development specified in item (V) shall meet the standards set by the natural resources department of the State Council."

(17) Article 45 shall be changed to Article 46, and the words "and report to the State Council for the record" in the second paragraph shall be deleted ".

(18) Article 46 and Article 48 are merged as Article 47 and amended to read: "Where the state expropriates land, it shall be announced and organized by the local people's government at or above the county level after approval in accordance with legal procedures. implement.

"If the local people's government at or above the county level intends to apply for land expropriation, it shall carry out a survey of the current situation of the land to be expropriated and a risk assessment of social stability, and make an announcement for at least 30 days within the scope of the township (town), village and villager group where the land to be expropriated, listen to the opinions of the rural collective economic organizations and their members, villagers' committees and other interested parties.

"If most members of the rural collective economic organization whose land has been expropriated believe that the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan does not comply with the provisions of laws and regulations, the local people's government at or above the county level shall organize a hearing and revise the plan in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and the hearing.

"The owner and the right to use the land to be expropriated shall, within the time limit specified in the announcement, go through the compensation registration with the proof of real estate ownership. The local people's government at or above the county level shall organize the relevant departments to calculate and implement the relevant expenses, ensure that the full amount is in place, and sign agreements on compensation and resettlement with the owners and users of the land to be expropriated; if it is really difficult to reach an agreement, it shall truthfully explain when applying for land expropriation.

"After the relevant preliminary work is completed, the local people's government at or above the county level can apply for land acquisition."

(19) Article 47 is changed to Article 48 and amended to read: "Fair and reasonable compensation shall be given to the expropriation of land to ensure that the original living standards of the land-expropriated farmers will not be reduced and their long-term livelihoods will be guaranteed.

"Land compensation fees, resettlement subsidies, and compensation fees for rural villagers' houses, other ground attachments and young crops shall be paid in full and in a timely manner in accordance with the law, and social security fees for land-expropriated farmers shall be arranged.

"The standards of land compensation fees and resettlement subsidies for the expropriation of agricultural land shall be determined by the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government through the formulation and publication of comprehensive land prices. The formulation of a comprehensive land price for a region shall comprehensively consider factors such as the original use of the land, land resource conditions, land output value, land location, land supply and demand, population, and economic and social development level, and shall be adjusted or re-announced at least every three years.

"The compensation standards for land other than agricultural land, ground attachments and young crops shall be formulated by provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. For the rural villagers' houses, we should respect the wishes of rural villagers in accordance with the principle of compensation before relocation and improvement of living conditions, and give fair and reasonable compensation by means of rearranging homestead to build houses, providing resettlement houses or monetary compensation, and compensate for the relocation and temporary resettlement expenses caused by expropriation, so as to protect the living rights and legitimate housing property rights and interests of rural villagers.

"The local people's government at or above the county level shall include the land-expropriated farmers in the corresponding pension and other social security systems. The social security expenses of the land-expropriated farmers are mainly used for the pension insurance and other social insurance payment subsidies of the eligible land-expropriated farmers. The methods for raising, managing and using the social security expenses of the land-expropriated farmers shall be formulated by the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government."

(20) The second paragraph of Article 55 is amended to read: "From the date of implementation of this Law, the 30% of the paid land use fee for newly added construction land shall be turned over to the Central Treasury, and the 70% shall be left to the relevant local people's governments. The specific use management measures shall be formulated by the financial department of the State Council in conjunction with the relevant departments and submitted to the State Council for approval."

(21) Article 58 shall be amended to read: "in any of the following circumstances, the competent department of natural resources of the relevant people's government shall report to the people's government that originally approved the use of land or the people's government with the power of approval, and may recover the right to use state-owned land:

"(I) the reconstruction of old urban areas for the implementation of urban planning and other public interests require the use of land;

"(II) the expiration of the period of use stipulated in the paid use contract such as land transfer, the land user has not applied for renewal or the application for renewal has not been approved;

"(III) ceases to use the originally allocated state-owned land for reasons such as the cancellation or relocation of the unit;

"(IV) roads, railways, airports, mines, etc. are approved for scrapping.

"Where the right to the use of state-owned land is recovered in accordance with the provisions of Item (I) of the preceding paragraph, appropriate compensation shall be paid to the land-use right holder."

(22) The second, third, and fourth paragraphs of Article 62 are amended to read: "In areas where the per capita land is small and cannot be guaranteed for a household to own a homestead, the people's government at the county level fully respects the rural villagers. On the basis of the wishes, measures may be taken to ensure that rural villagers achieve household housing in accordance with the standards set by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

"The construction of houses by rural villagers shall conform to the overall land use planning and village planning of the township (town), shall not occupy permanent basic farmland, and shall use the original homestead and free land in the village as far as possible. The preparation of township (town) land use overall planning, village planning should be overall planning and reasonable arrangements for homestead land, improve the living environment and conditions of rural villagers.

"Rural villagers' residential land shall be examined and approved by the township (town) people's government; among them, if the occupation of agricultural land is involved, the examination and approval procedures shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Article 44 of this Law.

"Rural villagers who sell, rent or donate their houses and then apply for homestead shall not be approved.

"The state allows rural villagers who settle in cities to voluntarily withdraw from their homesteads in accordance with the law, and encourages rural collective economic organizations and their members to revitalize and use idle homesteads and idle houses.

"The competent department of agriculture and rural areas under the State Council is responsible for the reform and management of rural homesteads nationwide."

(23) Amend Article 63 to read: "The overall land use plan, urban and rural planning is determined as industrial, commercial and other operating purposes, and the collective operating construction land registered in accordance with the law, the land owner can transfer, Lease and other methods are handed over to units or individuals for use, and a written contract shall be signed, the land boundary, area, construction period, use period, land use, planning conditions and other rights and obligations of both parties shall be specified.

"The transfer and lease of collective business construction land as stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be subject to the consent of more than 2/3 members of the villagers' assembly of the members of the collective economic organization or more than 2/3 villagers' representatives.

"The right to the use of collective business construction land obtained through transfer and other means may be transferred, exchanged, contributed, donated or mortgaged, unless otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations or otherwise agreed in a written contract signed by the land owner or the land use right holder.

"The lease of collective business construction land, the transfer of the right to use collective construction land and its maximum term, transfer, exchange, capital contribution, gift, mortgage, etc., shall be carried out with reference to state-owned construction land for similar purposes. The specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council."

(24) One article is added as Article 64: "Users of collective construction land shall use land in strict accordance with the purposes determined by the overall land use plan and urban and rural planning."

(25) Article 65 is changed to Article 66, and one paragraph is added as the third paragraph: "The recovery of the right to use collective business construction land shall be handled in accordance with the written contract signed by both parties, except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations."

(26) Article 66 is changed to Article 67, and one paragraph is added as the second paragraph: "Where the competent agricultural and rural departments of the people's governments at or above the county level conduct supervision and inspection of violations of laws and regulations on the management of rural homesteads, the provisions of this Law on the supervision and inspection of the competent departments of natural resources shall apply."

(27) Article 70 is changed to Article 71 and amended to read: "if the competent department of natural resources of the people's government at or above the county level discovers the illegal acts of state functionaries in the course of supervision and inspection and should be punished according to law, it shall be dealt with according to law; if it has no right to deal with it, it shall be transferred to the supervisory organ or relevant organ for handling according to law."

(28) Article 74 is changed to Article 75, in which the "land administrative department" is amended to "natural resources departments, agricultural and rural departments, etc., in accordance with their duties".

(29) Article 77 is changed to Article 78, in which "land administrative department" is changed to "agricultural and rural administrative department".

(30) Article 81 is changed to Article 82 and amended to read: "unauthorized use of land collectively owned by farmers for non-agricultural construction by means of transfer, transfer of use rights or lease, or in violation of the provisions of this Law, the collective operating construction land is handed over to units or individuals for use by means of transfer or lease, the competent department of natural resources of the people's government at or above the county level shall order corrections within a time limit, confiscate the illegal gains and impose a fine."

(31) Article 82 is deleted.

(32) The "land administrative department" in Article 84 is amended to "natural resources department, agricultural and rural department".

(33) Article 85 is amended to read: "This Law shall apply to the use of land by foreign-invested enterprises; if the law provides otherwise, such provisions shall prevail."

(34) One article is added as Article 86: "Prior to the preparation of land space plans in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of this Law, the overall land use plans and urban and rural plans approved in accordance with the law shall continue to be implemented."

(35) The "land administrative department" in the relevant provisions is revised to "natural resources department", "basic farmland" is revised to "permanent basic farmland", and "administrative sanctions" is revised to "sanctions".

2. Amendments to the the People's Republic of China Urban Real Estate Management Law

Article 9 is amended to read: "After the collectively owned land in the urban planning area is expropriated and converted into state-owned land according to law, the right to use the state-owned land can be transferred with compensation, unless otherwise provided by law."

3. revising the Land Management Law and the Urban Real Estate Management Law, ensuring that reforms such as rural land expropriation, collective operating construction land entering the market, and homestead management systems are implemented nationwide in accordance with the law, which is of great significance to promoting rural revitalization and the integrated development of urban and rural areas. The State Council and its relevant departments and all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall adhere to the principle that the nature of public ownership of land shall not change, the red line of cultivated land shall not be broken, and the interests of farmers shall not be damaged, strengthen organization and leadership, do a good job in legal publicity, formulate and improve supporting laws and regulations, and ensure the correct and effective implementation of the legal system.

This Decision shall come into force as of January 1, 2020.

The the People's Republic of China Land Administration Law and the the People's Republic of China Urban Real Estate Administration Law shall be amended accordingly and re-promulgated in accordance with this Decision.