The General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR") has recently issued the Measures for Handling under the Oversight and Public Exposure of Violations of Laws and Regulations (the "Measures").
The Measures touch upon contents in eight aspects, including the types of violations that should be handled under the oversight, investigations and handling of violations that should be handled under the oversight, follow-up and supervision of the handling of violations under the oversight, and public exposure. Among others, the Measures clarify that eight types of violations of laws and regulations, including "practices of illegally crossing any of three control lines, i.e. ecological conservation red lines, boundaries of permanent basic farmland, and boundaries of urban and rural development, in breach of the spatial planning for or controls over the use of, national land, which result in serious consequences", could be handled under the oversight. In addition, the Measures provide that clues to violations handled under the oversight may be gained from various sources, including letters and visits, whistleblower reports, directions from leaders, media exposure, supervisory checks, local reports, and departmental referral. Moreover, the Measures require that cases to be publicly exposed shall meet the requirements for violations of laws and regulations that should be handled under the oversight, and the public exposure shall not be conducted until such cases have been thoroughly handled in accordance with laws and regulations, adding that cases that are being investigated and dealt with may be publicly exposed, when necessary.