Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2019)
Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2019)
Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Amended in 2019)
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.32
August 26, 2019
(Adopted at the 16th Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on June 25, 1986; amended for the first time according to the Decision on Revising the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China made at the 5th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on December 29, 1988, revised at the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on August 29, 1998; amended for the second time according to the Decision on Revising the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China made at the 11th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on August 28, 2004; and amended for the third time according to the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Revising the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Urban Real Estate on August 26, 2019)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Ownership and Use Rights of Land
Chapter III Overall Land Utilization Plan
Chapter IV Protection of Cultivated Land
Chapter V Construction Land
Chapter VI Supervision and Inspection
Chapter VII Legal Liability
Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted according to the Constitution for the purposes of strengthening the administration of land, safeguarding the socialist public ownership of land, protecting and developing land resources, ensuring the rational use of land, effectively protecting cultivated land and promoting the sustainable development of the society and the economy.
Article 2 The land of the People's Republic of China is subject to the socialist public ownership, namely, ownership by the whole people or collective ownership of the working masses.
Ownership by the whole people means that the State Council exercises the ownership of state-owned land on behalf of the State.
No entity or individual is allowed to seize, trade, or otherwise illegally transfer land. Land use rights may be legally transferred.
The State may, for public interest, lawfully expropriate or requisition land and make appropriate compensation.
The State legally adopts the system of compensation for the use of land owned by the State, except where the State allocates the right to use state-owned land within the bounds of the law.
Article 3 Highly valuing and making rational use of land and effectively protecting cultivated land are the basic national policies of China. The people's governments at all levels shall take measures to prepare an overall plan for the use of land, to carry out strict administration of land, to protect and develop land resources, and to stop any illegal land seizures.
Article 4 The State adopts the land-use regulation system.
The State shall prepare an overall land utilization plan to specify land use, classifying land into agricultural land, construction land, or unused land. The State shall strictly restrict the transformation of agricultural land into construction land, control the total amount of construction land, and implement special protection over cultivated land.
for the purposes of the preceding paragraph, "agricultural land" refers to land directly used for agricultural production, including cultivated land, forest land, grassland, land used for irrigation, and bodies of water used for breeding purposes; "construction land" refers to land on which buildings or other structures are built, including land for urban and rural housing and for the public facilities thereof, land for industrial and mining use, land for the construction of transportation and irrigation facilities, land used for tourism, and land for the construction of military installations; and "unused land" refers to any land other than land used for agriculture or construction.
Any entity or individual must use land in strict accordance with the purposes of land use as specified in the overall land utilization plan.
Article 5 The competent department for natural resources of the State Council is responsible for the administration and supervision of land nationwide.
The establishment and responsibilities of the competent department for natural resourcess of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be determined by the people's governments of the relevant provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government according to the relevant regulations of the State Council.
Article 6 Institutions authorized by the State Council supervise land utilization and administration conditions of people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government as well as those of cities determined by the State Council.
Article 7 Any entity or individual is obliged to abide by the laws and regulations concerning land administration and have the right to make report or accusation against the acts violating the laws and regulations concerning land administration.
Article 8 People's governments shall reward entities or individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the protection or development of land resources, the rational utilization of land, or relevant scientific research, etc.
Chapter II Ownership and Use Rights of Land
Article 9 Land in urban areas is owned by the State.
Land in rural and suburban areas, except those of which the ownership belongs to the State according to the law, is collectively owned by peasants; and homestead and private plots in fields or on hillsides are collectively owned by peasants.
Article 10 Land owned by the State and land collectively owned by peasants may be lawfully determined to be used by entities or individuals. Entities or individuals using such land are obligated to protect, manage, and rationally utilize the land.
Article 11 Where land collectively owned by peasants is collectively owned by the village peasants according to law, the land is operated and managed by a village collective economic organization or the village committee; where the land is collectively owned by the peasants of two or more rural collective economic organizations within the same village respectively, such land is operated and managed by all the rural collective economic organizations or by village groups; where the land is owned by a township (town) peasants' collective, such land is operated and managed by the township (town) rural collective economic organization.
Article 12 The registration of the ownership of and the right to use the land shall be conducted as per laws and administrative regulations on real estate registration.
The ownership of and the right to use the land lawfully registered shall be protected by law, and shall not be invaded by any entity or individual.
Article 13 The farmland, forest land and grass land collectively owned by peasants and owned by the State and collectively used by peasants as well as other land lawfully used for agriculture, which are contracted by means of family contracting inside rural collective economic organizations, as well as waste mountains, valleys, hillocks, beaches and so on unsuitable for family contracting may be contracted by such means as bidding, auction, open negotiation and so on for the production in crop farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The contracting period of farmland subject to family contracting is 30 years, that of grassland is 30 years to 50 years, and that of forest land is 30 years to 70 years; upon expiration of the contracting period of farmland, the said period shall be extended for 30 years, and that of grassland and forest land shall, upon expiration of the contracting period, be extended accordingly according to the law.
State-owned land to be lawfully used for agriculture may be contracted and managed by entities or individuals for engaging in the production of crop farming, forestry, animal husbandry or fishery.
The outsourcer and the contractor shall, according to the law, sign a contract that defines each other's rights and obligations. Any entity or individual that contracts and manages land is obliged to protect and make rational use of the land pursuant to the purpose as stipulated in the contract.
(Relevant articles: Legislation 1)
Article 14 Disputes over the ownership or use rights of land shall be settled by the concerned parties through consultation, and if consultation fails, shall be handled by the relevant people's government.
Disputes between entities shall be handled by a people's government at or above the county level; disputes between individuals or between individuals and entities shall be handled by a people's government at the township level or at or above the county level.
Where a party is dissatisfied with the decision of the corresponding people's government, a suit may be filed with the people's court within thirty days of receipt of the notice on the decision.
No party may change the status quo with regards to piece of land before the settlement of any dispute over the ownership of or the right to use the land.
Chapter III Overall Land Utilization Plan
Article 15 People's governments at all levels shall organize the preparation of overall land utilization plans in accordance with their national economy and social development planning, the requirements for territorial management and protection of resources and environment, the supply of land, and the land needs of various construction projects.
The planning term of an overall land utilization plan shall be specified by the State Council.
Article 16 An overall land utilization plan of lower level shall be prepared based on the overall land utilization plan at the next higher level.
The total amount of land for construction in the overall land utilization plan prepared by the local people's government at each level shall not exceed the control target specified in the overall land utilization plan at the next higher level, and the total amount of cultivated land shall not be lower than the control target specified in the overall land utilization plans at the next higher level.
When drafting an overall land utilization plan, the people's government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall ensure that the total amount of cultivated land within its administrative area is not reduced.
Article 17 An overall land utilization plan shall be prepared according to the following principles:
1. meeting the requirements for national land space development and protection, and strictly controlling land purposes;
2. stringently protecting the permanent basic farmland and controlling the use of agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes;
3. increasing the economical and intensive utilization rate of land;
4. making overall arrangements for the use of urban and rural production, life and ecology, meeting the reasonable land demands of rural industries and infrastructures, and promoting urban and rural integrative development;
5. protecting and improving the ecological environment, and guaranteeing the sustainable utilization of land; and
6. balancing cultivated land that is occupied and cultivated land that is reclaimed and developed in terms of quantity and quality.
Article 18 The State will establish a national land space plan system. Concerning the preparation of a national land space plan, the priority given to ecology and green and sustainable development shall be persisted in, the functional space for ecology, agriculture, urbanization, etc. shall be generally arranged in a scientific and orderly way, the structure and layout of national land space shall be optimized, and the quality and efficiency of national land space development and protection shall be enhanced.
The national land space plan approved according to the law is the fundamental basis of different kinds of development, protection and construction activities. Where the national land space plan has been prepared, the overall plan and the urban and rural plan for land utilization shall not be prepared any more.
Article 19 Overall land utilization plans at the county level shall divide land utilization zones and specify purposes of land.
The township (town) overall land utilization plans shall divide land utilization zones and, according to the local conditions for land use, determine the purpose for each piece of land, and announce the same.
Article 20 Overall land utilization plans are examined and approved on a level by level basis.
The overall land utilization plan of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall be reported to the State Council for approval.
The overall land utilization plan of a city where the people's government of a province or autonomous region is located, a city with a population of over one million, or a city designated by the State Council shall, upon examination and approval by the people's government of the province or autonomous region, be submitted to the State Council for approval.
Overall land utilization plans other than those provided for in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this
Article shall be submitted to the people's government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government for approval level by level.
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