中共中央、国务院关于进一步加强土地管理切实保护耕地的通知
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（April 15， 1997） Land is an extremely valuable resource and asset. The per capita quantity of cultivated land in this country is little， its overall quality is low and the reserve resources are inadequate. Protection of the cultivated land itself means the protection of our lifeline. However， in recent years， there has， as yet， been no fundamental resolution of the question of indiscriminate occupancy of cultivated land， approval of land requisition in violation of law and waste of land in a number of localities leading to a sharp decrease in the acreage of cultivated land and losses of land assets which not only seriously affected food production and the development of agriculture， but also affected the development of the entire national economy and social stability. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attache great importance to the major problem of land administration especially the protection of cultivated land which concerns the overall interests of the whole country and the posterities of the Chinese nation and have come to the conclusion after repeated studies that proceeding from the state of the nation， there must be extremely strict measures in land administration and in particular in the protection of cultivated land in this country and the basic state policy of “extremely holding dear and rationally making use of every single inch of land and earnestly protecting cultivated land” must be conscientiously carried out， and policies to treat the root cause must be adopted to turn the trend of imbalances between the continued growth of population and sharp decrease in cultivated land. To this end， it is hereby notified as follows： I. Enhancing Macro-administration of Land All provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government must， in strict accordance with the requirement of achieving dynamic balance in cultivated land aggregate， achieve the target that there shall be only increase but not decrease in cultivated land aggregate in their respective areas and strive to improve the quality of cultivated land. People's Governments at all levels must， in accordance with the principle of raising the ratio of land utilization and coupling of cultivated land occupancy and development and reclamation， seriously do a good job in the compilation， revision and implementation of overall plans for land utilization with emphasis on the protection of cultivated land， strict control over cultivated land occupancy and overall arrangements of the requirements of land use by various industries. All overall plans for land utilization which fail to comply with the above principle and requirements have to be revised. Compilation and revision of overall plans for land utilization must be done after scientific authentication and strict and thorough measurement and calculation and must be fully feasible； the overall plans for land utilization shall， upon approval， be legally binding and integrated into the five-year plans and annual plans for national socio-economic development and be strictly implemented. Pending the approval of the revised overall plans for land utilization， there shall， in principle， be no approval of new occupancy of cultivated land. The policy of coupling of occupancy of cultivated land with development and reclamation shall be carried out. Occupation of land and in particular occupation of cultivated land and forest land for all types of construction should be put under strict control. Fertile land should be occupied less and full use should be made of the land already occupied for construction and of abandoned land. Uncultivated land should be fully developed and exploited in the adjustment of the internal structure of agriculture. Except for requirements for improvement in ecological environment， no occupation of cultivated land for the development of forest industry and fruit industry and digging of ponds for fish breeding shall take place. For non-agricultural construction which really warrants occupation of cultivated land， the area to be developed and reclaimed must not be less than that occupied and it must comply with the quality standards for cultivated land. Funds required for the development of cultivated land shall be included in the total investment of the construction projects as land cost for construction， and funds required for reclamation of cultivated land shall be included in the production cost or total investment of the construction projects. Surface soil of the cultivated layer of the cultivated land occupied shall be used for the rebuilding of new land to be undertaken by the construction units step by step in accordance with the requirements of local governments for occupation of cultivated land for non-agricultural construction. Encouragement shall be given to cooperation between regions with inadequate reserve resources of cultivated land and regions with rich reserve resources of cultivated land in reclamation of wasteland and comprehensive development of agriculture. All localities should make efforts to sum up and extend experiences in economy in land use and tapping the potentials of land. Management of land use plans shall be enhanced. People's Governments at all levels should， in accordance with the requirements of plans for national socio-economic development， the state industrial policy and the overall plan for land use， and in accordance with the procedures for the compilation and submission of plans for national socio-economic development， work out annual land use plans including targets for protection of cultivated land， land expropriation for all types of construction， transfer of land use rights and development and reclamation of cultivated land and enhance control over land use aggregate. Land use for all constructions must conform with the overall plans for land use and the overall plans for cities and be included in annual land use plans. Annual land use plans shall exercise mandatory planned management which must be strictly implemented with no breakthrough once they are transmitted. Land arrangement should be actively promoted and land building well managed. All localities should sum up and extend experiences in land arrangement in a big way， manage well land building， improve the quality of cultivated land， increase area of effective cultivated land and improve conditions for agricultural production and the environment through comprehensive arrangement and treatment of farmland， irrigation， roads， forests and villages in accordance with the overall plans for land use. II. Further Toughening Control over Examination and Approval of Land for Construction Strict control over the use of farmland and non-farmland shall be enforced. As of the date of the issuance of this Circular， occupation of cultivated land for non-agricultural construction projects shall be frozen for the period of one year； those which are in actual need of occupation of cultivated land must be submitted to the State Council for examination and approval. Original procedures prescribed for submission and approval shall be followed for land to be used for there solution of the difficulties of middle- and low-income households in cities and towns in housing and comfortable housing projects as well as major construction projects approved by the State. Land to be used for all constructions must be subjected to submission and approval in strict accordance with legal authorization and procedures. Departments of land administration should carry out preliminary examination of the land to used for the projects during the phase of evaluation and examination of feasibility studies of construction projects. For construction projects which fail to conform to overall plans for land use， urban construction projects which fail to conform to municipal overall plans， those which are not integrated in annual land use plans as well as those construction projects which fail to comply with regulations for land administration and relevant provisions for land use for construction， no land use shall be approved， neither shall construction of the projects be launched. III. Strict Control of Scale of Land Use for Urban Construction Urban planning， construction and administration must strictly adhere to such relevant laws and regulations as the Existing potential should be fully tapped in land use for urban construction and the best possible use be made of non-cultivated land and land use rate should be raised. Urban construction and development must proceed from the actual conditions， act according to one's capabilities and carry out in steps in strict accordance with the approved overall urban plans. Overall plans for urban construction must be coupled with overall plans for land use and the scale of land use must not break through the overall plans for land use. Partial adjustments or major changes in overall urban plans must be made with the confirmation of the examination and approval organs and the same should be submitted for the record or approval in accordance with the requirements prescribed in the IV. Enhancing Control over Rural Collective Land Village and township construction plans should be successfully worked out in combination with the delimitation of the protected zones of basic farmland. Village and township construction must be concentrated， closely knit and rational in layout， best possible use is made of waste land， slope land and abandoned land and no fertile land is occupied. Where there are the required conditions， land suitable for cultivation should be adjusted for reclamation and re-cultivation through transformation of villages and townships. Building of residential quarters for rural inhabitants must conform to the village and township construction plans. Where there are the required conditions， encouragement should be given to relatively concentrated building of multi-storey apartment houses. Rural inhabitants must acquire house sites in accordance with law and strictly abide by the prescribed standards of the provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government wherein they reside in building residences. Each household of rural inhabitants is only entitled to one house site not exceeding the standards， and the surplus portion of house sites shall be taken back for collective ownership according to law. Cultivated land lying in waste is strictly prohibited. Contracting rights shall be withdrawn in accordance with provisions for land no longer used for agricultural production or land the cultivation of which is abandoned for failure in implementing the land contracts. Intensive operations in various forms should be encouraged. Funeral and interment reform should be actively promoted by changing prevailing habits and customs and cremation should be encouraged. No cultivated land shall be occupied for burial in the ground. Cemeteries can be delimited in concentrated areas in mountainous villages. Encouragement should be given to the building of halls for concentrated storage of ashes of the dead in villages in the plains. For grave sites formed by occupying cultivated land or forest land， they should be handled in a satisfactory manner by shifting or deep burial so as not to affect cultivation or reclamation or return to forestation， under the prerequisite of doing deep-going and careful ideological work and getting the support and cooperation of the parties concerned. There shall be no occupation of cultivated land or occupation of less cultivated land and economy in land use to the extent possible in the development of rural and township enterprises. Land use by rural and township enterprises should， in line with the requirements of the approved rural and township construction plans， be rational in layout， properly concentrated and go through formalities of examination and approval of land use according to law. Promote in a big way new materials for walls， restrict production of clay bricks and strictly prohibit occupation of cultivated land for construction of kilns for bricks and tiles. The cultivated land already occupied for construction of kilns for bricks and tiles should be adjusted and returned to cultivation with a specified time period. With the exception of state requisition， there shall be no transfer of collective land use right， no use for operation-purpose real estate development， nor transfer or lease for non-agricultural construction. Strict examination and approval according to law should be adhered to and attention should be paid to the protection of peasants' interests in collective land to be used for non-agricultural construction and occurences of land use right transactions in the establishment of enterprises in the form of shares with land with units and individuals outside one's own collective， or transfer， lease and mortgage of the appendixes thereon with units and individuals outside one's own collective. All kinds of wasteland collectively owned must not be used for nonagricultural construction in the form of auction or leased use right. V. Strengthening Administration of the State-owned Land Assets Transfer of land use right for requisitioned cultivated land should be strictly controlled. Transfer of land use right for requisitioned cultivated land， forest land and wasteland suitable for farming for such high-grade real estate development and construction of golf courses， imitated ancient townships， amusement parks and top-class villas as well as building of shrines， temples and churches is prohibited. Compensatory transfer of state-owned land use right shall mainly be in the form of auction through open bidding to encourage fair competition. The system of announcing baseline land price and nominal land price evaluation shall be established. The bottom-line price of state-owned land use right auction shall be determined in accordance with the state industrial policy on the basis of scientific evaluation. The transaction value should be made public in society. Transfer of state-owned land use right involving national defense security， military restricted areas and key national protected areas and projects of land development in stretches with foreign investment shall all be submitted to the State Council for examination and approval. Transfer of land use right of a whole island to a foreign country is prohibited. The State shall， step by step， practise measures of compensatory use within a limited period for state-owned land use right acquired originally in the form of allocation and appropriation for non-agricultural operations with the exception of the cases which may continue to follow allocation and appropriation under law. The previously allocated and appropriated land use right involved in the change of system from state-owned enterprises to limited liability companies or companies limited by shares must practise compensatory use according to law after land price evaluation. The previously allocated and appropriated land use right involved in the reorganization of state-owned enterprises shall be handled in accordance with relevant state provisions. The previously allocated and appropriated land use right involved in the transformation of old city districts can be withdrawn by the government in accordance with law and compensatory use within a limited period shall be practised according to law except for the scope of allocation and appropriation provided for under law. Land use right transfer markets shall be standardized and illegal transactions in scalping purchases and sales of land shall be strictly prohibited. Failure of development and utilization of state-owned land use right obtained in the form of assignment in accordance with the time period and terms prescribed by law， the said land use right must not be transferred. Whoever engages in illegal transfer， he or she shall be penalized according to law， his or her illegal income confiscated and his or her land use right terminated. State-owned land use right transfer must go through registration of change in ownership of the right of the land， and failure of registration falls within illegal transfer which shall be investigated and dealt with according to law. Henceforward， land benefits from original land for construction shall be kept for the localities in full as special-purpose funds for the building of urban infrastructure， land development and transformation of moderate- and low-yield plots of farmland； land benefits from farmland turned-into-land-for-nonagricultural construction shall be handed over to the Central Treasury in full which shall， in principle， be used for the development of cultivated land. Specific measures shall be worked out separately by the State Council. Related land benefits from assignment of state-owned land use right etc. Shall be integrated into financial budget management in full. People's Governments at all levels and their departments of finance and auditing should step up supervision and control over land benefits to guard against losses of assets. VI. Enhancing Law-enforcement Supervision and Inspection in Land Administration Rules for law-enforcement supervision in land administration should be established and perfected and law enforcement in land administration enhanced on the basis of summarization of experiences in experiments in land law-enforcement supervision in a number of localities. People's Governments of all provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government should organize workforce in carrying out comprehensive sorting out and inspection of conditions pertaining to land use for all categories of construction（including building of all types of development zones） as well as land for rural house sites since 1991 in areas under their respective jurisdiction and deal with the questions discovered in accordance with law. The work of sorting out and inspection should be completed by the end of October 1997 and reports on the sorting out and inspection as well as investigations and handling should be submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. The main contents of sorting out and inspection include：（1）all types of development zones without the approval of the State Council or provincial People's Governments must be revoked and all non-agricultural construction activities terminated at once and the land reclaimed and cultivated within a specified time period； failure in land development according to plan in all types of development zones approved by the State Council or provincial People's Governments shall be dealt with according to law. （2）comprehensive sorting out and consolidation of land use for operating real estate development projects（including golf courses， etc.）。 The cases of land use without going through the formalities of examination and approval in accordance with the power of examination and approval according to law shall be sorted out and inspected one by one according to law. Land not developed within the prescribed time period laid down in contracts shall also be sorted out and inspected according to law and the land which falls within farmland must resume agricultural uses within a specified time period. （3）comprehensive sorting out and inspection of such acts of transaction as transfer， leasing and mortgage of land use right in accordance with law. Acts of scalping in illegal purchases and sales of land seeking exorbitant profits should be severely penalized in accordance with law.（4）comprehensive sorting out and consolidation of land occupied by rural and township enterprises， village and township construction and village house sites and in particular comprehensive sorting out and consolidation of cultivated land occupied. The State Council directs that the State Land Administration， the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Supervision organize joint law-enforcement inspection teams in conjunction with the departments concerned to conduct law-enforcement supervision over the work of sorting out and inspection of land of all localities and put forth corresponding proposals in supervision. Land law-enforcement supervision system should take shape and questions discovered investigated and severely dealt with. Whoever violates overall land use plans or destroys cultivated land and state functionaries who approve land use in contravention of law in abuse of power and serious neglect of duty shall be investigated of criminal liabilities in accordance with law. The departments of land administration should seize the moment in establishing the national dynamic information system of land administration by adopting modern technical means to enhance dynamic monitoring of the status of land use nationwide. VII. Strengthening the Organization and Leadership of the Work of Land Administration The question of land which involves the fundamental interests of the whole nation must be subordinated to unified state administration. The functions of the state in land administration can only be strengthened， instead of being weakened. The land management system should be further reformed and perfected and legislation for land administration stepped up. Party committees and People's Governments at all levels should attache great importance to the work of land administration and in particular to that of protection of cultivated land and support the departments of land administration in administering according to law. The departments of land administration at all levels must earnestly fulfil their responsibilities， strictly enforce the law and manage the land well according to law. Performance in the work of enhancing land administration， earnestly protecting cultivated land and rational utilization of land resources should be important contents in the evaluation of the performance of local Party committees and People's Governments at all levels as well as their responsible personages， supervision and control shall be exercised and societal supervision accepted. Publicity and education in the state of the nation and the state policy on land among the whole people should be promoted. Emphasis should be put on the education of numerous cadres especially the leading cadres to enhance the sense of worries about land and consciousness in the protection of cultivated land. Contents on the state of the nation and state policy on land should be added in the education of cadres. Protection of cultivated land is the prerequisite for the development of economy. We should hold extremely dear and rationally make use of every single inch of land in going in for all undertakings. Party committees and People's Governments of all provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government should conscientiously study and convey the spirit of this Circular and study specific measures for its implementation and make reports to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council by the end of June this year. The State Council directs the State Land Administration to conduct supervision and inspection over the implementation of this Circular in conjunction with the Ministry of Supervision and other departments concerned. |
