The Ministry of Natural Resources publicly solicited opinions to improve the strictest farmland protection system.

According to the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued an announcement on the 30th to publicly solicit opinions on the Regulations for the Implementation of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft) (Draft for Comment). The revised draft will put the effective farmland protection system in practice into the regulations. One is to establish a compensation system for cultivated land protection, and the other is to clarify the main body responsible for cultivated land protection.

According to the explanation of the Ministry of Natural Resources on the revised draft, the revised draft has been revised mainly in the following aspects:

-Establishing a national spatial planning system.

The revised draft clarifies the effectiveness and content of land spatial planning, stipulates that land spatial planning should make overall arrangements for ecological, agricultural, urban and other functional spaces, and delineate the red line of ecological protection, permanent basic farmland and urban development boundaries. The main contents involved in land management shall include the spatial pattern of land, planning land layout and use control requirements, and define the requirements of construction land scale, cultivated land quantity, permanent basic farmland protection area and ecological protection red line (Article 4). The national land spatial planning shall be compiled by the competent department of natural resources of the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments and submitted to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for approval. Other levels of land and space planning shall be examined and approved in accordance with the provisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council (Article 5).

-Improve the strictest farmland protection system.

The revised draft will write an effective farmland protection system into the regulations. First, establish a compensation system for farmland protection. The Opinions of the Central Committee of the State Council on Strengthening the Protection of Cultivated Land and Perfecting the Balance of Occupation and Compensation (Zhongfa [2017] No.4) clearly puts forward that the compensation and incentive of the main body responsible for farmland protection should be strengthened, the integration of central and local agricultural funds should be actively promoted, and the compensation for farmland protection should be intensified according to the principle of "whoever protects benefits". To this end, the revised draft clearly stipulates that the state shall establish a compensation system for farmland protection, and the specific measures shall be formulated by the financial department of the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments. (Article 12).

The second is to clarify the subject of farmland protection responsibility. To strengthen the protection of cultivated land, we must first clarify the responsible subject of cultivated land protection. According to the revised draft, the main person in charge of the provincial government is the first person responsible for the protection of cultivated land in the administrative area, and the State Council will assess the implementation of the responsibility target of the provincial people's government for the protection of cultivated land, including the amount of cultivated land, the protected area of permanent basic farmland, the quality level of cultivated land and the compensation fee for the occupation of cultivated land (Article 13).

-implement the reform requirements of "simplifying administration and decentralizing power, strengthening supervision and improving services" and optimize the examination and approval system for construction land.

The revised draft implements the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, optimizes the content of examination and approval of construction land, and simplifies the examination and approval process. The first is to plan and manage urban and rural land use. Reform the land planning management system and incorporate the annual construction land supply plan into the land use plan. It is stipulated that people's governments at all levels should strengthen the management of land use plans and control the total amount of construction land. The county (city) people's government shall make reasonable arrangements to incorporate the collectively-operated construction land into the annual construction land supply plan (Article 15).

Second, according to the principle of "equal rights and responsibilities", local governments are given more autonomy in land use. Where the cities where the people's governments of provinces and autonomous regions are located, cities with a population of over one million and cities designated by the State Council involve the conversion of agricultural land other than permanent basic farmland into construction land, the State Council may authorize the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government to approve it; The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may authorize the people's governments of cities divided into districts and autonomous prefectures to approve the conversion of agricultural land within the approval authority of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government (Article 21).

The third is to write the advance land into the regulations. It is stipulated that in major national and provincial projects such as energy, transportation, water conservancy, military facilities, etc., projects with individually controlled construction period and projects that need to be started urgently due to seasonal influence or other major factors may apply to the competent department of natural resources of the people's government at or above the provincial level for land use in advance (Article 26).

The fourth is to simplify the approval materials for construction land. In order to solve the problems of complicated materials for examination and approval of construction land, which are strongly reflected by local governments, the existing "one book and four schemes" (construction land report and agricultural land conversion scheme, supplementary cultivated land scheme, land acquisition scheme and land supply scheme) have been merged and adjusted, and integrated into agricultural land conversion scheme and land acquisition application, and the main points of examination and approval of agricultural land conversion scheme and land acquisition application by the government with authority have been clarified (Articles 21, 22 and 32).

-Consolidate the achievements of the reform of the three rural land systems.

On the basis of the land management law, the revised draft further consolidated the achievements of the rural "three plots of land" reform. First, take the protection of farmers' rights and interests as the core, and refine the land acquisition procedures. Clarify the specific implementation requirements of legal procedures such as land status survey, social stability risk assessment, announcement, hearing, compensation registration, and signing agreements. It mainly includes: issuing land requisition announcement, conducting land status survey and social stability risk assessment (Article 28); Organize the preparation of land acquisition compensation and resettlement plans, and make announcements and hearings (Articles 29 and 30); Sign an agreement on land acquisition compensation and resettlement, and make a decision on land acquisition compensation and resettlement for a few farmers who disagree with the agreement (Article 31); Composition and pre-existing system of land acquisition compensation (Article 35).

The second is to clarify the requirements and procedures for collectively-operated construction land to enter the market. The use of collectively-operated construction land must follow the principle of economy and intensive use, give priority to the use of existing construction land, and strictly control the scale of newly-added collectively-operated construction land. It is allowed to adjust the location through land consolidation and other means, and make rational use of collectively operated construction land (Article 36). It is clear that the collectively-operated construction land must meet the business purposes such as industry and commerce determined in the national land space planning, have clear property rights, register the land ownership according to law, and have basic conditions such as developing and constructing supporting infrastructure (Article 37). It stipulates the requirements for the preparation and review of the market entry plan, and the land owner shall submit the collective management construction land transfer and lease plan and the rural collective economic organization resolution to the county (city) people's government for review. According to the regulations, the county (city) people's government is included in the annual construction land supply plan (Articles 39 and 40).

The third is to protect the rights and interests of rural villagers' homesteads. It is required to scientifically delimit the scope of homestead in the land space planning and village planning of cities, counties and townships (towns) (Article 45). The procedures for applying for homestead and the requirements for voluntarily withdrawing and revitalizing homestead are clarified (Articles 46 and 47).

-adhere to the problem orientation and write mature experience in practice into the regulations.

First, the provisions on land reserve have been added. Land reserve is an important measure to enhance the regulation and guarantee ability of construction land market, ensure "net land transfer" and promote efficient allocation and rational utilization of land resources. The revised draft makes it clear that the land reserved by the government should have clear property rights, and the preliminary development should be completed before supply, and construction can only be started when the development conditions are met (Article 19).

The second is to improve the regulations on temporary land use. Temporary land refers to the land that needs to be temporarily used for construction projects and geological exploration. The revised draft stipulates the approval procedures and requirements for temporary land use, and clarifies that temporary land use shall be approved by the competent department of natural resources of the county (city) people's government, and the period shall generally not exceed two years. Temporary land for the construction of transportation, water conservancy, energy and other infrastructure, if the construction period is long, may be extended once upon approval, and the period shall not exceed two years (Article 24).

The third is to further improve the legal protection of land inspectors. The contents, methods, suggestions and rectification of land supervision are clarified (Articles 2, 55 and 56).