(Original title: China amends its Land Management Law to protect farmers’ rights and interests in these aspects)

On the 26th, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held a press conference on the draft revision of the National Drug Administration Law, the draft resource tax law and other related issues. Yang Heqing, deputy director of the Economic Law Office of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that in terms of collective commercial construction land, it has changed the past problem that rural land must be expropriated as state-owned before it can enter the market, and can directly increase property income for farmers.

At the meeting, a reporter asked, this time the Land Management Law has been revised. We know that China has always had more people and less land. For farmers, land is the lifeblood. What provisions does this revision of the Land Management Law have to protect the rights and interests of farmers?

Yang Heqing said that our basic national situation is that there are more people and less land. The majority of farmers are very real about land. Any reform or legislation we make must protect, realize and develop farmers' land rights and interests. In the revision of the Land Management Law, protecting farmers' interests is a basic principle and important goal, and many aspects of the system have been improved.

Yang Heqing, deputy director of the Economic Law Office of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, photo by Sun Yu, China Net

First, the land acquisition procedures have been reformed, requiring the government to carry out land status surveys and information disclosure before land acquisition, and to negotiate with farmers whose land has been acquired, organize hearings when necessary, and only after signing an agreement with farmers can they submit an application for land acquisition and go through the approval procedures for land acquisition, so this greatly protects the interests of farmers. In terms of land acquisition compensation, we have changed the previous standard of compensation based on the annual output value of the land. Now we implement compensation based on the comprehensive land price of the area. This is because the comprehensive land price of the area not only takes into account the output value of the land, but also takes into account factors such as location and local economic and social development conditions to comprehensively determine the land price.

Second, in terms of collective commercial construction land, this is an innovation that changes the past problem that rural land must be expropriated as state-owned before it can enter the market, and can directly increase property income for farmers. At the same time, when collective constructive land is put on the market, the law requires that it must be approved by the villagers' congress or more than two-thirds of the members of the villagers' meeting before it can be put on the market.

Third, in terms of homestead management, we know that our country implements a basic management system of one household per house for homesteads. In some places with many people and little land, the land for homesteads may be relatively tight in some places. This time the law stipulates that in response to this situation, local governments must find other ways to protect the right of rural residents to live. In addition, this reform also decentralized the authority to approve homesteads and clearly required the rational arrangement of rural homesteads through planning to provide convenience for improving rural living conditions.

In addition, Wei Lihua, director of the Regulations Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, also pointed out that in terms of the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market, the newly revised Land Management Law has removed the legal obstacles for rural collective construction land to enter the market. Added provisions stipulate that rural collective construction land, if it complies with planning, is registered in accordance with the law, and has the consent of more than two-thirds of the members of the collective economic organization, can be transferred, leased, etc. to units or individuals other than rural collective economic organizations for direct use. At the same time, after users obtain rural collective construction land, they can also transfer it again through transfer, exchange, or mortgage. This is a major institutional innovation in the Land Management Law. It eliminates the dual system in which collective construction land cannot directly enter the market for many years and removes institutional obstacles to the integrated development of urban and rural areas. The entry of collective commercial construction land into the market is the biggest highlight of this revision of the Land Management Law.

Wei Lihua also said that in terms of homesteads, on the basis of the original one-household-one-household rule, the provision of a home for each household has been added, because some rural villagers have settled in the city, and they are not allowed to withdraw from their original homesteads in the countryside. This modification allows rural villagers who have settled in the city to voluntarily withdraw from the homesteads for a fee, because it is a long process for farmers to become citizens to truly realize urbanization, and we must have enough patience during the entire process. If farmers are unwilling to quit their homestead land, the local government cannot force them to quit their homestead land, and it must be done on a voluntary and paid basis. ?