2007年-世界发展银行全球_China_-_Integrating_Land_Policy_Reforms_II___Strengthening_Land_Rights_for_Equitable_Growth_and_Social_Harmony_63页_990kb

Summary of China: Integrating Land Policy Reforms II

Core Content

This report, China: Integrating Land Policy Reforms II, provides a comprehensive analysis of land policy reforms in China, emphasizing the importance of strengthening land rights across rural and urban areas. It outlines key policy challenges, explores current legal frameworks, and proposes detailed recommendations to improve land tenure security, transparency, and fairness in land acquisition and use.

Main Topics and Key Recommendations

I. Introduction

• Land Policy Importance: Land has been central to China’s economic and social development, influencing growth, urbanization, and resource management.
• Evolution of Land Policy: Over the past decades, China has made significant progress in promoting private land rights, including the adoption of the Rural Land Contracting Law, Land Administration Law, and the 2007 Property Law.
• DRC-World Bank Partnership: Since 2004, the partnership has focused on deepening understanding of land issues through field research, policy dialogue, and international experience.

II. Strengthening Farmers' Rights over Rural Agricultural Land

Key Issues:

• Ambiguities in the legal framework for land readjustments.
• Restrictions on the transferability and mortgageability of arable land.
• Lack of uniform land documents and unclear definitions of land rights.
• Insufficient legal protection for women’s land rights.
• Absence of clear rules for land dispute resolution.
• Unclear legal status of collective ownership.

Recommendations:

1. Clarify Land Readjustment Conditions: Limit the use of land readjustment to "special circumstances" or ban it entirely.
2. Allow Mortgaging of Arable Land: Repeal the 1995 Guaranty Law’s prohibition on arable land mortgages.
3. Standardize Land Documents: Implement uniform land contract and certificate designs across China.
4. Develop Registration Regulations: Adopt registration systems that ensure legal security and clarity for rural land rights.
5. Protect Women's Land Rights: Ensure women’s rights are recognized in land contracts and certificates, and prevent collectives from reclaiming their land.
6. Establish Land Dispute Arbitration Boards: Create legal mechanisms for resolving land disputes and draft governing rules.
7. Clarify Collective Ownership: Define collective land as jointly owned by all members and establish ownership at the villager group level.

III. Strengthening Rights over Rural Housing Land

Key Issues:

• Existence of an informal market for rural housing land.
• Legal constraints on the transferability and mortgageability of housing plots.
• Insufficient protection for farmers against land takings.
• Ambiguity in the legal status of foundation plots.

Recommendations:
8. Define Foundation Plot Rights as Perpetual Usufruct Rights: Align legal definitions with de facto practices.
9. Enhance Transferability of Housing Plot Rights: Allow more flexibility in transferring housing land rights to support rural-urban migration.
10. Permit Mortgaging of Housing Plots: Ensure consistency between land and structure mortgageability.
11. Improve Protection for Farmers: Establish clear legal rules to protect farmers from arbitrary land takings, especially under the guise of public interest.

IV. Improving Requisition Procedures and Outcomes

Key Issues:

• Inconsistent and often unfair compensation practices.
• Lack of transparency and public participation in the requisition process.
• Negative impacts on farmers' livelihoods and living standards.
• Insufficient legal safeguards for farmers' rights to notice, participation, and appeal.

Recommendations:
12. Refine Expropriation Scope: Define "public interest" clearly and make rural construction land marketable.
13. Introduce Market-Based Compensation: Move towards a transparent and market value-based compensation system, with short-term adjustments to current formulas and long-term alignment with market principles.
14. Adopt Replacement Value Standard for Non-Land Assets: Ensure fair compensation for property not registered or documented.
15. Strengthen Legal Safeguards: Guarantee farmers’ rights to notice, participation, and appeal in requisition processes, and codify recent policy measures into law.

V. Strengthening Urban Land Use Rights and Administration

Key Issues:

• Inadequate compensation for urban land use rights.
• Delegation of expropriation power to private entities.
• Insufficient legal and institutional support for urban property rights registration.
• Challenges in valuing and arbitrating urban land use rights.

Recommendations:
16. Ensure Compensation for Urban Land Use Rights: Improve valuation and arbitration procedures to reflect the true value of land and structures.
17. Reinstate Government Control over Expropriation: Remove expropriation power from private entities and establish independent appeals mechanisms.
18. Provide Compensation for Undocumented Property: Address the needs of low-income urban residents who live in self-built, unregistered housing.
19. Improve Urban Property Registration: Create a unified, legally sound, and publicly accessible system for property rights registration, including mortgages and land use rights.

Conclusions

• Land Rights as a Foundation for Development: Secure and well-defined land rights are essential for economic growth, social harmony, and governance.
• Need for Systematic Reform: While the 2007 Property Law marks a significant step forward, further legal and institutional reforms are required to address existing gaps and ensure equitable outcomes.
• Balancing Development and Equity: The challenge lies in balancing the need for land requisition for urban development with the protection of farmers' and urban residents' rights, ensuring fair compensation, transparency, and participation.