Regulations on Land Investigation (Revised in 2016)

Order of the State Council No.666

February 6, 2016

(Promulgated by the Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China No.518 on February 7, 2008; and revised in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Revising Certain Administrative Regulations on February 6, 2016)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These regulations are formulated in accordance with the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China and the Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China in order to scientifically and effectively organize the land investigation and ensure the authenticity, accuracy and timeliness of the data obtained thereby.

Article 2 The purpose of the land investigation is to obtain the comprehensive information of the status of our country's land resources and their utilization, to gain the authentic and accurate essential data of land, to provide the basis on which scientific planning, rational utilization can be made, an extremely strict protection system for cultivated land can be implemented and the economic macro-control can be enhanced and perfected, thereby promoting the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of the economy and the society.

Article 3 The land investigation shall be organized and carried out under the unified leadership of the state, through the collaboration among the different departments, with a graded responsibility lying on the local authorities at various levels and with the participation of all circles.

Article 4 The outlay for the land investigation shall be jointly borne by the central government and various local governments at all levels who shall list the said outlay in the financial budget of the corresponding fiscal year, pay it on schedule and ensure it to reach the right place in full amount.
The outlay abovementioned shall be subject to unified management and strict payout control, and shall be used for the specified purposes.

Article 5 News media, including newspapers, broadcasting, television and internet, shall timely propagandize and report the land investigation.

Chapter II The Contents and Methods of the Land Investigation

Article 6 The state shall conduct the national land investigation once in ten years according to the need of the national economic and social development.
Investigation on the alteration of the status of land shall be carried out every year in light of the need of land administration.

Article 7 The land investigation shall be made into the following matters:
1. The status quo of the land utilization and the alteration thereof including the land variety, location, area and distribution;
2. The rights on the land and the variation thereof, including the status of the ownership and the right to use;
3. The land conditions, including the natural and social and economic conditions of the land.
When investigating into the status quo of the land utilization and the variation thereof, it shall be stressed on the utilization and the variation of basic farmland, including the quantity, distribution and protection thereof.

Article 8 The method of comprehensive investigation shall be adopted in the land investigation with the integrative use of field survey and statistics, remote sensing monitoring and other means.

Article 9 The national standard provided for in the Classification of the Status Quo of the Land Utilization, a set of uniform technical rules and the basic charts for investigation made in accordance with the national uniform standard shall be adopted in the land investigation.
The technical rules for land investigation shall be worked out by the competent authorities of land and resources of the State Council jointly with other relevant departments of the State Council.

Chapter III Organization and Implementation of the Land Investigation

Article 10 The land investigation shall be conducted by the competent departments of land and resources of the people's governments at and above the county level jointly with relevant departments at the same level.
The people's governments of villages and the towns, sub-district offices and the villagers' (residents') committees shall broadly mobilize and organize the social forces to actively participate into the work of land investigation.

Article 11 The relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall actively participate into and closely cooperate in the land investigation and provide in accordance with law the relevant information and materials needed in the land investigation.
Social institutions as well as units and individuals involved in the land investigation shall, in accordance with the provisions in these Regulations, provide their cooperation in the land investigation.

Article 12 The overall plan of the national land investigation shall be drafted by the competent department of land and resources of the State Council jointly with relevant departments of the State Council and then be submitted to the State Council for approval. The implementation scheme of the local land investigation shall be formulated, in compliance with the national uniform requirements and in light of the local characteristics of land utilization, by the competent departments of land and resources of the people's governments at and above the county level jointly with relevant departments at the same level, and then be filed for record with the competent department of land and resources of the people's government at the next higher level.

Article 13 In land investigation, the investigation tasks that need to be undertaken by professional teams composed of personnel selected from the society shall be organized and implemented in the way of bid invitation and bidding.
The units undertaking the land investigation tasks shall meet the following criteria:
1. Having the qualification of a legal person;
2. Having corresponding qualifications and work achievements related to land investigation;
3. Having a complete and perfect system of technical and quality control;
4. Having a team of technical professionals with relevant training experiences and having passed certain examination.
The competent department of land and resources of the State Council shall, jointly with other relevant departments of the State Council, enhance the administration of the units undertaking the land investigation tasks, and publicize the list of the units meeting the criteria provided for in the second paragraph of this article.

Article 14 The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall cling to the principle of being true to the facts, abide by the professional ethics and possess the professional knowledge necessary in performance of the investigation task.
The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall receive professional training and gain the national uniform Work Certificates for Land Investigators after passing certain examination.

Article 15 The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall rigorously implement the overall plan of the national land investigation, the implementation scheme of the local land investigation, the national standard provided for in the Classification of the Status Quo of the Land Utilization and the uniform technical rules, and shall not counterfeit or temper with the investigation reports, force or incite the investigated to provide false information and materials.
The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall be responsible for the consistency of the information registered, audited and entered by them with the information obtained in field investigation.

Article 16 The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall independently exercise their authority to investigate, report, supervise and examine and are authorized to carry out field investigation according to the work need and to do fieldwork in accordance with the technical rules.
The personnel engaged in the land investigation are authorized to inquire relevant units and individuals about matters related to the investigation and require them to provide relevant information according to the facts.
The personnel engaged in the land investigation shall, when performing field investigation and fieldwork or inquiring relevant units and individuals, produce the Work Certificates for Land Investigators.

Article 17 The units and individuals inquired shall answer the inquires according to the facts, perform the obligation of indicating boundaries in the field, provide relevant information in compliance with requirements and shall not transfer, conceal, alter or destroy any of the original records, land registers and other relevant information and materials.

Article 18 Persons in charge of local governments, relevant departments or units are not allowed to presume to alter the information and data obtained in the investigation, to force or incite the personnel engaged in the land investigation to temper with the information and data or to fabricate false data, to attack and retaliate those personnel engaged in the land investigation who refuse or reject to temper with the information and data or to fabricate false data.

Chapter IV Investigation Results Treatment and Quality Control

Article 19 The following results shall be obtained from the land investigation:
1. data;
2. charts;
3. texts;
4. data base.

Article 20 The aforesaid results shall be summarized and submitted level by level to the higher authorities and be subject to summary statistics.
The data obtained in investigation shall be treated and submitted in accordance with the overall plan of the national land investigation and relevant criteria.

Article 21 The local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the quality of their jurisdictions' investigation results and the chief persons in charge shall take the primary responsibility.
The competent authorities of land and resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, jointly with relevant departments at the same level, conduct quality control on all links of the investigation, establish a post responsibility system for the land investigation results quality control, effectively procure the coherence among the data and charts obtained in investigation and the actual situation of the land investigated and be responsible for the accuracy of the results they processed, finished and summarized.

Article 22 The competent authorities of land and resources of the State Council shall, jointly with other relevant departments of the State Council, organize a centralized selective examination of the quality of the land investigation results.
The results of the selective examination shall be used as important basis for the quality evaluation of the investigation results.

Article 23 The investigation results shall be checked and accepted stage-by-stage and level by level.
The investigation work at the next stage shall be carried out only after the investigation results of the previous stage have been examined and accepted.
The measures of check and acceptance of the land investigation results shall be formulated by the competent authorities of land and resources of the State Council jointly with other relevant departments of the State Council.

Chapter V The Publicity and Appliance of the Investigation Results

Article 24 The state shall establish a system for publicity of the land investigation results.
The results shall be publicized to the public and subject to public inquiry, except for those that shall be kept confidential in accordance with law.

Article 25 The national land investigation results shall be submitted to the state Council and publicized upon approval thereof.
The local land investigation results shall be examined by the people's governments at the same level, then submitted to those at the next higher level and publicized upon approval thereof.
After the publicity of the national land investigation results, the local land investigation results may be publicized, level by level and one by one, by the respective people's government at or above the county level.

Article 26 The competent authorities of land and resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, jointly with relevant departments at the same level, properly preserve, manage, exploit and apply the investigation results and provide relevant service to the public.
The state shall, through the land investigation, establish an internet sharing system of the land investigation data and conduct the maintenance and updating work thereof.

Article 27 The land investigation results shall be important basis for the formulation of the national economic and social development plan and for the planning, administration, protection and exploitation of the land and resources.

Article 28 The land investigation results shall be subject to strict administration and normative use, and shall not be used as basis on which administrative penalties may be imposed on the object of the investigation according to other laws or administrative regulations, nor as basis of the division of the responsibility and jurisdiction among different departments.

Chapter VI Commending and Punishment

Article 29 Commending or premium shall be given, in accordance with relevant provisions of the state, to those units and individuals who make outstanding achievements and contributions in the land investigation.

Article 30 Persons in charge of local governments, relevant departments or units shall be imposed disciplinary sanctions, in accordance with law, for any of the following acts; if the situation is a criminal case, criminal responsibility shall be investigated and affixed, in accordance with the law:
1. Presuming to alter the information and data obtained in investigation;
2. Forcing or inciting the persons engaged in the investigation to temper with the information or data or to fabricate false data;
3. Attacking or retaliating those persons engages in the investigation who refuse or reject to temper with the information or data or to fabricate false data.

Article 31 Persons engaged in the land investigation who fail or refuse to implement the overall plan of the national land investigation, the implementation scheme of the local land investigation, the national standard provided in the Classification of the status quo of the land utilization and the uniform technical rules, or who counterfeit or temper with the investigation reports, force or incite the investigated to provide false information and materials, shall be imposed disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law and be given a circulation of criticism by the competent authorities of land and resources or organs of statistics of the people's governments at or above the county level.

Article 32 The units or individuals investigated who commit any of the following acts shall be ordered to make a correction within the specified time period by the competent authorities of land and resources of the people's governments at or above the county level, and may also be imposed a fine not more than CNY50,000;
Where an act in violation of the administration of public security is constituted, administrative penalties for public security shall be imposed by the department of public security in accordance with law; if the situation is a criminal case, criminal responsibility shall be investigated and affixed, in accordance with the law:
1. Refusing to cooperate in or hindering the legitimate investigation;
2. Providing false information;
3. Refusing to provide information; or
4. Transfer, conceal, alter or destroy the original records, land registers or other materials.

Article 33 People's governments at or above the county level who commit any of the following acts shall be given a circulation of criticism by the next higher people's government; If the circumstances are serious, the persons in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be imposed disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law:
1. Failing to finish the land investigation on schedule and, even after being ordered to finish it within a specified time period, failing to do so on expiry of the specified time period.
2. Providing fuzzy data and, even after being ordered to make a rectification within a specified time period, failing to do so on expiry of the specified time period.

Chapter Seven Supplementary Provisions

Article 34 The idiographic measures for military land investigation shall be formulated by the competent authorities of land and resources of the State Council jointly with relevant department of the military in accordance with the uniform stipulations and requirements of the state.
The competent authorities of land and resources of the State Council shall, jointly with the organ in charge of machinery affaires of the State Council, be responsible for the determination of the content of the investigation data summary of the status of land used by the State units at the national level as well as for the appliance administration of the results thereof.

Article 35 People's governments at or above the county level may, in accordance with the overall plan of the national land investigation and the implementation scheme of the local land investigation, form a leading group who undertakes to organize and lead the investigation. When necessary, a leading group office may be set up presiding over the daily grind of the land investigation.

Article 36 The present Regulation shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.