Law No. 7848 on land expropriation for public reasons.

This Law gives the State the right to expropriate or temporarily use real property for public use or interest. The State may expropriate only in the following cases: for constructing roads, railroads, airports, ports, hydropower stations, or reservoirs; constructing or improving electrical, gas, steam, waterworks, waters channels or telecommunications; networks; constructing oil or gas transport networks, mines, oil or water wells; constructing schools, hospitals, parks, sport facilities or housing blocks built with State founds; protecting and preserving historical or archaeological landmarks through means of national defence and public order. The Law lists specific documents and their content that must be prepared and given to affect property owners and the Council of Ministers, which must approve each expropriation. The application of expropriation procedures includes appeals by the affected owner and methods for calculating compensation. This gives the State the right to temporarily use property in order to provide relief following natural disasters, for national defence and when constructing facilities on expropriated land. The prefect has the right to issue a decision to use property temporarily. Necessary documents and their contents are described. Compensation is based on evaluation made by three experts.