Law of the People's Republic of China on the Contracting of Rural Land.

This Law has been formulated in accordance with the Constitution for the purpose of stabilizing and perfecting the two-level operation system, which is based the responsibility system of contracting by households supplemented by unified management, entitling the peasants to a long-term and guaranteed right to the use of land, protecting the legal rights and interests of the parties of the contracting of rural land, so as to improve the development of agriculture and the rural economy and stabilize the rural areas. It consists of 65 articles divided into 5 Chapters: General Provisions (I); Contracting by Households (II); Contracting Concluded by Other Means (III); Settlement of Disputes and Legal Responsibility (IV); Supplementary provisions (V).
Land in rural areas shall include arable land, forest land and grassland owned collectively by the peasants and those owned by the State and used collectively by the peasants (art.2). According to Article 3, the State applies a system of contracting for operation of rural land. Contracting of rural land shall be fulfilled in the form of contracting by households within the economic organizations of the collectives, while rural lands such as barren mountains, waste, ditches, barren hills and waste beaches, which are not suitable for contracting by households, shall be contracted by means of bid invitation, auction, or open negotiation.
The Law stipulates that farmer’s land tenure security must be maintained for at least 30 years during which period no land reallocation is to be carried out. Within the valid term of contracts, the contractors cannot take back their land and farmers can legally transfer, re-contract, put into share-holding ventures and exchange the rights of land use.
The Law further provides for: settlement of disputes over the contractual management of land; legal liabilities; etc.