Central Government Documents on Property: Demolition, Relocation, and Compensation (I): Guest Editor's Introduction

• Published in: Chinese law and government 2011-01, Vol.44 (1), p.3-9
• Main Author: Rafferty, Stephen J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0009-4609; 1944-7051
• DOI: 10.2753/CLG0009-4609440100

The first of three issues on demolition, relocation, and compensation in China provides a glimpse into the recent past by including the key regulation governing that area, implemented in 2001, and recently repealed. Other government issuances translated in this issue involve more detailed provisions on surveying and appraising properties as well as other guidelines for those performing such work. The first public draft of the new regulation on expropriation and compensation attempts to rectify shortcomings of the 2001 regulation by setting forth "public interest" requirements for expropriating property, and by requiring agencies performing expropriation duties to provide compensation prior to commencing the demolition process. An emergency notice promulgated after the issuance of the first draft but prior to the final, implemented new expropriation regulation, underscores concerns at the State Council level that agencies at lower levels, particularly at the municipal level and below, are at least acquiescing, if not willfully participating in wrongful expropriation and demolition practices in the rush to procure land for initial development or redevelopment. The next two issues will include the new expropriation regulation, as implemented, as well as province-level regulations and issuances, and judicial opinions in demolition and compensation cases.