Preface

On February 22, 2022, the No. 1 Central Document, the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Key Tasks for Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization in 2022, was officially released. According to the opinions, steadily and orderly promoting the entry of rural collective commercial construction land into the market is an important part of "grasping the implementation of key rural reform tasks." It can be seen that at the national level, promoting the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market is still one of the key rural reform tasks in the rural revitalization strategy. The process for the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market mainly includes the primary market entry process and the re-transfer process. Article 63 of the new "Land Management Law" clarifies that the specific measures for the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market shall be formulated by the State Council. Before the specific measures are promulgated, the lease, transfer, maximum term, transfer, exchange, investment, donation, mortgage, etc. of the right to use collective commercial construction land shall be implemented with reference to state-owned construction land for similar purposes. For the process of re-transferring collective commercial construction land after entering the primary market, according to Article 43 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", the re-transfer mainly involves signing a written agreement and notifying the land owner in terms of procedure, which will not be described in detail here. This article mainly introduces the entry process of collective commercial construction land into the primary market, which is roughly as follows according to the time node:

According to Article 40, Paragraph 1 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", "The land owner shall prepare a plan for the transfer, lease, etc. of collective commercial construction land in accordance with planning conditions, industrial access and ecological environmental protection requirements...", the land owner's preparation of the lease and transfer plan is one of the procedures for entering the market.

It is particularly reminded that Article 40, Paragraph 2 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law" clearly stipulates the content of the plan, that is, the plan for the transfer and lease of collective commercial construction land shall specify the land boundaries, area, use, planning conditions, industrial access and ecological protection requirements, term of use, transaction method, market entry price, collective income distribution arrangements, etc. of the land parcel. This requires the following to be completed before the market entry plan is prepared:

(1) Establish a cooperative with legal person status or establish a company by the cooperative as an investor, and elect a representative to be responsible for market entry;

(2) Complete the investigation and survey work;

(3) Understand and obtain opinions on planning, industrial access, and ecological environmental protection conditions;

(4) Evaluate the land price for the transfer of the land parcel;

(5) Make a decision on the transfer reserve price;

(6) Complete land registration and other work.

According to Article 63, Paragraph 2 of the "Land Management Law", "The transfer, lease, etc. of the collective commercial construction land stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be agreed upon by more than two-thirds of the members of the villagers' meeting of the collective economic organization or more than two-thirds of the villagers' representatives", the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market is a major disposition of collective property, and the content of the plan for the lease and transfer of collective commercial construction land involves the major rights and interests of the members of the collective economic organization, and shall be jointly discussed and decided by the villagers' meeting in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Organic Law of Villagers' Committees".

According to Article 40, Paragraph 1 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", "...the municipal and county people's governments shall be reported no less than ten working days before the transfer or lease. If the municipal and county people's governments believe that the plan does not meet the planning conditions or industrial access and ecological environmental protection requirements, they shall put forward amendments within five working days after receiving the plan...", it can be seen that the market entry plan needs to be reviewed by the municipal and county people's governments after it is prepared, and the land owner shall make amendments in accordance with the opinions of the municipal and county people's governments.

According to Article 41 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", "The land owner shall determine the land user by means of bidding, auction, listing or agreement in accordance with the plan for the transfer, lease, etc. of collective commercial construction land, and both parties shall sign a written contract...", the ways for collective commercial construction land to enter the market mainly include bidding, auction, listing or agreement. This work is generally the responsibility of the local land transaction agency. Before bidding, auction and listing, the announcement of transfer and lease and the qualification review of bidders shall also be completed. After bidding, auction and listing, the announcement, signing of the transaction confirmation letter, and signing of the lease and transfer contract shall also be completed.

According to Article 41 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", "...both parties shall sign a written contract,...and report it to the natural resources authorities of the municipal and county people's governments for record....", after the contract is signed, it shall be reported to the natural resources authorities for record. According to Article 42 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Land Management Law", "...apply for real estate registration in accordance with the law for the right to use collective commercial construction land and the ownership of buildings, structures and their ancillary facilities built by using collective commercial construction land in accordance with the law", in addition to filing the contract, it is also necessary to register the right to use collective commercial construction land in accordance with the law.

Conclusion

In practice, the specific process for the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market is basically the same as the land supply process for state-owned construction land, but the process for collective commercial construction land to enter the primary market also has some of its own characteristics, such as: the decision-making method of the collective economic organization on the transfer plan, which is not available in the land supply process for state-owned construction land. In addition, for the entity responsible for the entry of collective commercial construction land into the market, some pilot cities do not require the collective economic organization to establish a cooperative or company to be responsible for the entry, but instead select specific personnel to be responsible for the entry through election. For example, in the Beiliu pilot, 3 members were democratically elected within the collective economic organization as representatives, and the 3 representatives were authorized to act as agents for the entire market entry process, which can also be regarded as an exploration and innovation.