Measures for the management of the qualifications of urban and rural planning units

(Decree No. 11 of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China on January 24, 2024; deliberated and adopted by the 4th ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Natural Resources on December 28, 2023; effective as of the date of promulgation)

First in order to implement the Party Central Committee's "multi-plan integration" reform spirit, enhance the scientificity of the preparation of land and space planning, and promote the standardized development of the industry, in accordance with the People's Republic of China Land Management Law, the People's Republic of China Urban and Rural Planning Law, the People's Republic of China Land Management Law Implementation Regulations and other laws and regulations, these measures are formulated.

　　Article 2: The State shall establish a territorial spatial planning system, integrating spatial planning such as main functional area planning, land use planning, and urban and rural planning into a unified territorial spatial planning.

　　Units engaged in the preparation of territorial spatial planning within the territory of the People's Republic of China shall obtain the qualifications of the corresponding level of urban and rural planning (territorial spatial planning) preparation units, and undertake business within the scope specified in the qualification level.

　　Article 3 The competent department of natural resources under the State Council shall be responsible for the supervision and management of the qualifications of units compiling urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) nationwide.

　　The competent departments of natural resources of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the supervision and management of the qualifications of urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation units within their respective administrative regions.

　　Fourth urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation unit qualifications are divided into two levels, A and B.

　　Class A qualifications shall be examined and approved by the competent department of natural resources of the State Council, and Class B qualifications shall be examined and approved by the competent department of natural resources of the provincial-level people's government at the place of registration.

　　The initial application shall apply for Grade B qualification, and after two years of obtaining the Grade B qualification certificate, you can apply for Grade A qualification.

　　The competent department of natural resources under the State Council shall establish a management information system for the preparation of national urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning), and rely on this system to carry out qualification declaration, review, verification and daily supervision, so as to improve the level of information management.

　　Article 5 To apply for Class A qualification, the following conditions shall be met:

　　(1) Have legal person status;

　　(2) There shall be no less than 40 professional and technical personnel. Among them, there shall be no less than 1 person with senior technical titles in urban and rural planning and land planning and management, and no less than 5 people in total, and no less than 5 people with senior technical titles in road traffic, water supply and drainage, construction, electric power and telecommunications, gas and heat, geography, landscape architecture, ecological environment, economy, geographic information, ocean, surveying and mapping, forestry and grassland, and geology, and no less than 4 professional categories. There are no less than 2 people with intermediate technical titles in urban and rural planning and land planning and management, and no less than 15 people with intermediate technical titles in other majors, of which no less than 10 people have intermediate technical titles in road traffic, water supply and drainage, construction, electric power and telecommunications, gas and heat, geography, landscape architecture, ecological environment, economy, geographic information, ocean, surveying and mapping, forestry and grassland, and geology.

　　(3) There shall be no less than 10 registered urban and rural planners;

　　(4) Have a fixed workplace of more than 400 square meters, as well as a sound technical, quality, safety, confidentiality, archives, and financial management system;

　　(5) Within 5 years before the date of application, no less than 5 relevant spatial planning projects shall be undertaken or completed independently, and the total project funding shall not be less than 6 million yuan. If it has been established for less than 5 years, the performance requirements shall be calculated in equal proportion to the full year.

　　Article 6 To apply for Class B qualification, the following conditions shall be met:

　　(1) Have legal person status;

　　(2) There shall be no less than 20 professional and technical personnel. Among them, there is no less than 1 person with senior technical titles in urban and rural planning and land planning and management, and no less than 2 people have senior technical titles in road transportation, water supply and drainage, construction, electric power and telecommunications, gas and heat, geography, landscape architecture, ecological environment, economy, geographic information, ocean, surveying and mapping, forestry and grassland, and geology. There are no less than 1 person with intermediate technical titles in urban and rural planning and land planning and management, and no less than 5 people in total, and no less than 10 people with intermediate technical titles in other majors, of which the total number of intermediate technical titles in road traffic, water supply and drainage, construction, electric power and telecommunications, gas and heat, geography, landscape architecture, ecological environment, economy, geographic information, ocean, surveying and mapping, forestry and grassland, and geology related majors is not less than 5;

　　(3) There shall be no less than 3 registered urban and rural planners;

　　(4) There is a fixed workplace of more than 200 square meters, as well as a sound technical, quality, safety, confidentiality, archives and financial management system.

　　Seventh urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation units may employ under the age of 70 retired senior professional title technical personnel or registered urban and rural planners, Grade A qualification units not more than 2 people, Grade B qualification units not more than 1 person.

　　The full-time technical personnel of the planning units subordinate to institutions of higher learning shall not be less than 70 percent of the total number of technical personnel; the professional and technical personnel of other planning and drawing units shall all be full-time personnel of their own units.

　　Eighth urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation unit qualification examination and approval of the whole process of online processing, the applicant shall submit the following materials:

　　(1) Application form;

　　(2) Business license or public institution legal person certificate;

　　(3) The legally-designated representative's identification certificate and employment documents;

　　(4) The identity certificate, employment documents, academic certificates, professional title certificates, etc. of the main technical person in charge;

　　(5) Professional and technical personnel's identity certificates, professional qualification certificates, academic certificates, professional title certificates, labor contracts, social insurance payment records and retirement certificates in the unit for three consecutive months before the application;

　　(6) Workplace certification materials.

　　In addition to the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph, those who apply for Grade A qualifications shall also submit the relevant planning performance that they take the lead in undertaking and complete in accordance with the requirements of these Measures;

　　Article 9: After receiving an application, the competent department of natural resources shall handle it in accordance with the following circumstances:

　　(1) Where the application materials are complete and conform to the legally-prescribed form, a decision shall be made to accept it and a certificate of acceptance shall be issued;

　　(2) If the application materials are incomplete or do not conform to the statutory form, the applicant shall be informed of all the contents that need to be supplemented and corrected at one time within 5 days, and if the application materials are not notified within the time limit, it shall be accepted from the date of receipt of the application materials;

　　(3) Where the application does not fall within the scope of that organ's duties in accordance with law, a decision shall be made immediately not to accept it, and the applicant shall be informed to apply to the relevant administrative organ.

　　Article 10: The competent departments of natural resources shall make a decision and make a timely announcement within 15 working days of accepting the application, and may organize experts to review the application materials as needed, and may organize on-the-spot verification when necessary.

　　The competent department of natural resources of the provincial-level people's government shall, within 30 days from the date of making the decision on the examination and approval of Class B qualifications, enter the examination and approval situation into the management information system of the national urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation unit.

　　Article 11 The qualification certificate of the preparation unit of urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) shall be valid for 5 years. The validity period of Class B qualification can be appropriately adjusted according to the actual situation.

　　The qualification certificate of the preparation unit of urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) is divided into paper certificate and electronic certificate, and the electronic certificate and paper certificate have the same legal effect. One original and one copy of the paper certificate shall be uniformly printed by the competent department of natural resources under the State Council, and if the paper certificate is lost or damaged, it shall not be reissued.

　　Article 12 If the validity period of the qualification certificate needs to be extended, the planning unit shall submit an application to the original competent department of natural resources for examination and approval 6 months before the expiration of the validity period, and submit application materials in accordance with the requirements of Article 8 of these Measures.

　　After the planning unit submits an application for renewal as required, the competent department of natural resources shall make a decision on whether to approve the renewal before the expiration of the validity period of the qualification certificate;

　　Article 13 During the validity period of the qualification certificate, if there is a change in the name, address, legal representative, etc., of the unit, it shall apply to the original competent department for examination and approval of natural resources to go through the formalities for changing the qualification certificate within 30 days after completing the relevant change procedures.

　　Article 14 To apply for the change of qualification certificate, the corresponding qualification level conditions shall be met, and the following materials shall be submitted:

　　(1) Application for change of qualification certificate;

　　(2) The changed business license or public institution legal person certificate;

　　(3) Other supporting materials related to the change of qualifications.

　　15th planning unit merger, after the merger of the surviving or newly established unit may inherit the merger of the units in the higher qualification level, but should meet the corresponding qualification level conditions, and in accordance with these measures to re-approve.

　　If the planning unit is separated, the qualification level of the unit after the division shall be re-approved in accordance with these measures according to the actual qualification conditions.

　　If the planning unit is restructured and no longer meets the original qualification conditions after the restructuring, it shall re-examine its qualification level in accordance with the qualification conditions it has actually achieved; if the qualification level has not changed, it shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of these Measures.

　　16th planning unit set up a branch, with independent legal personality, shall apply for a qualification certificate in accordance with the provisions of these measures;

　　17th Class A urban and rural planning (land spatial planning) preparation units to undertake the scope of land and space planning business is not restricted.

　　Class B urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation units may undertake the following business nationwide:

　　(1) The preparation of the overall land and space plans of cities and counties with a permanent population of less than 200,000 in urban areas, and the overall land and space plans of towns and towns;

　　(2) The preparation of special plans for townships, cities where registration is located, and cities with a permanent population of less than 1 million in urban areas, where laws and regulations have specific requirements for the qualifications of planning units;

　　(3) Preparation of detailed plans;

　　(D) the preparation of the relevant demonstration report in the planning and site selection of construction projects and the pre-examination stage of land use.

　　The organization for the preparation of land and spatial planning shall entrust the planning unit with corresponding qualifications to undertake the specific planning and preparation business. For the entrustment of secret-related projects involving military, military industry, and key national security departments, and key locations, the organizational organs for the preparation of territorial spatial planning shall strengthen confidentiality management.

　　18th planning unit submitted land spatial planning results, shall comply with the provisions of the relevant laws, regulations and rules, in line with the relevant standards, norms and the mandatory content of the higher level land and space planning.

　　The planning unit shall indicate the qualification level and certificate number of the lead unit on the title page of the planning outcome text. The planning unit and its project leader and technical person in charge shall be responsible for whether the planning results meet the above requirements for life.

　　Two or more planning units shall cooperate in the preparation of land and spatial planning, and the lead unit shall be responsible for the quality of the preparation results, and the other units shall bear corresponding responsibilities in accordance with the contract.

　　Article 19: The competent department for natural resources under the State Council is to establish credit records for urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation units, and disclose to the public the basic information of planning preparation units, acceptance of administrative punishments, and other such circumstances.

　　Planning units shall promptly update the basic information of the unit, personnel information, performance, contract performance, acceptance of administrative punishments, and other such circumstances in the management information system of the national urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation unit, and provide true, accurate, and complete credit information to the relevant competent departments for natural resources.

　　Article 20: The competent departments for natural resources of people's governments at the county level or above shall make full use of big data and other technical means to strengthen risk early warnings and credit regulation of planning units, increasing the level of precision and intelligence in regulation.

　　Article 21 The competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall inspect the planning units in accordance with law, and shall have two or more supervision and inspection personnel to participate, and shall have the right to take the following measures:

　　(1) Require the inspected unit to provide qualification certificates, professional title certificates, registration certificates, academic certificates, social insurance certificates, etc., relevant land and space planning results, as well as relevant technical management, quality management, confidentiality management, archives management, financial management, safety management and other internal management system documents;

　　(2) Enter the inspected unit to conduct inspections and consult relevant materials;

　　(3) Correct violations of relevant laws, regulations, and these Measures, as well as relevant norms and standards.

　　Article 22 The supervision and inspection of the planning unit shall not hinder the normal production and business activities of the inspected unit, shall not solicit or accept property, and shall not seek other benefits. Relevant units and individuals shall assist and cooperate with supervision and inspections conducted in accordance with law.

　　The competent department of natural resources of the people's government at or above the county level shall record the supervision and inspection situation and the results of the handling, and the supervision and inspection personnel shall sign and file it, and promptly inform the competent department of natural resources that approved the qualifications of the planning unit of the facts of the violation, the results of the handling, or the handling suggestions.

　　Article 23 In any of the following circumstances, the original competent department for examination and approval of natural resources or its superior authority shall, at the request of the interested party or on the basis of its authority, revoke the qualification of the planning unit in accordance with the provisions of Article 69 of the Administrative Licensing Law:

　　(1) The staff of the department in charge of natural resources abuses their authority or neglects their duties and agrees to approve qualifications;

　　(2) Exceeding legally-prescribed authority to approve qualifications;

　　(3) Violating legally-prescribed procedures in approving qualifications;

　　(4) Agreeing to approve qualifications for applicants who do not meet the requirements;

　　(5) Other circumstances in which qualification certificates may be revoked in accordance with law.

　　Article 24 In any of the following circumstances, the competent department of natural resources shall, in accordance with the provisions of Article 70 of the Administrative Licensing Law, cancel the qualifications of the planning unit and announce that its qualification certificate is invalid:

　　(1) Failure to apply for renewal upon expiration of the validity period of the qualification certificate;

　　(2) The planning unit is terminated in accordance with law;

　　(3) Qualifications have been revoked or revoked in accordance with law;

　　(4) Other circumstances where laws and regulations provide that qualifications shall be revoked.

　　Article 25: Where the competent department of natural resources discovers that an applicant has concealed relevant circumstances or provided false materials to apply for qualifications, it shall not accept the application or refuse to agree to the examination and approval of qualifications, and shall give a warning, and shall not apply for qualifications again within one year.

　　If the qualification certificate is obtained by fraud, bribery or other improper means, the qualification certificate shall be revoked by the original competent department for examination and approval of natural resources, and a fine of 100,000 yuan shall be imposed, and the qualification shall not be applied for again within 3 years.

　　Article 26 Where a qualification certificate is altered, resold, leased, lent or otherwise illegally transferred, the competent department of natural resources of the local people's government at or above the county level shall give a warning, order it to make corrections within a specified period of time, and impose a fine of 100,000 yuan;

　　Article 27 Where a planning unit undertakes the preparation of land and spatial planning beyond its qualification level, or compiles a land and spatial plan in violation of relevant national standards, the competent department of natural resources of the people's government of the city or county where it is located shall order it to make corrections within a specified period of time and impose a fine of not less than 1 time but not more than 2 times the amount of the project contract;

　　Units that have not obtained qualifications or obtained qualifications by fraud or other means and illegally undertake the business of compiling land and spatial planning shall be fined in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph;

　　Article 28 Where the planning unit fails to update the relevant information of the management information system of the national urban and rural planning (land and spatial planning) preparation unit in a timely manner in accordance with the requirements of these Measures, the competent department of natural resources of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order it to make corrections within a specified period of time;

　　Article 29: The competent departments of natural resources shall take measures to strengthen post-approval supervision of planning units. If the planning unit no longer meets the corresponding qualification requirements after obtaining the qualifications, the department in charge of natural resources for the original examination and approval shall order it to make corrections within a set period of time, and disclose it to the public as risk warning information before the rectification is in place;

　　Article 30 Where the competent department of natural resources and its staff violate these Measures in any of the following circumstances, they shall be punished in accordance with law;

　　(1) Agreeing to approve qualifications for applicants who do not meet the requirements, or exceeding their statutory authority to approve qualifications;

　　(2) Refusing to consent to qualification approval to applicants who meet the statutory requirements or failing to make a decision to consent to approval within the statutory time limit;

　　(3) Where applications that meet the requirements are not accepted;

　　(4) Taking advantage of one's position to solicit or accept property from others or seek other benefits;

　　(5) Failure to perform oversight duties in accordance with law or ineffective supervision, causing serious consequences.

　　Article 31: Before the implementation of these Measures, units that have obtained the qualification certificate of urban and rural planning preparation units issued by the competent departments of natural resources and land planning units included in the recommended list of land planning agencies may undertake relevant land and spatial planning preparation business in accordance with relevant requirements before December 31, 2025.

　　Article 32: These Measures shall come into force on the date of promulgation.