Chapter  I General Principles

Article 1
These Regulations are enacted pursuant to Article 37 of the Hillside Land Conservation and Utilization Act.

Article 2
The competent authority called in these Regulations, in the central level, refers to the Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan, in a Special Municipality level, refers to the government municipal, and in a County / City level, refers to the County / City government.
The matters related to agriculture, in the central government, shall be handled by the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan jointly with the central competent authority.
The executive organs of these Regulations are township / city / district offices.

Article 3
The lands reserved for indigenous people called in these Regulations refer to the existing reserved mountainous land within hillside land preserved for ensuring the living of indigenous people and implementing the administration of indigenous affairs, as well as the preserved lands allocated and added for indigenous people to use in accordance with relevant provisions.

Article 4
The indigenous people called in these Regulations refer to the indigenous people residing in uplands and flat lands.
The identification standard of the indigenous people referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan.

Article 5
The general registration of the lands reserved for indigenous people shall be performed by the local registration agencies assigned by the municipal or county / city competent authorities. The owner is the Republic of China, and the management department is the central competent authority, and it shall be marked in the “Other Registration Affairs” column in the “Land Mark” part of the land register book that the lands are reserved for indigenous people.
For the public lands allocated as the lands reserved for indigenous people for which the general registration has been finished, the municipal or county / city competent authority shall, together with the original department of land management, register the central competent authority as the new management department, and mark the lands reserved for indigenous people in accordance with the preceding paragraph.

Article 6
The township / city / district office located in the lands reserved for indigenous people shall create a Reserved Land Rights Review Committee to take charge of the following matters:
1. To investigate, arbitrate and handle the disputes on the land rights of the lands reserved for indigenous people.
2. To examine the applications for allocation, withdrawal, transfer of ownership, uncompensated use, or use by government departments or schools of the lands reserved for indigenous people.
3. To perform negotiation on the compensation for reallocation of the lands reserved for indigenous people.
4. To examine the applications for leasing the lands reserved for indigenous people.
In the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee as referred to in the preceding paragraph, four-fifths of the committeemen shall be indigenous people, and the fundamentals for establishing such committee shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.
If an application regarding the lands reserved for indigenous people should be submitted to the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee for examination, the Township / City / District Office shall, within one month after acceptance of the application, transfer it to the Committee for examination. The Committee shall, within one month, finish examination and produce a position paper; otherwise, the Township / City / District Office shall directly report the case to the upper-level competent authority for disposal.
The Township / City / District Office shall report the decisions of the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee on the matters other than listed in Subparagraph 1 of the first paragraph to the upper-level competent authority for approval.

Chapter  II　Land Management

Article 7
The central competent authority shall, jointly with the related departments, assist and guide the indigenous people to create the cultivation and superficies, and acquire the leasehold and ownership of the lands reserved for indigenous people.

Article 8
For the lands reserved for indigenous people conforming to any of the following circumstances, the indigenous people may, together with the central competent authority, apply to the local registration agency for registration of creating cultivation:
1. The lands already reclaimed and cultivated by indigenous people before these Regulations are enforced.
2. The lands allocated by the government to the indigenous people as farming and pasturage lands or breeding lands according to the Regional Plan Act, or as agricultural areas or preserved areas used for farming, breeding, or pasturage according to the Urban Plan Act.

Article 9
For the lands reserved for indigenous people conforming to any of the following circumstances, the indigenous people may, together with the central competent authority, apply to the local registration agency for registration of creating superficies:
1. The lands already leased by the indigenous people for foresting before these Regulations are enforced, and the foresting has been finished.
2. The lands allocated by the government to the indigenous people who have the ability to forest as forestry lands according to the Regional Plan Act, or as preserved areas used for foresting according to the Urban Plan Act.

Article 10
Where the indigenous people applies for creating cultivation or superficies according to the provisions of the preceding two articles, the area shall be calculated according to the population of the applicant’s family at the time of application, and the upper limit for each person is as follows:
1. For the lands applying for creating cultivation according to Article 8, the upper limit is 1ha/person.
2. For the lands applying for creating superficies according to the Article 9, the upper limit is 1.5ha/person.
Where application is submitted for creating cultivation and superficies at the same time, the area shall be calculated according to the proportion of each purpose.
The area of the lands for which the land rights have been create in accordance with the preceding two paragraphs will not be altered due to division of family or increase or decrease of population of the family after application is approved; the area of the lands held by each family may not exceed 20ha. But this figure may be increased or reduced by up to 10% due to geographical reasons.

Article 11
In creating the cultivation or superficies of the lands reserved for indigenous people, if the area of the lands used by the indigenous people exceeds the limit create forth in the preceding article, the Township / City / District Office shall withdraw the excessive proportion; if the lands are used for tillage, the withdrawal shall be performed after the harvest season and before the next term of tillage begins; if they are used for foresting, the time of withdrawal shall be determined according to the cutting age of the trees; if they are used as bamboo gardens, the withdrawal shall be performed upon expiration of the term of lease contract.

Article 12
The indigenous people may, within the lands reserved for indigenous people, apply for creating superficies for the bases of the existing self-provided houses, and the area shall be determined according to the actual area of the buildings and auxiliary facilities in use.
To meet the need for residence, the indigenous people may apply for creating superficies for the lands reserved for indigenous people used for construction according to law.
For each family, the total area of the lands referred to in the preceding two paragraphs may not exceed 0.1ha.
For the superficies referred to in the first paragraph and the second, the indigenous people shall, jointly with the central competent authority, apply to the local registration agency for registration of creating superficies rights.

Article 13
For the purpose of industrial or commercial business operating, the indigenous people may prepare and submit a business plan to the Township / City / District Office. After the application is adopted by the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee and approved by the municipal or county /city competent authority, the applicant may lease the lands reserved for indigenous people that may be used for construction according to law, and each lease term may not exceed nine years, but reletting may be applied for upon expiration of the lease term.
The planned business as referred to in the preceding paragraph may not encumber the preservation and nursing of environmental resources or the national security, or produce public hazards.

Article 14
For the purpose of creating up religious buildings and facilities, the indigenous people may, with the approval of the competent authority in charge of religious affairs, submit a plan to the Township / City / District Office. After the plan is adopted by the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee and approved by the municipal or county / city competent authority, the applicant may use, free of charge, the lands within the lands reserved for indigenous people that may be used for construction according to law. The term of use may not exceed nine years, but the contract may be renewed upon expiration of the term. The area of the lands used may not exceed 0.3ha.

Article 15
The indigenous people may not transfer or rent the cultivation, the superficies, or the leasehold or the right to use free of charge the lands reserved for indigenous people to others, unless the transferees or leaseholders are indigenous people entitled to the rights of inheritance, the indigenous people in the family to which the lands are allocated, or the relatives of the indigenous people within three generations.
For the lands reserved for indigenous people as referred to in the preceding paragraph, the indigenous people may, for the purpose of enlarging the operating area or providing convenience for agricultural operation, exchange the lands with others with the approval of the municipal or county / city competent authority, and shall handle the registration of rights alteration.

Article 16
Where the indigenous people violates the provision of the first paragraph of the preceding article, the Township / City / District Office may withdraw the lands reserved for indigenous people; besides, the case shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:
1. If the registration of cultivation or superficies has been finished, the Office shall request the court to write off the registration.
2. If the lands are leased or used free of charge, the contract shall be terminated.

Article 17
Where it is confirmed that the lands have been operated or used by the rights holder for five years after the cultivation or superficies have been acquired under these Regulations, the central competent authority shall, together with the holder of cultivation or superficies, apply to the local registration agency for registration of ownership transfer.
For the lands referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the category of land utilization is changed due to the implementation of urban plan or alteration of non-urban lands, the ownership may still be transferred to the holder of cultivation or superficies.

Article 18
After the indigenous people has acquired the ownership of a piece of lands reserved for indigenous people, except for the special purposes designated by the government, the lands may be transferred to indigenous people only.
The special purposes designated by the government as referred to in the preceding paragraph means the needs for the government to initiate the businesses prescribed in the Land Expropriation Act.

Article 19
For the lands reserved for indigenous people for which the indigenous people has acquired the cultivation, the superficies, or the leasehold or the rights touse free of charge, if the utilization cannot be continued because there is no inheritors when the right holder dies, or the right holder loses the ability to cultivate the lands, or migrates to another place, or changes his occupation, the Township City / District Office may withdraw the lands with the approval of the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee.
The Office shall request the court to write off the registration of the cultivation and superficies as referred to in the preceding paragraph. However, after the period of continued existence expires, the municipal or county / city competent authority may entrust the registration agency to write off the registration.

Article 20
For the lands reserved for indigenous people withdrawn under these Regulations, the Township / City / District Office may, thirty days after a pubic announcement has been given, re-allocate them to the indigenous people in the region under its jurisdiction in the following sequence:
1. Those who have not received enough allocation, and have traditional relations with the lands.
2. Those who have not received any allocation.
3. Those who have only received allocation of a small area of lands.
The indigenous people who have transfer or sublet the lands reserved for indigenous people in an illegal way may not apply for allocation again.
For the lands reserved for indigenous people withdrawn under the first paragraph, the Township / City / District Office shall notify the owner of the land ameliorants to harvest or dismantle the ameliorants within a specified time limit; if they are not harvested or dismantled in the time limit, the ameliorants will be directly disposed by the Township / City / District Office.
If the land ameliorants referred to in the preceding paragraph are legally planted or built, the Township / City / District Office shall assess their value for the new ownership holder to offer compensation to the original owner to acquire the ameliorants.

Chapter  III　Land Development, Utilization and Nursing

Article 21
The competent authorities of all levels may, according to the conditions of development and the characteristics of land utilization, work out all kinds of development, utilization and nursing plans for the lands reserved for indigenous people within the regions under their jurisdiction.
The development, utilization and nursing plans as referred to in the preceding paragraph may be implemented by means of cooperation or cooperative or entrusted operating.

Article 22
The Ministry of the Interior and the municipal and county / city governments may implement land readjustment or community renewal for the lands reserved for indigenous people according to law.

Article 23
If the government needs to use public-owned lands reserved for indigenous people for public productive enterprise or special purposes, the department that needs the lands may prepare a land utilization plan and submit it to the Township / City / District Office. The Office which will transfer the plan to the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee, and the Committee shall produce a position paper and report to the upper-level competent authority for approval. Then, the required lands may be allocated for use. But the lands used for public productive enterprises shall be limited to those needed by the Township / City / District Offices that have lands reserved for indigenous people under their jurisdiction; and the lands used for agricultural experimentation and practice shall be limited to those needed by the agricultural experiment and practice institutions or schools.
In case of any of the circumstances prescribed in Article 39 of the National Property Act after a piece of land reserved for indigenous people as referred to in the preceding paragraph has been appropriated, the central competent authority shall immediately notify the National Property Administration , Ministry of Finance to report to the Executive Yuan for cancellation of appropriation. If the appropriation has been cancelled, the land shall be taken over by the central competent authority.

Article 24
In order to promote the construction of the mining, quarrying, sightseeing and amusement, gas stations, and agricultural products distributing and storage facilities, the development of industrial resources, the preservation of the indigenous culture, and the initiation of social welfare enterprises in the areas reserved for indigenous people, assistance and guidance shall be provided preferentially for the indigenous people to carry out development or construction under the precondition that the national security, the preservation and nursing of environmental resources, the livelihood of indigenous people and the administration of indigenous affairs will not be encumbered.
To apply for leasing the lands reserved for indigenous people for the purpose of development or construction as referred to in the preceding paragraph, the indigenous people shall prepare development or construction plans and illustrations, and submit to the governing Township / City / District Office for the Office to transfer them to the Reserved Land Rights Review Committee for examination and reporting to the central competent authority for approval. After the application is approved by the Council and the official document produced by the competent authority of target business to approve the development or construction has been acquired, the applicant may lease the lands reserved for indigenous people. Each lease term may not exceed nine years, and relet may be applied for according to the original procedure upon expiration of the term.
The development or construction plans and illustrations as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall include the following documents:
1. Annual development or construction plans.
2. Configuration map of the land required, marked in relief map of a proportion scale and cadastral map of not less than 1:5,000.
3. Transcription of land register book.
4. Plans for assisting the indigenous people to seek for employment or change their vocations.
If a public or private enterprise or a person other than indigenous people (“Non-indigenous people” for short) applies for leasing lands for development or construction, the Township / City / District Office shall first give a public announcement for thirty days, and handle the application in accordance with the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs only provided that no indigenous people applies with the 30-day period.
The central competent authority shall prescribe guidance measures to normalize the plans for assisting the indigenous people to seek for employment or change vocations as referred to in Subparagraph 4 of the third paragraph.

Article 25
The scope of application for relet under the preceding article shall be limited to the scope of development or construction originally approved and the methods of development or construction, and the documents that should be submitted for application for relet are the same as the ones originally submitted. If it is explained in the application form that the original application documents are still used, it is not necessary to submit the related documents again, and the application may be handled without following the provision of the fourth paragraph of the preceding article.

Article 26
When applying for development or construction according to the provision of Article 24, if the indigenous people has already acquired the ownership of the lands, the applicant shall negotiate with the owner on the price and report to the municipal or county / city competent authority for approval, and then participate in investment; in case of transfer of investment rights, the transferee shall be limited to indigenous people.
If the cultivation, superficies, or leasehold have been acquired by indigenous people, the applicant shall negotiate with the right holder to provide compensation, and the original department of land management shall entrust the local registration agency to write off the cultivation or superficies.

Article 27
If a leaseholder of the lands reserved for indigenous people as referred to in Articles 23~25 conducts any of the following, the lease contract shall be terminated and the lands drawn back, and no compensation will be provided for the facilities invested:
1. The leaseholder does not implement development or construction according to the development or construction plan, and change the plan or extend the time limit of development or construction without permission.
2. The leaseholder uses the land with infringing the plan.
3. The leaseholder subleases the land to others or has somebody act in his name.
4. Other occasions that will terminate the lease contract as explicitly prescribed in the contract take place.

Article 28
For the non-indigenous people who have leased lands reserved for indigenous people before these Regulations are enforced and continue to cultivate or use the lands by themselves, the performance of the lease contracts may be continued.
For the already leased farming and foresting lands changed into building plots due to renewal or alteration of urban plan or alteration of non-urban lands, the area for reletting may not exceed 0.03ha/family upon renewal of lease contract.
The non-indigenous people who are domiciled in a township / city / district where there are lands reserved for indigenous people may lease the lands reserved for indigenous people in the township / city / district that may be used for construction according to law as the bases for self-provided houses, and the area may not exceed 0.03ha for each family.

Article 29
The lands reserved for indigenous people leased under the preceding article may not be subleased, and the rights of such lands may not be transferred to others.
In case of violation of the provision of the preceding paragraph, the lease contract shall be terminated and the lands shall be drawn back.

Article 30
The rent of the lands reserved for indigenous people shall be levied by the public treasury of the local municipal or township / city / district as the funds to be used for management of the lands reserved for indigenous people and for economic construction. The management and utilization plan of the rents shall be formulated by the central competent authority.

Chapter  IV　Management of Forest Products

Article 31
The natural forest products in the lands reserved for indigenous people shall be disposed in accordance with the Regulations on Disposal of State-owned Forest Products if it is not prescribed in these Regulations.

Article 32
In order to promote the development and utilization of the lands reserved for indigenous people or collect construction funds, the Township / City / District Offices may compile a plan for cutting the trees in the lands reserved for indigenous people, submit to the central competent authority in charge of forestry for approval, and then request the municipal or county / city competent authority to sell the trees through public tendering.

Article 33
The tree-cutting plan as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be compiled in the principle of sustainable production and no encumbering the national security, and shall comply with the administrative policies concerning indigenous people and the land utilization plans.

Article 34
For the following materials, an application may be submitted to the Township / City / District Office to apply for collecting the natural forest products in the lands reserved for indigenous people with the approval of the municipal or county /city competent authority:
1. The materials required for a government department to use for emergency repair in case of disaster or for construction of public facilities in mountainous areas.
2. The byproducts or materials to be collected and used by the indigenous people without providing compensation in the areas allocated by the municipal and county / city competent authorities.
3. The bamboos and woods required for indigenous people to cultivate fungus or manufacture handworks.
4. The woods encumbering foresting, reclaiming or operation with a standing volume under 30m3/ha.

Article 35
Violation of the provision of the preceding article will be punished according to relevant laws and regulations, and the forest products collected shall be called back; if the products cannot be returned, the actor shall undertake the liability of compensation.

Article 36
For the foresting bamboos and woods in the lands reserved for indigenous people, the examination procedure for cutting shall be handled in accordance with the Regulations on Examination for Cutting and Collection of Forest Products.

Article 37
The ownership of the bamboos and woods in the public productive enterprises in the lands reserved for indigenous people located in a township / city / district shall be vested in the township / city / district.

Article 38
In order to protect the ecological resources and ensure the national security, in any of the following occasions, the governing competent authority shall limit the cutting of bamboos and woods in the lands reserved for indigenous people:
1. The hypsography is abrupt or the soil layer is shallow, so it is difficult to recover the forest.
2. The soil is likely to be eroded or the public welfare is prone to be affected if the woods are cut.
3. It is determined that nursing shall be strengthened in the area.
4. The woods are located in the water-gathering area of reservoirs, the source area of stream, the erosion belt of river bank, the wind-affected area along seacoast, or the sandbank areas.
5. The woods may be preserved as mother trees or for collect seeds.
6. The cutting shall be limited in order to protect ecology, landscape, scenic spots, or historic sites or according to other laws and regulations.

Article 39
In principle, indigenous people shall be employed to undertake the labor, except the technical work, of cutting or collecting the state-owned or public-owned forest products in the land reserved for indigenous people.

Article 40
The municipal and county / city competent authorities shall, jointly with the related government departments, assist and encourage foresting in the lands reserved for indigenous people, and the assistance and encouragement measures shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

Chapter  V　Supplementary Provisions

Article 41
If the indigenous people’s rights and benefits are damaged because the use of the lands reserved for indigenous people and the ameliorants or cutting of woods is limited due to the government’s construction of public facilities, the government shall provide compensation for the indigenous people.

Article 42
The lands acquired by indigenous people in the areas reserved for indigenous people or the create superficies rights may be used as the object of mortgage.

Article 43
For the matters concerning the development and management of the lands reserved for indigenous people create forth in these Regulations that should be handled by the central competent authority, the authority may prescribe relevant operational regulations according to the actual requirements.

Article 44
These Regulations shall become effective as of the date of promulgation.