Part  V. Compulsory Purchase of Land

Chapter  I. General Provisions

Article 208
To meet the requirements of the following public undertakings the State may compulsorily purchase private land according to the Provisions of this Act, but the area of land to be compulsorily purchased shall be limited to what is strictly required for the said undertakings:
(1) Installations of national defense.
(2) Communication enterprises.
(3) Public utility enterprises.
(4) Water conservancy enterprises.
(5) Public health.
(6) Government office buildings, office buildings of local self-governing bodies and other public buildings.
(7) Educational, academic, and philanthropic undertakings.
(8) Enterprises operated by the State.
(9) Other undertakings sponsored by the Government in the public interest.

Article 209
For the implementation of national economic policies, the government may compulsorily purchase private land, provided that such compulsory purchase is provided for by law.

Article 210
Scenic spots and historic remains shall not, as far as possible, be compulsorily purchased.
Scenic spots and historic remains that have been included in the area to be compulsorily purchased shall, as far as possible, be preserved.

Article 211
In applying for the compulsory purchase of land, the applicant shall show evidence that the undertaking sponsored has been authorized by law or decree.

Article 212
Zone purchase may be effected in the compulsory purchase of land for any one of the following purposes:
(1) For the implementation of national economic policies.
(2) For the creation of new cities and municipalities.
(3) For the promotion of undertaking specified in Section (1) or (3) of Article 208.
Zone purchase referred to in the preceding paragraph shall mean the compulsory purchase of all the
lands within a given area, whereof replanning and consolidation are required.

Article 213
Lands may be reserved for compulsory purchase for any one of the following undertakings:
(1) The opening of communication lines.
(2)The promotion of public utility enterprises.
(3)The creation of new cities and municipalities.
(4)The installation of national defense.
Land reserved for compulsory purchase, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall mean those lands that are to be required by the said undertakings for their future use and are prior to their actual use approved, upon the request of the organization responsible for the said undertakings, and publicly announced by the competent authorities as lands that are subject to compulsory purchase in future and shall not be put to any use that hinders their eventual compulsory purchase.

Article 214
The period in which any land is reserved for compulsory purchase according to the provisions of the preceding Article shall not exceed three years. Failure to effect compulsory purchase within the said time limit shall result in the cancellation of the reservation. But in the case of any undertaking mentioned in Section (1) or (4) of the preceding Article, the period in which any land is reserved for compulsory purchase may be extended with the approval of the competent authorities upon the request of the agency responsible for the said undertakings, provided that the period thus extended be no longer than five years.

Article 215
When any land is compulsorily purchased, all improvements thereon shall also be so purchased, unless any one of the following conditions applies:
(1) There exists any provision to the contrary.
(2) The owner of the said improvements requests to remove them and to effect the removal himself.
(3) The constructional improvements thereon were built when the Act provided did not allow such
construction.
(4) The types and volume of the agricultural improvements are not in conformity with normal cultivation conditions.
Identification of conditions (3) and (4) above shall be undertaken by the Municipal or County (City) Land Office together with other government authorities concerned.
After the expiration of the period of public announcement for compulsory purchase, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may notify the landowners or users of the improvements referred to in conditions (3) and (4) above to demolish or to remove the said improvements within a time limit. After the expiration of the prescribed time limit, the Municipal or County (City) Land Office may dispose of them without compensation.

Article 216
In case the use of a compulsorily purchased land produces such adverse effects on the adjacent land as to make it unfit for its original utilization or to impair the efficiency of its original utilization, the owner of the adjacent land may demand due compensation from the user of the compulsorily purchased land.
The compensation referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed the mount of depreciation in the value of the adjacent land caused by the use to which the compulsorily purchased land is put.

Article 217
In case the remaining portion of a compulsorily purchased land is unsuitable for proper use owing to the smallness of its size or the irregularity of its shape, its owner may request, within six months after the expiration of the period of public announcement, that it be compulsorily purchased altogether.

Article 218
  (Cancelled).

Article 219
The original owner of a compulsorily purchased private land may, within six years of the day following the completion of the payment of compensation, apply to the Municipal or County (City) Land Office for its redemption at the purchase price originally paid him, if any one of the following conditions applies:
(1) It is not used according to the approved plan one year after the completion of the payment of compensation.
(2) It is not used for the undertaking of the business of which compulsory purchase was originally approved.
The competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office shall submit all applications that are found upon examination to be covered by the preceding paragraph to the original approving authority for approval, and shall then notify the original landowners to pay back the original amount of the compensation within six months. The redemption right shall be deemed to have been waived if the said original landowner does not exert his right after the expiration of the time limit.
If the said original landowner is responsible for the matter referred to in Section (1) of Paragraph one, he cannot apply to redeem his land.
After private land has been compulsorily purchased and used according to the approved plan, if its use is changed according to the city planning project, the public authority, which is entrusted with the care of the land, shall publicly announce for one month whenever the said authority plans to sell the land by public tender. The said original landowner or his inheritor shall have the preferential right to purchase the said land on the same terms as are bid by any other person. But the preferential right shall be deemed to have been waived if the landowner or his inheritor does not express his intention to make the purchase within ten days of the closing of the public tender.

Article 220
Land that is being currently used for any of those undertakings enumerated in the different Sections of Article 208 shall not be compulsorily purchased, unless its compulsory purchase is unavoidable for the promotion of some more important undertaking. However, this provision shall not prevent the compulsory purchase of a small portion of the land so used, if such purchase does not hinder in any way the continued development of the present undertaking.

Article 221
The liabilities borne by any land under compulsory purchase shall be liquidated, and the amount of the liabilities so liquidated shall be limited to the amount of compensations payable for the said land and shall be paid off by the competent Municipal or County (City) Land Office when the said compensations are paid.