On Thursday, April 10, the institutions of the European Union reached a preliminary agreement on the long-awaited and first-ever EU legislative framework on the Soil Monitoring Law. In particular, MEPs approved a five-level classification for assessing soils, UNN writes with reference to Euractiv.
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The agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission is an important milestone on the road to creating an EU legislative framework for soils. The new law obliges EU countries to first monitor and then assess the health of all soils in their territory. National authorities can apply soil descriptors that best illustrate the characteristics of each soil type at the national level.
MEPs also adopted a five-level classification for assessing soil health (high, good, moderate environmental condition, degraded and critically degraded soils). Soils in good or high environmental condition are considered healthy.
There are approximately 2.8 million potentially contaminated sites in the EU. MEPs supported the requirement to compile a public list of such areas in all EU countries no later than four years after the entry into force of this directive.
EU countries should also investigate, assess and clean up contaminated sites to eliminate unacceptable risks to human health and the environment from soil contamination. Costs should be paid by polluters in accordance with the "polluter pays" principle.