European Soil Monitoring Law

Background

The European chemical industry supports the European Green Deal and is dedicated to minimising its environmental footprint. Acknowledging the significance of European soils as a valuable natural resource, Cefic emphasises the need to maintain the soil quality.

With this, we offer recommendations for the Soil Monitoring Law proposal to ensure the protection of soil quality and promote sustainable soil use within the EU. Overall, we support the principles of a risk-based and sustainable risk management of industrial sites, and we welcome this inclusion in the Directive.

A summary of our recommendations:

1. Clarity the definition of ‘soil health’ in a way which differentiates soil and land uses, while also considering the end use. This would allow to prioritise soil actions where it matters most.
   
2. Develop a nuanced approach to assess soil health: one that considers minor deviations and aligns with risk assessments. This will show detailed progress of soil over time, while avoiding all soils being labeled as unhealthy.
   
3. Remove the voluntary soil health certification for land transactions: avoid unnecessary burden with limited benefits as well as potential market distortion.
   
4. Site-specific risk assessments should be carried out by the liable party or, if undefined, by the competent authority. And these investigations should be based on the risk assessment rather than trigger events.
   
5. Restrict EU register to contaminated sites: Listing sites with ‘potential contamination’, but with no actual evidence of soil contamination would raise public concern and financially impact sites owners.
   
6. Exclude the artificial land from the application of soil health criteria: given industrial activities, it would be impossible for this land to be both “healthy” status and fit for purpose.
   
7. Ensure penalties are proportionate to the nature and severity of the illegal conduct: Penalties should be designed in a way that encourages compliance.

Cefic position on the Soil Monitoring Law