Objectives and subject matter
1. The objectives of this Directive are to establish a solid and coherent soil monitoring framework for all soils across the Union, to reduce soil contamination to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and the environment, to continuously improve soil health in the Union, to maintain soils in a healthy condition and to prevent and address all aspects of soil degradation, with a view to achieving healthy soils by 2050 so that they can provide multiple ecosystem services on a scale sufficient to meet environmental, societal and economic needs, prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and increase resilience against natural disasters and in terms of food security.
2. This Directive lays down a framework for and measures on:
(a)
monitoring and assessment of soil health;
(b)
soil resilience; and
(c)
management of contaminated sites.
Scope
This Directive applies to all soils in the territory of the Member States.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply:
(1)
‘soil’ means the top layer of the Earth’s crust, situated between the bedrock or the parent material and the land surface, and which is composed of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms;
(2)
‘ecosystem’ means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment, interacting as a functional unit;
(3)
‘ecosystem services’ means the direct or indirect contributions of ecosystems to the environmental, economic, social, cultural and other benefits that people derive from those ecosystems;
(4)
‘soil biodiversity’ means the variation in soil life, from genes to communities of organisms, and the ecological complexes of which they are part, that is complexes ranging from soil micro-habitats to landscapes;
(5)
‘soil health’ means the physical, chemical and biological condition of soil, determining its capacity to function as a vital living system and to provide ecosystem services;
(6)
‘soil resilience’ means the ability of soil to preserve its functions and maintain its capacity to provide ecosystem services, and to withstand and recover from disturbances;
(7)
‘soil management practices’ means practices that impact the physical, chemical or biological properties of soil;
(8)
‘soil district’ means a part of the territory of a Member State, which has been delineated by that Member State in accordance with this Directive;
(9)
‘soil unit’ means a spatially discrete area within a soil district resulting from the intersection of sets of spatial data used as factors for statistical homogeneity within that soil district;
(10)
‘soil descriptor’ means a parameter describing a physical, chemical or biological characteristic of soil health;
(11)
‘soil health assessment’ means the evaluation of the health of soil based on the measurement or estimation of the values of soil descriptors;
(12)
‘soil contamination’ means the presence of a substance in soil at a level that may be, directly or indirectly, harmful to human health or the environment;
(13)
‘contaminant’ means a substance liable to cause soil contamination or contamination of bedrock or parent material;
(14)
‘potentially contaminated site’ means a delineated area where soil contamination or contamination of bedrock or parent material caused by anthropogenic point-source activities is suspected based on relevant evidence;
(15)
‘contaminated site’ means a delineated area with confirmed soil contamination or contamination of bedrock or parent material caused by anthropogenic point-source activities;
(16)
‘land’ means the surface of the Earth that is not regularly covered by water bodies;
(17)
‘land cover’ means the physical and biological cover of the surface of the Earth;
(18)
‘soil sealing’ means the covering of soil with completely or partially impermeable material;
(19)
‘sealed soil’ means an area of soil that underwent soil sealing;
(20)
‘soil removal’ means the temporary or long-term total or partial removal of soil in an area;
(21)
‘de-sealing’ means the conversion of sealed soil into soil that is not sealed soil;
(22)
‘transfer function’ means a mathematical rule that enables the value of a measurement performed using a methodology different from a reference methodology to be converted into the value that would be obtained by performing the soil measurement using the reference methodology;
(23)
‘public concerned’ means the public affected or likely to be affected by soil degradation, or having an interest in the decision-making procedures related to the implementation of the obligations under this Directive, including landowners, land managers and land users, as well as non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment and meeting any requirements under national law;
(24)
‘soil regeneration’ means an intentional activity aimed at changing the condition of soil from degraded to healthy;
(25)
‘risk’ means the likelihood of harmful effects to human health or the environment resulting from exposure to soil contamination or to contamination of bedrock or parent material;
(26)
‘soil investigation’ means a process that can be performed in multiple and iterative phases to assess the presence and levels of contaminants in soil, bedrock or parent material and, if relevant, to characterise and determine the extent of a contaminated site;
(27)
‘soil remediation’ means a set of actions that reduce, isolate or immobilise contaminants in soil, bedrock or parent material;
(28)
‘risk reduction measures’ mean measures that aim to reduce the risks that contaminated sites pose to human health and the environment, either by means of soil remediation or modification of the source-pathway-receptor linkage without changing the characteristics of the contamination itself.
Soil districts and soil units
1. Member States shall establish, for administrative purposes, one or more soil districts which shall cover their entire territory and be under the responsibility of one or more competent authorities as designated pursuant to Article 5.
2. Member States shall establish soil units which together cover their entire territory, for the purposes of designing monitoring and of reporting with regard to soil health within a given margin of error within the soil unit concerned, taking into account:
(a)
the geographical extent of soil districts as established pursuant to paragraph 1;
(b)
the soil type as defined in the map of the soil regions of the European Union and Adjacent Countries 1:5 000 000, published by the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), in partnership with the Joint Research Centre (JRC);
(c)
the land use categories, excluding water bodies, as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2018/841.
3. For the purposes of establishing their soil units, Member States may use, where available at the Union, national or subnational level, updates of data referred to in paragraph 2 or more detailed data equivalent to those data.
Member States may take into account additional spatial data to establish their soil units, such as data concerning the climate, environmental zones as described in the relevant scientific studies or reports, or river basins.
Competent authorities
Member States shall designate the competent authorities responsible at an appropriate level for carrying out the obligations provided for in this Directive.
