The Environment Committee gave first reading approval on Tuesday to the first EU directive on soil protection. Among the key points approved by MEPs was the proposal to set up public inventories of contaminated sites within the EU. Amendments were adopted aiming to give more flexibility to Member States in how they put the directive into practice.
In their first reading report, drawn up by Cristina Gutierrez-Cortines (EPP-ED, ES), MEPs aim to promote the sustainable use of soil, to prevent soil degradation due to climate change - or to mitigate and remedy its consequences. The proposed directive should end the fragmentation of EU soil policy with existing provisions currently divided between various pieces of legislation on waste, pesticides and nature protection.
National or regional inventories of contaminated sites
The directive includes a requirement to establish national inventories of contaminated sites, which will be made public. MEPs added that these could also be on a regional basis. They should be updated at least every five years to include new contaminated sites and exclude those which have undergone remediation.
The committee inserted a definition of a "contaminated site" as a site where there is a confirmed presence on or in the soil, caused by human activities, of dangerous substances posing a significant risk to human health or the environment.
Remediation
The committee approved the Commission's proposal that seven years after transposing the directive into national legislation, remediation strategies have to be drawn up by Member States, "at the administrative level they consider appropriate", including at least remediation targets - and the funds allocated.
Agriculture and climate change
"This Directive is the first piece of Community law that recognises the positive role of agriculture on soil protection and tackles the issue of climate change", said the rapporteur. Amendments adopted by the committee reaffirm that Member States may decide upon their own agricultural policy in relation to the soil, while on climate change, MEPs want the Member States to improve their soil's capacity to capture carbon.
Within five years of the transposition date, Member States will have to identify the "priority areas" which need special protection against erosion, organic matter decline, soil biodiversity loss, compaction, salinisation, landslides, desertification or acidification. MEPs decided that the choice of measures to combat these phenomena will be left to the Member States.
Bron : Europees Parlement