Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Added(15) ‘semi-natural land‘ means an area where ecological assemblages have been substantially modified in their composition, balance or function by human activities, but maintain potentially high value in terms of biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides;

Added(16) ‘artificial land’ means land used as a platform for constructions and infrastructure or as a direct source of raw material or as archive for historic patrimony at the expense of the capacity of soils to provide other ecosystem services;

Added(17) ‘land take’ means the conversion of natural and semi-natural land into artificial land;

Added(17a) 'soil sealing' means the covering of land with impermeable material, particularly in the context of using land as a platform for buildings and infrastructure; [Am. 54]

Added(17b) ‘de-sealing of soil’ means the re-conversion of land that no longer performs its natural soil functions, such as infiltration, percolation and hydrological functionality, into functional soil; [Am. 55]

Added(18) ‘transfer function’ means a mathematical rule that allows to convert the value of a measurement, performed using a methodology different from a reference methodology, into the value that would be obtained by performing the soil measurement using the reference methodology;

Added(19) ‘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 citizens, land owners, managers and land users, as well as non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human or animal health or the environment and meeting any requirements under national law. [Am. 56]

Added(19a) ‘public’ means one or more natural or legal persons and, in accordance with national law or practice, associations, organisations or groups comprising such persons; [Am. 57]

Added(20) ‘soil contamination’ means the presence of a chemical or substance or material in the soil in a concentration that may belead, directly or indirectly, to harmful toeffects on human or animal health or the environment; [Am. 58]

Added(21) ‘contaminant’ means a substance liable to cause soil contamination;

Added(22) ‘regeneration’ means an intentional activity aimed at reversing soil from degraded to healthy condition;

Added(23) ‘risk’ means the possibility of harmful effects to human or animal health or the environment resulting from exposure to soil contamination; [Am. 59]

Added(24) ‘soil investigation’ means a process to assess the presence and concentration of contaminants in the soil which is usually performed in different stages;

Added(25) ‘geographically explicit’ means information referenced and stored in a manner that permits it to be mapped and localised with specific precision and accuracy;

Added(26) ‘soil remediation’ means a regeneration action that reduces, isolates or immobilizes contaminant concentrations in the soil below a toxicity threshold for which significant dangers for organisms in contact with that soil can be excluded, with the aim of improving the ecological status. [Am. 60]

AddedArticle 4 Soil districts

Added1. Member States shall, in consultation with local, regional and cross-regional authorities, establish soil districts, based on, where appropriate, existing administrative units throughout their own territory and in cross-border territories together with neighbouring Member States. [Am. 61]

AddedThe number of soil districts for each Member State shall as a minimum correspond to the number of NUTS 1 territorial units established under Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003. [Am. 221/rev1]

Added2. When establishing the geographic extent of soil districts, Member States may take into account existing land use, governance structures and administrative units and shall seekprioritise homogeneity within each soil district regarding the following parameters: [Am. 63]

Added(a) soil type as defined in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources;

Added(b) climatic conditions;

Added(c) environmental zone as described in Alterra Report 2281;

Added(d) land use or land cover as used in the Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey (LUCAS) programme;

Added(da) river basin districts pursuant to Directive 2000/60/EC and water bodies used for abstraction of water intended for human consumption as defined in Directive (EU) 2020/2184; [Am. 64]

Added(db) the existence of remote archipelagic regions with islands scattered between them, with each island corresponding to a soil district; [Am. 224/rev1]

Added(dc) use of Copernicus for the soil districts' delimitation. [Am. 226/rev1]

Added2a. Member States shall, where appropriate, ensure that soil districts of neighbouring Member States in which there are transboundary effects on soil, comparable land use across borders or similar values for the parameters referred to in paragraph 2, points (a) to (d), cooperate with each other to exchange best practices. Member States shall also ensure that a coherent approach is taken by soil districts across borders. [Am. 65]

Added2b. The Commission shall support Member States in ensuring that their soil districts cooperate on a cross-border basis and shall facilitate harmonisation of monitoring systems, transfer functions, monitoring design and classification of ecological status at the level of the soil descriptors listed in Annex I. [Am. 66]

AddedArticle 5 Competent authorities

AddedMember States shall designate the competent authorities responsible at an appropriate level for carrying out the duties laid down in this Directive, taking into account existing administrative divisions and responsibilities, including in the case of cross-border soil districts. [Am. 68]

AddedMember States shall designate one competent authority for each soil district established in accordance with Article 4. Member States may designate one competent authority for several soil districts. [Am. 69]

AddedMember States shall communicate to the Commission the list of competent authorities referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article in accordance with Article 18(3), point (b). The Commission shall maintain an updated list of the competent authorities on its website. [Am. 70]

AddedChapter II Monitoring and assessment of soil health

AddedArticle 6 Soil health and land take monitoring framework

Added1. Member States shall establish a monitoring framework based on the soil districts established in accordance with Article 4(1), to ensure that regular and accurate monitoring of soil health is carried out in accordance with this Article and Annexes I and II, and is complementary to the assessment approach established by Directive 2000/60/EC. [Am. 71]

Added2. Member States shall monitor soil health and land take in each soil district. Member States shall make use of the expertise of national research institutes, existing national monitoring systems and available data. The monitoring activities carried out by the Member States shall not result in a financial burden for the land managers. [Am. 72]

Added3. The monitoring framework shall be based on the following:

Added(a) the soil descriptors and soil health criteria referred to in Article 7;

Added(b) the soil sampling points and sampling depth to be determined in accordance with Article 8(2); [Am. 73]

Added(c) the soil measurement carried out by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, if any;

Added(d) thescientifically robust remote sensing data and products referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article, if any; [Am. 74]

Added(e) the land take and soil sealing indicators referred to in Article 7(1).

Added4. The Commission shall, subject to agreement from Member States concerned, carry out regular soil measurements on soil samples taken in-situ, based on the relevant descriptors and methodologies referred to in Articles 7 and 8, to support Member States’ monitoring of soil health. Where a Member State provides agreement in accordance with this paragraph, it shall ensure that the Commission can carry out such in-situ soil sampling. [Am. 227/rev1]

Added4a. The Commission shall ensure that the first soil measurement referred to in paragraph 4 is performed by ... [OP: please insert the date = three years from the entry into force of this Directive].

AddedThe Commission shall contribute to the monitoring carried out by Member States by providing sampling and analysing of at least 20% of the size of national samples.

AddedThe Commission shall, at the request of a Member State, provide further assistance with up to 50% of the sampling during the first national monitoring round. [Am. 76]

Added5. The Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) shall leverage existing space-based data and products delivered under the Copernicus component of the EU Space Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/696 to explore and develop soil remote sensing products, to support the Member States in monitoring the relevant soil descriptors.

Added6. The Commission and the EEA shall, on the basis of existing data and within two years of the entry into force of this Directive, establish a digital soil health data portal that shall provide access in georeferenced spatial format, in line with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, to at least the available soil health data resulting from: [Am. 77]

Added(a) the soil measurements referred to in Article 8(2);

Added(b) the soil measurements referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article;

Added(c) the relevant soil remote sensing data and products referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article.

Added6a. The soil monitoring framework referred to in paragraphs 3 to 6 shall build on existing monitoring frameworks at Union and national level, including data from the LUCAS Soil Observatory. [Am. 78]

Added7. The digital soil health data portal referred to in paragraph 6 may also provide access to other soil health related data than the data referred to in that paragraph if those data were shared or collected in accordance with the formats or methods established by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 8.

Added7a. The digital soil health data portal shall include the Sustainable Soil Management Toolbox referred to in Article 10a. [Am. 79]

Added8. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to establish formats or methods for sharing or collecting the data referred to in paragraph 7 or for integrating those data in the digital soil health data portal, ensuring compliance with Union law on the protection of personal data. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21. [Am. 80]

Added8a. The Commission shall provide to Member States the necessary capacity building, assistance and consulting services and support their monitoring initiatives, multilateral harmonisation of regulations, methods and archives, and thereby close existing data gaps and workflow bottlenecks by sharing common expertise. To that end, the Commission shall build on existing mechanisms, including the Soil BON initiative. [Am. 81]

AddedArticle 6a Efficient use and preservation of soil samples

Added1. The Commission, together with Member States and the European Soil Observatory, shall put in place measures to ensure that the physical archives of soils, DNA extracts and the digital archive of raw data, at both Union and national level, remain available for further research and innovation. The Commission and Member States shall ensure that samples are stored in a manner appropriate to their long-term sustainable use.

Added2. By ... [OP: please insert the date = 12 months from the date of entry into force of this Directive], the Commission shall provide guidelines with protocols of reference to use soil samples in the most cost-efficient way. [Am. 82]

AddedArticle 7 Soil descriptors, criteria for healthy soil condition, andsoil ecological status, land take and soil sealing indicators [Am. 83]