Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 3

RemovedSHORT JUSTIFICATION

AddedRecital 2: (2) Healthy soils are in good chemical, biological and physical condition so that they can provide ecosystem services that are vital to humans and the environment, such as safe, nutritious and sufficient food, biomass, clean water, nutrients cycling, carbon storage and a habitat for biodiversity. Soil is essential to ensuring food security. However, it is estimated that 60 to 70 % of the soils in the Union are deteriorated and continue to deteriorate.

RemovedThe Council position at first reading reflects the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in interinstitutional negotiations at early second-reading stage.

AddedRecital 3: (3) Soil degradation is costing the Union several tens of billion euro every year. Soil health is impacting the provision of ecosystem services that have an important economic return. Its improvement makes sound economic sense and can significantly increase the price and value of the land in the Union. Moreover, it can take up to 1 000 years to produce just 1 centimetre of top soil, while the degradation process and complete loss of soil can happen rapidly.

AddedRecital 11: (11) Funding is vital to enable a transition to healthy soils. The Multiannual Financial Framework presents several funding opportunities available for the protection, sustainable management and regeneration of soils. A ‘Soil Deal for Europe’ is one of the five EU missions of the Horizon Europe programme and is specifically dedicated to promoting soil health. The Soil Mission is a key instrument for the implementation of this Directive. It aims to lead the transition to healthy soils through funding an ambitious research and innovation programme, establishing a network of 100 living labs and lighthouses in rural and urban areas, advancing the development of a harmonized soil monitoring framework and increasing the awareness of the importance of soil. Other Union programmes that present objectives contributing to healthy soils are the Common Agricultural Policy, the Cohesion Policy funds, the Programme for Environment and Climate Action, the Horizon Europe work programme, the Technical Support Instrument, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and InvestEU. As the goal to have all soils within the Union in healthy status is of common interest, there is a need to increase the mobilisation of resources to support the uptake of sustainable soil management and regenerative practices, including through provision of support from the European Investment Bank via de-risking mechanisms. The Commission should assess the overall financial needs and gaps and if needed put in place for the p…

AddedRecital 12: (12) The Soil Strategy for 2030 announced that the Commission would table a legislative proposal on soil health to enable the objectives of the Soil Strategy and to achieve good soil health across the EU by 2050. In its resolution of 28 April 2021 on soil protection42 , the European Parliament emphasised the importance of protecting soil and promoting healthy soils in the Union, bearing in mind that the degradation continues, despite the limited and uneven action being taken in some Member States. The European Parliament called on the Commission to design a Union wide common legal framework, with full respect for the subsidiarity principle, for the protection and sustainable use of soil, addressing all major soil threats. Importantly, the European Parliament underlined the risks stemming from the absence of a level playing field between Member States and their different protection regimes for soil to the functioning of the internal market and the strong potential to stimulate fair competition in the private sector, develop innovative solutions and know-how and strengthen the export of technologies outside the Union.

AddedRecital 18: (18) It is vital to set appropriate measures for Union-wide harmonised monitoring and assessment of soil health, managing soils sustainably and tackling contaminated sites to achieve healthy soils by 2050, to maintain them in healthy condition and meet the Union’s objectives on climate and biodiversity, to prevent and respond to droughts and natural disasters, to protect human health and to ensure food security and safety.

AddedRecital 19: (19) Soils host more than 25% of all biodiversity and are the second largest carbon pool of the planet. Due to their ability to capture and store carbon, healthy soils contribute to the achievement of the Union’s objectives on climate change. Soil biodiversity encompasses micro-organisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes, as well as larger organisms such as earthworms, insects, and plant roots, which collectively contribute to the ecological and functional diversity of soil ecosystems. Healthy soils also provide a favourable habitat for organisms to thrive and are crucial for enhancing biodiversity and the stability of ecosystems. Biodiversity below and above ground are intimately connected and interact through mutualistic relationships (e.g. mycorrhizal fungi that connect plant roots).

AddedRecital 19 a (new): (19a) Soil organic matter is crucial for the provision of soil ecosystem services and functions, by reducing soil degradation, erosion and compaction, while increasing the buffering, water holding and cation exchange capacity of the soil and soil organic carbon, which ultimately could increase crop yields. Additionally, soil organic matter positively affects soil biodiversity and could increase the carbon sequestered in soils, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation.

AddedRecital 21 a (new): (21a) Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been frequently observed to contaminate groundwater, surface water as well as soil. They can alter soil properties and structures, with some of the reported effects including a decrease in soil respiration and water stable aggregates, and an increase in soil pH.

AddedRecital 22: (22) Soil degradation impacts fertility, yields, pest resistance and nutritional food quality. Since 95 % of our food is directly or indirectly produced on soils and the global population continues to increase, it is key that this finite natural resource remains healthy to ensure food security in the long-term and secure the productivity and profitability of Union agriculture. Sustainable soil management practices, including those set out by the common agricultural policy, maintain or enhance soil health and contribute to the sustainability and resilience of the food system. Reducing nutrient losses and pesticide residues are essential in this respect.

AddedRecital 23: (23) The long-term objective of the Directive is to achieve healthy soils across the Union by 2050. As an intermediate step, in light of the limited knowledge about the condition of soils and about the effectiveness and costs of the measures to regenerate their health, the directive takes a staged approach. In the first stage the focus will be on setting up the soil monitoring framework and assessing the situation of soils throughout the EU. Member States should define sustainable soil management practices taking into account the non-binding principles set in Annex III to this Directive. The Member States are given the flexibility to decide on the concrete practices to be implemented, when appropriate, reflecting local conditions and its feasibility, in order to faciliate achieving healthy soils by 2050. This proportionate approach will allow sustainable soil management and regeneration of soils that are not healthy to be well prepared, incentivised and set in motion. In a second stage, as soon as the results of the first assessment of soils and trends analysis are available, the Commission will take stock of the progress towards the 2050 objective and the experience thereof, and will propose a review of the directive if necessary to meet the 2050 goal.

AddedRecital 24: (24) Addressing the pressures on soils and identifying the appropriate measures to maintain or regenerate soil health requires that the variety of soil types, the specific local and climatic conditions and the land use or the land cover is taken into account. It is therefore appropriate that Member States establish soil districts that are capable of adequately reflecting pedoclimatic conditions and soil variety on their whole territory. Soil districts should constitute the basic governance units to manage soils and to take measures to comply with the requirements laid down in this Directive, in particular with regard to the monitoring and assessment of soil health. There should be a minimum number of soil districts in each Member State taking into account the size of the Member State. This minimum number of soil districts for each Member State shall correspond to the number of NUTS 1 territorial units established in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council48..Member States can decide to set up their soil districts according to their number of NUTS 2 territorial units in order to bettter reflect their local conditions and the competences of their national authorities. / (deleted)

AddedRecital 24 a (new): (24a) Soil districts are the most appropriate level for adopting programmes of measures and, where necessary, intermediate targets, including via local soil district plans, taking into account local conditions and the views of local stakeholders, to ensure that the respective soils improve their classification. As it takes more time to restore critically degraded soils, a sufficient timeline of up to 10 years should be given to ensure that their ecological classification improves. Soils registered as contaminated that are covered by specific management and mitigation plans could be subject to a different timeline.

AddedRecital 25: (25) In order to ensure an appropriate governance on soils, Member States should be required to appoint a competent authority for each soil district. Member States should be allowed to appoint any additional competent authority at appropriate level including at national or regional level, including across territories of Member States. In order to minimise costs, Member States should primarily appoint authorities that are already set up. One authority could be responsible for several areas, which could improve consistency in the implementation of this Directive. In the event that Member States change the allocation of competences among competent authorities, they should communicate those changes to the Commission to keep the information up to date.

AddedRecital 27: (27) In order to provide for a common framework and to allow for comparability of data, the Commission should by means of delegated acts, adopt a methodology for determining threshold values for soil descriptors for each soil ecological status. It is important that this methodology take into account the most recent scientific evidence and provide for means to account for different climatic conditions and types of soil. Using this methodology Member States should identify draft threshold values for soil descriptors for each soil ecological status taking into consideration climate conditions, the type of soil, type of land area and scientific evidence and submit them to the Commission. In order to ensure a level playing field among Member States and to avoid Member States adopting threshold values which allow similar soil to be categorised in a very different manner, thereby affecting the efforts required to improve its soil ecological status, the Commission should assess the draft threshold values and their scientific justification. The Commission should be able to ask Member States for additional information or revision of their draft threshold values. The Commission should approve the threshold values, provided that its observations have been adequately taken into account.

AddedRecital 27 a (new): (27a) An integrated view on the assessment of soil health that goes beyond solely looking at degradation factors and provides a clear path for its improvement is necessary. The overall assessment of soil ecological status should, therefore, be categorised according to five classes from "high soil ecological status”, “good ecological status”, “moderate”, “degraded soils” to “critically degraded soils”, taking into consideration, inter alia, the presence of degradation factors and soil functions.

AddedRecital 27 b (new): (27b) To respect the autonomy of the Member States that are willing to implement more comprehensive monitoring systems, Member States should be able to choose among 3 monitoring tiers. Tier 1 provides a minimum set of soil descriptors. In Tier 2, 20% of the sampling points are determined according to the LUCAS programme and double sampled for continuous monitoring and the establishment of transfer functions, while the remaining 80% of the sampling points are determined by the Member State, also for continuous monitoring and following the criteria set in the annexes to this Directive. In Tiers 1 and 2, 20% of sampling points are dedicated to targeted monitoring, allowing Member States to expand risk-based assessments, conduct investigations, or target areas of particular interest. The establishment of a tiered approach increases the number of soil descriptors assessed but also the level of autonomy that Member States have in determining the thresholds associated to the ecological status of soils. The main goal of such a tiered approach is to allow all Member States to implement their monitoring systems and take advantage of any current national systems that already monitor soils. Tier 2 will allow gaps to be filled in the scope and extent of the soil descriptors considered. In Tier 3, the number of soil descriptors is expanded further to refine particular aspects of the soil monitoring systems.

AddedRecital 28: deleted / (deleted)

AddedRecital 30: (30) Soil is a limited resource subject to an ever-growing competition for different uses. Land take is a process often driven by economic development needs, that transforms natural and semi-natural areas (including agricultural and forestry land, gardens and parks) into artificial land development, using soil as a platform for constructions and infrastructure, as a direct source of raw material or as archive for historic patrimony. This transformation may cause the loss, often irreversibly, of the capacity of soils to provide other ecosystem services (provision of food and biomass, water and nutrients cycling, basis for biodiversity and carbon storage). In particular, land take often affects the most fertile agricultural soils, putting food security in jeopardy. Sealed soil also exposes human settlements to higher flood peaks and more intense heat island effects. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor land take and soil sealing and their effects on soil’s capacity to provide ecosystem services. It is also appropriate to lay down certain principles to mitigate the impacts of land take complementing sustainable soil management.

AddedRecital 31: (31) The assessment of soil health based on the monitoring network should be accurate while at the same time keeping the costs of such monitoring at reasonable level. It is therefore appropriate to lay down criteria for sampling points that are representative of the soil condition under different soil types, climatic conditions and land use. The grid of sampling points should be determined by using geostatistical methods and be sufficiently dense to provide an estimation of the area of healthy soils, at national level, within an uncertainty of not more than 5%. This value is commonly considered to provide a statistically sound estimation and reasonable assurance that the objective has been achieved. It is important that the soil monitoring methodology and framework include harmonised sampling criteria, including sampling depth.

AddedRecital 31 a (new): (31a) Soil archives preserve a snapshot of soils from a specific time and location, allowing Member States to use one sample for various purposes and to streamline field sampling activities, thus reducing the long-term costs of in-situ monitoring. In addition, soil archives enable researchers to re-evaluate soils of the past in the context of the present for an improved understanding of long-term soil change, or for other research purposes, including medical research. It is therefore imperative that the Commission, including services such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC), together with the Member States and the European Soil Observatory, ensure that the samples, DNA extracts and raw data taken for the compliance with Union and national environmental law are well preserved in physical archives and that the samples and raw data of those archives remain available for further research and innovation.

AddedRecital 32: (32) As a complement to existing national inventories, the Commission should assist and support Member States’ monitoring of soil health by continuing to carry out and enhancing regular in-situ soil sampling and related soil measurements (LUCAS soil) as part of the Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey (LUCAS) Programme. For that purpose, the LUCAS Programme should be enhanced and upgraded to fully align it with the specific quality requirements and all the descriptors to be met for the purpose of this Directive. In order to alleviate the burden, Member States should be allowed to take into account the soil health data surveyed under the enhanced LUCAS soil. LUCAS soil will sample and analyse at least 20 % of the size of national samples, thereby contributing to the monitoring carried out by Member States. The analysis by LUCAS is essential to allowing Member States to calculate and calibrate valid transfer functions in order to allow them to continue using alternative monitoring design in accordance with Tier 2. The Commission should at the request of a Member State provide further assistance with up to 50% of the sampling during the first national monitoring round. The Member States thus supported should take the necessary legal arrangements to ensure that the Commission can carry out such in-situ soil sampling, including on privately owned fields, with the agreement of the owners, and in compliance with applicable national or Union legislation.

AddedRecital 33: (33) The Commission is developing remote sensing services in the context of Copernicus as a user-driven programme, hereby also supporting Member States. In order to increase the timeliness and effectiveness of soil health monitoring, and where relevant, Member States should use remote sensing data including outputs from the Copernicus services for monitoring relevant soil descriptors and for assessing soil health. The Commission and the European Environment Agency should support exploring and developing soil remote sensing products, to assist the Member States in monitoring the relevant soil descriptors. The Commission and Member States should further support the use of reliable and available digital technologies, such as electronic databases, geographic information systems, automated image identification or e-DNA, to improve knowledge sharing and transparency with regard to soil health and to reduce the costs of soil measurements and monitoring.

AddedRecital 34: (34) Building on and upgrading the existing EU soil observatory, the Commission should establish a digital soil health data portal that should be compatible with the EU Data Strategy50 and the EU data spaces and which should be a hub providing access to soil data coming from various sources. The soil health data should be made publicly available in a format that can be used by the research community, landowners and managers, advisors working within the farm advisory system and the public, ensuring compliance with Union law on the protection of personal data. That portal should primarily include relevant data collected by the Member States and the Commission as required by this Directive and serve as a platform for the establishment of a Sustainable Soil Management Toolbox that will provide up-to-date context-specific information about sustainable soil management practices based on different soil type, land use and climatic conditions. It should also be possible to integrate in the portal, on a voluntary basis, other relevant soil data collected by Member States or any other party (and in particular data resulting from projects under Horizon Europe and the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’), provided that those data meet certain requirements as regards format and specifications. Those requirements should be specified by the Commission by way of implementing acts. Member States and the Commission should ensure that research institutions have easy and free access to all data at t…

AddedRecital 35: (35) It is also necessary to improve the harmonization of soil monitoring systems used in the Member States and exploit the synergies between Union and national monitoring systems and make full use of already existing harmonised monitoring tools such as LUCAS in order to have more comparable data across the Union. Moreover, harmonisation of monitoring systems in Member States would help to scale up investments in advanced soil monitoring techniques and technologies.

AddedRecital 36: deleted

AddedRecital 37: (37) To maintain or enhance soil health, soils need to be managed sustainably. Sustainable soil management will enable the long-term provision of soil services, including improved air and water quality and food security. It is therefore appropriate to lay down non-binding sustainable soil management principles to guide soil management practices.

AddedRecital 38: (38) Economic instruments, including those under the common agricultural policy (CAP) that provide support to farmers, have a crucial role in the transition to the sustainable management of agricultural soils and, to a lesser extent, forest soils. The CAP aims to support soil health through the implementation of conditionality, eco-schemes and rural development measures. Financial support for farmers and foresters who apply sustainable soil management practices can also be generated by the private sector. Voluntary sustainability labels in the food, wood, bio-based, and energy industry, for example, established by private stakeholders, can take into account the contributions to improve soil health in accordance with this Directive. This can enable food, wood, and other biomass producers that follow those principles in their production to reflect these in the value of their products. Additional funding for a network of real-life sites for testing, demonstrating and upscaling of solutions, including on carbon farming, will be provided through the Soil Mission’s living labs and lighthouses. Without prejudice to the polluter pays principle, support and advice should be provided by Member States to help landowners and land users affected by action taken under this Directive taking into account, in particular, the needs and limited capacities of small and medium sized enterprises.

AddedRecital 39 a (new): (39a) Good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs) 5, 6 and 7 as set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 include standards to improve tillage management to reduce the risk of soil degradation and erosion, including by consideration of the slope gradient and minimum land management reflecting site specific conditions to limit erosion, minimum soil cover to avoid bare soil, protection of soils in periods that are most sensitive as well as crop rotation on arable land. In addition, GAEC 1 on protection of permanent pasture and GAEC 2 on protecting wetlands and peatlands and soils high in organic matter, are relevant for soil protection.

AddedRecital 40: (40) Member States should be required to closely monitor the impact of soil management practices and adjust practices and recommendations as necessary, taking into account new knowledge from research and innovation. Valuable contributions are expected in this respect from the Horizon Europe Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ and in particular its living labs and activities to support soil monitoring, soil education and citizen engagement.

AddedRecital 42: (42) To ensure synergies between the different measures adopted under other Union legislation that may have an impact on soil health, and the measures that are to be put in place to sustainably manage and regenerate soils in the Union, Member States should ensure that the sustainable soil management and regeneration practices are coherent with the national restoration plans adopted in accordance with Regulation (UE) …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council52+; the national biodiversity strategies and action plans established in accordance with Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common Agricultural Policy in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the codes of good agricultural practices and the action programmes for designated vulnerable zones adopted in accordance with Council Directive 91/676/ EEC53 , the conservation measures and prioritized action framework established for Natura 2000 sites in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC54, the measures for achieving good ecological and chemical status of water bodies included in river basin management plans prepared in accordance with Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council55, the flood risk management measures established in accordance with Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council56, the drought management plans promoted in the Union Strategy on Adaptation to Clim…

AddedRecital 43: (43) Contaminated sites are the legacy of decades of industrial activity in the EU and may lead to risks for human and animal health and the environment now and in the future. Building on existing knowledge, it is therefore necessary to identify and investigate potentially contaminated sites and then, in case of confirmed contamination, to assess the risks and take measures to address them. Soil investigation may prove that a potentially contaminated site is in fact not contaminated. In that case, the site should no longer be labelled by the Member State as potentially contaminated, unless contamination is suspected based on new evidence.

AddedRecital 44: (44) To identify potentially contaminated sites, Member States should collect evidence among others through historical research, past industrial incidents and accidents, environmental permits, health surveys and notifications by the public or authorities.

AddedRecital 45: (45) In order to ensure that soil investigations on potentially contaminated sites are carried out timely and effectively, as requested in the European Parliament´s resolution of 28 April 2021 on soil protection, Member States should, in addition to the obligation to lay down the deadline by which those investigations should be carried out, be required to lay down specific events that also trigger such investigation. Such triggering events may include the request or review of an environmental or building permit or an authorisation required pursuant to Union legislation or national legislation, soil excavation activities, land use changes or land or real estate transactions. Soil investigations may follow different stages, such as a desk study, site visit, preliminary or exploratory investigation, more detailed or descriptive investigation, and field or laboratory testing. Baseline reports and monitoring measures implemented in accordance with Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council65 could also qualify as soil investigation where appropriate.

AddedRecital 46: (46) Flexibility for the management of potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites is needed to take account of costs, benefits and local specificities. Member States should therefore adopt a risk-based approach for managing potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites, taking into account the difference between these two categories, and which allows to allocate resources taking account of the specific environmental, economic and social context. Decisions should be taken in cooperation with local health practitioners, health authorities and the scientific community, based on the nature and extent of potential risks for human health and the environment resulting from exposure to soil contaminants (e.g. exposure of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, persons with disabilities, elderly people and children), including exposure, and cumulative effects on human health, soil ecosystems and associated ecosystem services. The cost-benefit analysis of undertaking remediation should be balanced, taking into account the advantages for future generations. The optimum remediation solution should be sustainable and selected through a balanced decision-making process that takes account of the environmental, economic and social impacts. The management of potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites should respect the polluter-pays, precautionary and proportionality principles. Member States should lay down the specific methodology for determining the sit…

AddedRecital 46 a (new): (46a) Land take mitigation principles should facilitate the Union´s food security while taking into account sustainable housing, essential infrastructure and renewable energy projects.

AddedRecital 47: (47) Measures taken pursuant to this Directive should also take account of other EU policy objectives. / (deleted)

AddedRecital 48 a (new): (48a) In order to protect soils from pollution by emerging chemicals that have the potential to cause significant risks to human and animal health and to contaminate surrounding air, surface waters, groundwater, and subsequently oceans, policy mechanisms to detect and assess such substances of emerging concern should be established. In that regard, an approach that allows monitoring and analysis of those substances or groups of substances via watch lists, as is already the case for surface water and groundwater, should be developed for soil contamination. The substances or groups of substances to be placed on the watch list should be selected from amongst those substances for which the information available indicates that they could pose a significant risk at Union level to, or via, the soil environment, and for which the monitoring data are insufficient. The number of such substances or groups of substances to be monitored and analysed under the watch lists should not be limited.

AddedRecital 48 b (new): (48b) Substances such as persistent organic pollutants, materials and particles, including microplastics or nanoplastics, pose a clear risk to soil health, but also to essential activities such as the development of agriculture. Their presence in soils can have implications for soil fertility, thereby compromising the health and healthy development of crops. It is therefore essential that this Directive provide for a framework for both substances and materials to be included in the monitoring of soil contaminants, and for the establishment of environmental quality standards and a set of measures to prevent and remediate soil contamination from known and emerging threats, where appropriate.

AddedRecital 50: (50) Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council68 mandates the release of public sector data in free and open formats. The overall objective is to continue the strengthening of the EU’s data economy by increasing the amount of interoperable public sector data available for re-use, ensuring fair competition and easy access to public sector information, and enhancing cross-border innovation based on data. Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council69 is aimed at guaranteeing the right of access to environmental information in the Member States in line with the Aarhus Convention. The Aarhus Convention and Directive 2003/4/EC encompass broad obligations related both to making environmental information available upon request and actively disseminating such information. Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council70 is also of broad scope, covering the sharing of spatial information, including data sets on different environmental topics. It is important that provisions of this Directive related to access to information and data-sharing arrangements complement those Directives and do not create a separate legal regime. Therefore, the provisions of this Directive regarding information to the public and information on monitoring of implementation should be without prejudice to Directives (EU) 2019/1024, 2003/4/EC and 2007/2/EC.

AddedRecital 51: (51) In order to ensure the necessary adaptation of the rules on soil health monitoring, assessment and management of contaminated sites, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending or supplementing this Directive to adopt a methodology for determining threshold values for soil descriptors to be established by Member States, and to adapt to technical and scientific progress the methodologies for monitoring soil health, the indicative list of risk reduction measures, the phases and requirements for the site-specific risk assessment and establishment of the minimum tolerable values in relation to the definition of an unacceptable risk for health and the environment resulting from contaminated sites. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 201671. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

AddedRecital 53: (53) The Commission should carry out an evidence-based evaluation and, where relevant, a revision of this Directive, 6 years after its entry into force on the basis of the results of the soil health assessment. The evaluation should assess in particular the gap and measures needed to achieve healthy soils by 2050. The evaluation should also assess the need to adapt the definition of healthy soils to scientific and technical progress by adding provisions on certain descriptors or criteria based on new scientific evidence relating to the protection of soils or on the grounds of a problem specific to a Member State arising from new environmental or climatic circumstances. Pursuant to paragraph 22 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, that evaluation should be based on the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and EU value added and should provide the basis for impact assessments of possible further measures.

AddedRecital 55 a (new): (55a) This Directive is aimed at meeting the long-term objective of healthy soil in the Union by 2050 based on a coherent framework for soil monitoring and improvement of its health. Given its nature as a directive, in accordance with Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, this Directive is binding as to the result to be achieved in the Member States to whom it is addressed, while leaving national authorities the power to choose the form and methods to achieve the result. It will therefore be up to Member States to devise their own laws on how to reach the goals laid down in this Directive. The proposed instrument of a directive leaves much flexibility to the Member States to identify the best measures for them and to adapt the approach to local conditions. This is crucial to take account of the regional and local specificities as regards soil variability, land use, climatological conditions and socio-economic aspects. The nature of the instrument implies that principles laid down in this Directive do not entail direct obligations on individuals.

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1: 1. The objective of the Directive is to put in place a clear, solid, coherent and flexible framework for soil monitoring and assessment for all soils across the EU in order to continuously improve soil health in the Union with the view to achieve healthy soils by 2050 and maintain soils in healthy condition and prevent their deterioration so that they can supply multiple ecosystem services at a scale sufficient to meet environmental, societal and economic needs, prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, increase the resilience against natural disasters and for food security and that soil contamination is reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and the environment. / This Directive, therefore, establishes a framework within which Member States are required to put in place measures that are technically feasible and based on a cost-benefit analysis, with a view to achieving healthy soils by 2050.

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. This Directive contributes to fulfilling international and Union-level commitments, objectives and goals, including those contained in: / (a) the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; / (b) the Paris Agreement; / (c) the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); / (d) the 7th EU Environment Action Programme (Decision No 1386/2013/EU); / (e) the 8th EU Environment Action Programme (Decision (EU) 2022/591); / (f) the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (COM/2011/0571).

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) monitoring, maintaining, improving, rehabilitating and assessing soil health, based on its ecological status;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new): (1a) ‘soil ecological status’ means the ecological quality of a soil evaluated according to the soil’s diversity, biological and functional activity, habitat and the presence of degradation factors, and determined according to the following classification: / (a) ‘high soil ecological status’ refers to soils with high biological and functional activity; / (b) ‘good ecological status’ refers to soils in an overall good ecological status but that show evidence of slight adverse impacts from one or multiple degradation factors; / (c) ‘moderate ecological status’ refers to soils with evidence of slight adverse impacts from degradation factors; / (d) ‘degraded soils’ refers to soils with clear evidence of adverse impacts from one degradation factor; and / (e) ‘critically degraded soils’ refers to soils with clear evidence of adverse impacts from more than one degradation factor;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 b (new): (1b) ‘soil ecological functions’ means the set of interrelated processes and interactions within the soil ecosystem that sustain life, support and are the result of soil biodiversity and maintain the overall health and productivity of terrestrial environments, such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, soil structure formation, water filtration and purification, carbon sequestration, and the provision of habitats and resources for a diverse range of organisms;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 3: (3) ‘ecosystem services’ means direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to the wellbeing of society as a whole, and economic, social, cultural, environmental and other benefits that people derive from those ecosystems;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new): (3a) ‘soil biodiversity’ means the variation in soil life, from genes to communities, and the ecological complexes of which they are part, that is complexes ranging from soil micro-habitats to landscapes;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 4: (4) ‘soil health’ means the physical, chemical, functional and biological condition of the soil determining its capacity to function as a vital living system and to provide ecosystem services, taking land use into account;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 5: (5) ‘sustainable soil management’ means soil and land management practices that maintain or enhance soil productivity, soil biodiversity and the ecosystem services provided by the soil without impairing the functions enabling those services, or being detrimental to other properties of the environment;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 8: (8) ‘soil district’ means the part of the territory of a Member State or several Member States, as delimited by that Member State or those Member States in accordance with this Directive;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 10: (10) ‘contaminated site’ means a delineated area of one or several plots with confirmed presence of soil contamination caused by the presence of a substance or material in the soil in a concentration that may be harmful to health or the environment;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 17 a (new): (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;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 17 b (new): (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;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 19: (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 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.

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 19 a (new): (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;

AddedArticle 3 – paragraph 1 – point 20: (20) ‘soil contamination’ means the presence of a substance or material in the soil in a concentration that may lead, directly or indirectly, to harmful effects on human or animal health or the environment;