Skip to content
DRAFT REPORT (COM(2023)0416 – C90234/2023 – 2023/0232(COD))

On the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law)

ENVI-PR-754698

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Martin Hojsík

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This draft report proposes amendments to the proposed Soil Monitoring Law, aiming to establish a framework for monitoring and assessing soil health based on five ecological classes, with binding targets for healthy soils by 2050. It introduces a tiered monitoring system, soil district plans, a Sustainable Soil Management Toolbox, and provisions for soil decontamination, polluter pays, and public participation.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes to amend the Commission proposal to introduce a five-class ecological status assessment, binding 2050 target, tiered monitoring, and stronger polluter-pays and public participation provisions.

Key points

  1. Requires Member States to ensure all soils are healthy by 2050, with intermediate targets for 2040 to be considered.
  2. Introduces a five-class soil ecological status classification (high, good, moderate, degraded, critically degraded) and requires improvement within 10 years for critically degraded and 6 years for degraded or moderate soils.
  3. Allows Member States to choose among three tiers for soil monitoring design, with thresholds for Tier 2 adjustable up to 20% from EU-set values.
  4. Requires the Commission to establish a harmonized format for voluntary soil health certification, with Member States setting up mechanisms after adoption.
  5. Mandates the creation of a Sustainable Soil Management Toolbox, publicly available free of charge, with context-specific practices and research findings.
  6. Requires Member States to aim for zero net land take by 2050 and to prioritize avoiding loss of soil ecosystem services.
  7. Strengthens the polluter-pays principle by requiring the responsible legal person to bear costs of risk reduction measures, regardless of permit validity.
  8. Establishes a right for any person to submit evidence of soil pollution, with authorities required to assess and respond within three months.
  9. Requires the Commission to assess funding gaps and consider a dedicated budget line for soil monitoring, and to support Member States' absorption capacity.
  10. Mandates that soil health data and assessments be made public and accessible free of charge, with limited exceptions.
  11. Requires the Commission to report every three years on implementation and to consider establishing an EU priority list and watch list for soil contaminants.

Who is affected

  • Member States: must implement monitoring, assessment, and improvement measures, and ensure public access to data.
  • Landowners and land managers: may participate in voluntary soil health certification and receive advice.
  • Polluters: responsible for costs of risk reduction measures, even if contamination occurred under a valid permit.
  • Public and non-governmental organizations: granted rights to submit evidence and access justice.

Figures and deadlines

  • 1 000 years to produce 1 centimetre of top soil
  • 20% maximum variation from EU-set thresholds for Tier 2
  • 10 years for critically degraded soils to improve
  • 6 years for degraded or moderate ecological status soils to improve
  • Three months for competent authority to respond to evidence submission
  • Every three years for Commission reporting on implementation

Legal basis: Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union