Environmental liability and waste: which responsibilities for landowners?

A recent report elaborated by the European Environmental Agency has drawn public attention to the alarming conditions of soils in the European territory. A significant number of lands require urgent remediation measures to halt the loss of biodiversity and health risks as well as to secure soil sustainable use for the future. The European Union has already issued a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in 2006 and then tackled the issue in the Seventh Environment Action Programme of 2014, but the question is far from being resolved. From a juridical point of view, it is necessary to clearly establish who is liable/responsible for the clean-up and decontamination of polluted soils and the chapter discusses the liability/responsibility of the owner of a contaminated soil in regard to its remediation. The boundaries of this liability/responsibility are not well defined since soil is not subject to a comprehensive and coherent set of rules at EU level; the relevant provisions must thus be found in the EU directives in force and in particular in the Directive on Environmental Damage (Directive 2004/35/EC) and the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC).