On 16 February, the European Commission has launched a Call for evidence on soil health in the EU. You can find it here on the Have your say portal.
As you know, the new EU Soil Strategy for 2030 was adopted on 17 November 2021 and sets the vision to have all soils in healthy condition by 2050, and to make protection, sustainable use and restoration of soils the norm. It proposes a combination of voluntary, and legislative actions and calls for ensuring the same level of protection to soil that exists for water, the marine environment and air in the EU.
Therefore, the Commission has started the process to prepare the Soil Health Law (SHL) proposal. The aim of the Soil Health Law proposal is:
- to specify the conditions for a healthy soil,
- to determine options for monitoring soil, and
- to lay out rules conducive to sustainable soil use and restoration.
Given the scale of this issue, and the fact that the SHL will directly or indirectly have implications for the overall society, the Commission is looking for input from a wide range of citizens and stakeholders, expert and non‑experts, academia and civil society at large.
The consultation builds upon the consultations that already took place to prepare the EU Soil Strategy 2030, and will collect additional evidence, study and elaborate further on existing analysis and findings. The Commission seeks opinions and insights about the problem, the feasibility and possible impacts (economic, social and environmental) of legal provisions and alternative actions, and will gather examples of best practices as a input to the Impact Assessment.
To facilitate that, the Call for evidence is now available in all official EU languages. You are welcome to contribute by submitting your feedback by 16 March 2022.
