Precautionary soil protection means detecting and counteracting harmful impacts on soil early on, i.e., well before soil’s functions become endangered. Once soil has lost its functional capacity it is very difficult to restore. This has implications for all other areas of the environment, including humans.
Regulations in soil protection law exist at both national and European level. The numerous EU provisions must be implemented into national law. Relevant soil protection provisions could in particular be found in EU chemical law, waste law and in legislation on facilities and industrial installations. International law also contains important provisions on soil protection.
The Soil Investigation Advisory Board (FBU) is the expert committee according to section 25 of the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance (BBodSchV). The FBU creates the formal prerequisites for being able to apply newer measurement methods and procedures despite the legally required normative references to standards in the BBodSchV.
Soil protection and contaminated-site remediation fall to the federal government under the BBodSchG law and BBodSchV regulation, and are enforced by the various regional states. However, the federal government is also a property owner, in which capacity it incurs the consequent rights and duties.
