Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law)

Wording as published by the EP, in English.

1. Amendment 219 · Draft legislative actRejected

   Article 1 – paragraph 1

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   1. The objective of the Directive is to put in place a Removed: solid and coherent Added: coherent and flexible soil monitoring framework for all soils across the EU Removed: and to continuously improve soil health in the Union with the view to achieve healthy soils by 2050 and maintain soils in healthy condition, so that they can supply multiple ecosystem Removed: services Added: services, taking into account technical feasibility and economic proportionality and their intended use, at a scale sufficient to meet environmental, societal and economic needs, prevent …

2. Amendment 220 · Draft legislative actRejected

   Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point b

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +42 · Members

   Removed: (b) sustainable soil management; Added: deleted

3. Amendment 227 · Draft legislative actAdopted

   Article 6 – paragraph 4

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   Removed: 4. The Commission shall, subject to agreement from Member States concerned, carry out regular soil measurements on soil samples taken in-situ, based on the relevant descriptors and methodologies referred to in Articles 7 and 8, to support Member States’ monitoring of soil health. Where a Member State provides agreement in accordance with this paragraph, it shall ensure that the Commission can carry out such in-situ soil sampling. Added: deleted

4. Amendment 228 · Draft legislative actAdopted

   Article 7 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   When monitoring and assessing Removed: soil health, Member States shall Added: soil, Member States may apply the soil descriptors Removed: and soil health criteria Added: that best illustrate the soil characteristics of each soil type at national level listed in Annex I.

5. Amendment 229 · Draft legislative actRejected

   Article 7 – paragraph 5

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   Removed: 5. Member States may set additional soil descriptors and land take indicators, including but not limited to the optional descriptors and indicators listed in part C and D of Annex I, for monitoring purposes (‘additional soil descriptors’ and ‘additional land take indicators’). Added: deleted

6. Amendment 230 · Draft legislative actRejected

   Article 19 – paragraph 1

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   1. Member States shall make public the Added: relevant data generated by the monitoring carried out under Article 8 and the … carried out under Article 9 of this Directive accessible to the public, Added: with the express permission of the landowner and land manager, in an aggregated and anonymised form and in full compliance with Union law on the protection of personal data and in accordance with the provisions under Article 11 of Directive 2007/2/EC of …

7. Amendment 231 · Draft legislative actAdopted

   Article 19 – paragraph 2

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   2. The Commission shall ensure that Added: relevant soil health data made accessible through the digital soil health data portal referred to in Article 6 is available to the public Added: only with the express permission of the landowner and land manager, in an aggregated and anonymised form, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of …

8. Amendment 232 · Draft legislative actAdopted

   Article 19 – paragraph 3

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   3. Member States shall ensure that the Added: relevant information referred to in Article 18 of this Directive is available and accessible to the public Added: only with the express permission of the landowner and land manager, in an aggregated and anonymised form, in accordance with Directive 2003/4/EC, Directive 2007/2/EC and Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of …

9. Amendment 233 · Draft legislative actRejected

   Article 22

   Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

   Removed: Article 22 Access to justice Member States shall ensure that members of the public, in accordance with national law, that have a sufficient interest or that maintain the impairment of a right, have access to a review procedure before a court of law, or an independent and impartial body established by law, to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of the assessment of soil health, the measures taken pursuant to this Directive and any failures to act of the competent authorities. Member States shall determine what constitutes a sufficient interest and impairment of a right, consistently with the objective of providing the public with wide access to justice. For the purposes of paragraph 1, any non-governmental organisation promoting environmental protection and meeting any requirements under national law shall be deemed to have rights capable of being impaired and their interest shall be deemed sufficient. Review procedures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be fair, equitable, timely and free of charge or not prohibitively expensive, and shall provide adequate and effective remedies, including injunctive relief where necessary. Member States shall ensure that practical information is made available to the public on access to the administrative and judicial review procedures referred to in this Article. Added: deleted

10. Amendment 234 · Draft legislative actAdopted

    Article 23

    Tabled by Herbert Dorfmann, Norbert Lins, Daniel Buda +43 · Members

    Removed: Article 23 Penalties 1. Without prejudice to the obligations of Member States under Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to violations by natural and legal persons, of the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and shall ensure that those rules are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 2. The penalties referred to in paragraph 1 shall include fines proportionate to the turnover of the legal person or to the income of the natural person having committed the violation. The level of the fines shall be calculated in such a way as to make sure that they effectively deprive the person responsible for the violation of the economic benefits derived from that violation. In the case of a violation committed by a legal person, such fines shall be proportionate to the legal person’s annual turnover in the Member State concerned, taking account, inter alia, the specificities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 3. Member States shall ensure that the penalties established pursuant to this Article give due regard to the following, as applicable: (a) the nature, gravity, and extent of the violation; (b) the intentional or negligent character of the violation; (c) the population or the environment affected by the violation, bearing in mind the impact of the infringement on the objective of achieving a high level of protection of human health and the environment. 4. Member States shall without undue delay notify the Commission of the rules and measures referred to in paragraph 1 and of any subsequent amendments affecting them. Added: deleted

11. Amendment 236 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Recital 22 a (new)

    Tabled by Aurélia Beigneux, André Rougé · ID

    Added: (22 a) A major concern is chlordecone, a pesticide that was widely used in the banana plantations of the French Antilles during the 1990s, and has led to long-term contamination of soil, groundwater and ecosystems. The Member States concerned by such a substance should, in collaboration with the local authorities and the communities affected, draw up and implement strategies for the decontamination and rehabilitation of chlordecone-contaminated soil in order to improve living, fishing and farming conditions in the territories affected.

12. Amendment 237 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Recital 54 a (new)

    Tabled by Aurélia Beigneux, André Rougé, Silvia Sardone · ID

    Added: (54 a) In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, soil management is essentially the competence of the Member States. Each Member State has the full authority to apply appropriate policies to protect its own soils according to its specific national and local, geographical and anthropic conditions.

13. Amendment 238 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Article 1 a (new)

    Tabled by Manuela Ripa · Verts/ALE

    Added: Article1a Targets 1. In order to reach the healthy soils objective set out in Article 1, this Directive sets a binding target of 100% healthy soils across the Union by 2050. 2. This Directive also sets the following intermediate binding soil health targets: (a) a target of achieving 55 % healthy soils across the Union by 2035; (b) a target of achieving 70 % healthy soils across the Union by 2040; 3. The Union and its Member States shall take the necessary measures at Union, national and regional level, respectively, to enable the collective achievement of the healthy soils target set out in paragraph 1 and the soil health intermediate targets set out in paragraph 2 of this Article.

14. Amendment 241 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Article 11 – paragraph 1 – introductory part

    Tabled by Manuela Ripa · Verts/ALE

    Added: Member States shall reduce land take in order to achieve the target of zero net land take at EU-level by 2050. In order to reach that target, Member States shall ensure that the following principles are respected in case …

15. Amendment 242 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Article 11 – paragraph 1 – point a – point iii a (new)

    Tabled by Manuela Ripa · Verts/ALE

    Added: (iii a) establishing a hierarchy whereby the use of abandoned, brownfield and former industrial sites is prioritised over unsealed and agricultural land; and de-sealing abandoned, brownfield and former industrial sites (once decontaminated) if re-use is deemed impossible.

16. Amendment 243 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Article 11 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)

    Tabled by Manuela Ripa · Verts/ALE

    Added: (b a) no land take, especially no industrial zoning, shall take place on water protection areas such as those protected pursuant to Article 6(2) of Directive 2000/60/EC (the Water Framework Directive).

17. Amendment 244 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Article 13 – paragraph 1 a (new)

    Tabled by Manuela Ripa · Verts/ALE

    Added: 1 a. Member States shall set up an archiving policy at each governance level paying special attention to the maintenance of a performant archive system that provides efficient access to research and innovation stakeholders, land users and owners to use soil quality information from those historical data.

18. Amendment 246 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Recital 22

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    … and secure the productivity and profitability of Union agriculture. Sustainable soil management Removed: practices Added: practices, as laid down in the Common Agricultural Policy, maintain or enhance soil health and contribute to the sustainability and resilience of the Removed: food system. Added: agrifood systems.

19. Amendment 248 · Draft legislative actAdopted

    Article 10 – paragraph 1

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: 1. From (OP: please insert the date = 4 years after date of entry into force of the Directive), Member States shall take at least the following measures, taking into account the type, use and condition of soil: (a) defining sustainable soil management practices respecting the sustainable soil management principles listed in Annex III to be gradually implemented on all managed soils and, on the basis of the outcome of the soil assessments carried out in accordance with Article 9, regeneration practices to be gradually implemented on the unhealthy soils in the Member States; (b) defining soil management practices and other practices affecting negatively the soil health to be avoided by soil managers. When defining the practices and measures referred to in this paragraph, Member States shall take into account the programmes, plans, targets and measures listed in Annex IV as well as the latest existing scientific knowledge including results coming out of the Horizon Europe Mission a Soil Deal for Europe. Member States shall identify synergies with the programmes, plans and measures set out in Annex IV. The soil health monitoring data, the results of the soil health assessments, the analysis referred to in Article 9 and the sustainable soil management measures shall inform the development of the programmes, plans and measures set out in Annex IV. Member States shall ensure that the process of elaboration of the practices referred to in the first subparagraph is open, inclusive and effective and that the public concerned, in particular landowners and managers, are involved and are given early and effective opportunities to participate in their elaboration. Added: deleted

20. Amendment 260 · Draft legislative actAdopted

    Annex III

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES The following principles shall apply: (a) avoid leaving soil bare by establishing and maintaining vegetative soil cover, especially during environmentally sensitive periods; (b) minimise physical soil disturbance; (c) avoid inputs or release of substances into soil that may harm human health or the environment, or degrade soil health; (d) ensure that machinery use is adapted to the strength of the soil, and that the number and frequency of operations on soils are limited so that they do not compromise soil health; (e) when fertilization is applied, ensure adaptation to the needs of the plant and trees at the given location and in the given period, and to the condition of soil and prioritize circular solutions that enrich the organic content; (f) in case of irrigation, maximise efficiency of irrigation systems and irrigation management and ensure that when recycled wastewater is used, the water quality meets the requirements set out in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament and of the Council108 and when water from other sources is used, it does not degrade soil health; (g) ensure soil protection by the creation and maintenance of adequate landscape features at the landscape level;109 (h) use site-adapted species in the cultivation of crops, plants or trees where this can prevent soil degradation or contribute to improving soil health, also taking into consideration the adaptation to climate change; (i) ensure optimised water levels in organic soils so that the structure and composition of such soils are not negatively affected;110 (j) in the case of crop cultivation, ensure crop rotation and crop diversity, taking into consideration different crop families, root systems, water and nutrient needs, and integrated pest management; (k) adapt livestock movement and grazing time, taking into consideration animal types and stocking density, so that soil health is not compromised and the soil's capacity to provide forage is not reduced; (l) in case of known disproportionate loss of one or several functions that substantially reduce the soils capacity to provide ecosystem services, apply targeted measures to regenerate those soil functions. 108 Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 2020 on minimum requirements for water reuse (OJ L 177, 5.6.2020, p. 32). 109 This principle does not apply to forest soils 110 This principle does not apply to urban soils Added: deleted

21. Amendment 261 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Annex IV – point 1

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: (1) The national restoration plans prepared in accordance with Regulation …/…111 +. 111 + OP : please insert in the text the number of Regulation on nature restoration contained in document COM(2022) 304 Added: deleted

22. Amendment 262 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Annex IV – point 2

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: (2) The strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common Agricultural Policy in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2115. Added: deleted

23. Amendment 263 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Annex IV – point 3

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: (3) The Code of Good Agricultural Practice and the action programmes for designated vulnerable zones adopted in accordance with Directive 91/676/EEC. Added: deleted

24. Amendment 264 · Draft legislative actRejected

    Annex IV – point 14

    Tabled by Norbert Lins · AGRI

    Removed: (14) The national actions plans adopted in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation …/…112 +. 112 + OP : please insert in the text the number of Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council the sustainable use of plant protection products and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 contained in document COM(2022)305 Added: deleted