The Need for Regulation

Contaminated land regulation has gradually been taking shape across Europe in the past few years, primarily at the national/local level. Although it is unclear whether an EU Directive on contaminated land will ever exist, an inter-governmental initiative is underway to encourage the harmonisation of procedures in member states (known as CARACAS).

The reasons for the appearance of contaminated land on the lawmaker's agenda are likely to have included any or all of the following:

concerns regarding potential widespread environmental/human health impacts of unremediated ground pollution;

political pressure from members of the public, especially via lobby groups;

pressure from commercial interests, such as multi-nationals (and their insurers) who have suffered large-scale losses under US legislation (eg, Superfund) and are unsure of their liabilities here;