The law that will create the State Inventory of Contaminated Soil enters into force

The regulations also establish responsibilities and obligations for whoever holds the ownership of the activities and the ownership of the properties.

The new law on waste and contaminated soils is already in force, which means the repeal of the previous regulation (Law 22/2011, of July 28) and the adaptation to the European regulation.

The main novelty is the creation of the regional and state inventories of contaminated soils and voluntary decontaminations, but it also includes provisions on potentially soil-polluting activities, the responsibilities and obligations related to this matter and the procedure for declaring contaminated soil.

In addition, the Government will approve, update and publish a list of potentially soil-polluting activities.

  • Contaminated soil inventories and voluntary decontamination inventories

The text establishes that the autonomous communities will draw up an inventory of the soils declared contaminated and of voluntary decontaminations, which they will send annually to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge for the state inventory. Once the soil has been declared no longer contaminated, this declaration will be included.

The Ministry will provide the Official Association of Land Registrars with this information so that it can be included both in the Registrars Geoportal and in the registry publicity and in the notes of qualification and dispatch of documents. The registrar must also communicate to the corresponding autonomous community the manifestation of the properties where a potentially polluting activity has been carried out, the issuance of the certification of charges accrediting the start of the file and the marginal notes relating to the declaration of contaminated soils or their cancellation.

This inventory will be made available in the electronic Waste Information System (eSIR).

  • Responsibilities and obligations regarding contaminated soils

The persons or entities in charge of the activities must periodically send to the corresponding autonomous community the reports containing the information that can be used as a basis for the declaration of contaminated soils. This declaration must include the information of situation, cadastral and registry, the use of the ground, all that related to the contamination and decontamination of the ground and the administrative data.

When a transfer is carried out, individuals or legal entities owning land are obliged to declare whether or not any activity potentially polluting the soil has been carried out, which will be recorded as a marginal note in the Land Registry .

On the other hand, the law states that the party responsible for decontamination and remediation may not require higher levels than those associated with the existing land use at the time the contamination occurred. In the event of a change in land use that requires higher levels of quality, it will be the promoter of the new use who must adopt the additional measures.

The regulation also establishes the possibility of carrying out urgent actions without the need for a warning, requirement or prior administrative acts, with the obligation to immediately inform the competent authorities of the occurrence, scope and content of the actions.

  • Voluntary decontaminations

The decontamination of the soil on a voluntary basis may be carried out, without the prior declaration of the contaminated soil, by means of a voluntary reclamation project approved by the competent authority of the autonomous community. The maximum term for the approval of the voluntary remediation project will be ten months from its presentation.

The start of the execution of the reclamation project, once approved, must be carried out within a maximum period of three months. The project promoter will be obliged to notify the competent entity or body to authorize the start of the work.

This information will be recorded in the Inventory of Voluntary Decontaminations.

These points refer to the soil part of this law, but the management and treatment of waste is one of the central topics of the regulation. Litoclean will explain which aspects companies should take into account on this matter in a forthcoming publication.