The revision of Annex I of Royal Decree 9/2005 indicates the specific circumstances under which a farm is excluded from the list.
The new regulation exempts industrial companies that until now have been identified as potentially polluting from being considered as such, and therefore, they will not have to carry out environmental monitoring studies of their activity. If until now an activity was considered a risk simply because it belonged to a specific sector, this amendment establishes the specific conditions under which there may actually be a possible danger to the environment. This is reflected in the update of Annex I of Royal Decree 9/2005, of January 14, 2005, which establishes the list of potentially soil-polluting activities and the criteria for the declaration of contaminated soils. The column added to the annex, Order PRA/1080/2017, specifies the circumstances under which an operation is excluded from the list. The BOE published this regulation on November 9.
It is worth mentioning the revision made in the case of machinery and equipment repair facilities, which are assigned to item 33, and which are of great importance due to their number. In the revised annex, only activities that have buried deposits of hazardous substances, or consume inks, paints or non-aqueous based varnishes in excess of one ton per year are considered potentially polluting. Also when the potentially polluting soil sources are exposed to the elements.
Activities related to transportation and storage, items 49 and 52, are classified as potentially polluting if the existence of workshops or maintenance areas, fuel storage and supply facilities or storage of hazardous substances, among others, is verified.
The update of the annex has been carried out taking into account the experience accumulated after a decade of application of the regulations. This has made it possible to speed up the administrative processing of information obligations regarding contaminated land, without reducing the protection of human health and the environment.
The process of revising these activities was based on a specific technical study in which the types of raw materials used and the waste generated in each activity were systematically analyzed. It should be noted that the entire updating process has been carried out with the collaboration of the autonomous communities.
Finally, the order establishes a transitional provision granting a period of two years to the owners of the new activities included in the annex, in order to prepare the preliminary report on the exploited land and submit it to the competent body of the autonomous community.