What changed between the draft committee report of 24 Oct 2023 and the draft committee report of 14 Oct 2025

Added:SHORT JUSTIFICATION

Removed:Recital 11: (11) Funding is vital to enable a transition to healthy soils. The Multiannual Financial Framework presents several funding opportunities available for the protection, sustainable management and regeneration of soils. A ‘Soil Deal for Europe’ is one of the five EU missions of the Horizon Europe programme and is specifically dedicated to promoting soil health. The Soil Mission is a key instrument for the implementation of this Directive. It aims to lead the transition to healthy soils through funding an ambitious research and innovation programme, establishing a network of 100 living labs and lighthouses in rural and urban areas, advancing the development of a harmonized soil monitoring framework and increasing the awareness of the importance of soil. Other Union programmes that present objectives contributing to healthy soils are the Common Agricultural Policy, the Cohesion Policy funds, the Programme for Environment and Climate Action, the Horizon Europe work programme, the Technical Support Instrument, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and InvestEU. As the goal to have all soils within the Union in healthy status is of public interest, there is a need to increase the mobilisation of resources to support the uptake of regenerative practices, including through provision of support from the European Investment Bank via de-risking mechanisms. The Commission should assess the overall financial needs and gaps and if needed create dedicated financial lines under the Multiannual…

Added:The Council position at first reading reflects the agreement reached between Parliament and the Council in interinstitutional negotiations at early second-reading stage.

Removed:Recital 12: (12) The Soil Strategy for 2030 announced that the Commission would table a legislative proposal on soil health to enable the objectives of the Soil Strategy and to achieve good soil health across the EU by 2050. In its resolution of 28 April 2021 on soil protection42 , the European Parliament emphasised the importance of protecting soil and promoting healthy soils in the Union, bearing in mind that the degradation continues, despite the limited and uneven action being taken in some Member States. The European Parliament called on the Commission to design a Union wide common legal framework, with full respect for the subsidiarity principle, for the protection and sustainable use of soil, addressing all major soil threats. Importantly, the Parliament underlined the risks stemming from the absence of a level playing field between Member States and their different protection regimes for soil to the functioning of the internal market and the strong potential of the legal framework to stimulate fair competition in the private sector, develop innovative solutions and know-how and strengthen the export of technologies outside the Union.

Removed:Recital 18: (18) It is vital to set appropriate measures for Union-wide harmonised monitoring and assessment of soil health, managing soils sustainably and tackling contaminated sites to achieve healthy soils by 2050, to maintain them in healthy condition and meet the Union’s objectives on climate and biodiversity, to prevent and respond to droughts and natural disasters, to protect human health and to ensure food security and safety.

Removed:Recital 19: (19) Soils host more than 25% of all biodiversity and are the second largest carbon pool of the planet. Due to their ability to capture and store carbon, healthy soils contribute to the achievement of the Union’s objectives on climate change. Soil biodiversity encompasses microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes, as well as larger organisms such as earthworms, insects, and plant roots, which collectively contribute to the ecological and functional diversity of soil ecosystems. Healthy soils provide a favourable habitat for organisms to thrive and are crucial for enhancing biodiversity and the stability of ecosystems. Biodiversity below and above ground are intimately connected and interact through mutualistic relationships (e.g. mycorrhizal fungi that connect plant roots).

Removed:Recital 23: (23) The long-term objective of the Directive is to achieve a target of healthy soils across the Union by 2050. As an intermediate step, in light of the limited knowledge about the condition of soils and about the effectiveness and costs of the measures to regenerate their health, the directive takes a staged approach. In the first stage the focus will be on setting up the soil monitoring framework and assessing the situation of soils throughout the EU. It also includes requirements to lay down measures to manage soils sustainably and regenerate soils, where appropriate, to achieve healthy soils by 2050. This proportionate approach will allow sustainable soil management and regeneration of soils that are not healthy to be well prepared, incentivised and set in motion. In a second stage, as soon as the results of the first assessment of soils and trends analysis are available, the Commission will take stock of the progress towards the 2050 objective and the experience thereof, and will propose a review of the directive, including the setting of intermediate targets for 2040 if necessary, to accelerate progress towards 2050.

Removed:Recital 24: (24) Addressing the pressures on soils and identifying the appropriate measures to maintain or regenerate soil health requires that the variety of soil types, the specific local and climatic conditions and the land use or the land cover is taken into account. It is therefore appropriate that Member States establish soil districts, which are capable of adequately reflecting pedoclimatic conditions and soil variety on their whole territory. Soil districts should constitute the basic governance units to manage soils and to take measures to comply with the requirements laid down in this Directive, in particular with regard to the monitoring and assessment of soil health. There should be a minimum number of soil districts in each Member State taking into account the size of the Member State. This minimum number of soil districts for each Member State shall correspond to the number of NUTS 1 territorial units established in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council49. Soil districts in which soil is classified as critically degraded, degraded or in moderate ecological status are best placed to set up programmes of measures, including via local soil district plans, taking into account local conditions and the views of local stakeholders, to ensure that the respective soils improve their classification. As it takes more time to restore critically degraded soils, a sufficient timeline of up to 10 years should be given to ensure that their ecological cl…

Removed:Deletion of reference to the EC proposal, as the reference to the additional Regulation that is still under negotiations does not seem to provide added value to this Directive.

Removed:Recital 25: (25) In order to ensure an appropriate governance on soils, Member States should be required to appoint a competent authority for each soil district. Member States should be allowed to appoint any additional competent authority at appropriate level including at national or regional level. In the event that Member States change the allocation of competences among competent authorities, they should communicate those changes to the Commission to keep the information up to date.

Removed:Recital 27: (27) In order to describe soil degradation it is necessary to establish soil descriptors that can be measured or estimated. Even if there is significant variability between soil types, climatic conditions and land uses, the current scientific knowledge allows to set criteria at Union level for some of those soil descriptors. However, Member States should be able to adapt the criteria for some of these soil descriptors based on specific national or local conditions and define the criteria for other soil descriptors for which common criteria at EU level cannot be established at this stage. The overall assessment of soil should be based on its ecological status, which should be categorised according to five classes from "high soil ecological status”, “good ecological status”, “moderate”, “degraded soils” to “critically degraded soils”, taking into consideration, inter alia, the presence of degradation factors and soil functions.

Removed:Recital 28: (28) In order to create incentives, Member States should set up mechanisms to recognize the efforts of landowners and land managers to maintain the soil in healthy condition, including in the form of soil health certification complementary to the Union regulatory framework for carbon removals. The Commission should facilitate soil health certification by inter alia setting a harmonised format and minimum quality standards for such soil health certification, common principles to ensure there is a level playing field as well as exchanging information and promoting best practices, raising awareness and assessing the use and feasibility of developing recognition of certification schemes at Union level. Synergies between different certification schemes should be exploited as much as possible to reduce administrative burden for those applying for relevant certifications. / (deleted)

Removed:The intention of this addition in the recital is unclear and provides little value for this Directive. The certification foreseen for healthy soils should not substitute obligations under the Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Furthermore, for the certification system for healthy soils to have real added value and not to lead to market segmentation, there is a need for setting at least harmonised governance and minimum quality criteria and rules for the use of soil health certification at EU level.

Removed:Recital 31 a (new): (31a) Soil archives preserve a snapshot of soils from a specific time and location, allowing Member States to use one sample for various purposes and to streamline field sampling activities, thus reducing the long-term costs of in-situ monitoring. In addition, soil archives enable researchers to re-evaluate soils of the past in the context of the present for an improved understanding of long-term soil change, or for other research purposes, including medical research. It is therefore imperative that the Commission, including services such as the JRC, together with the Member States and the European Soil Observatory, ensures that the samples, DNA extract and raw data taken for the compliance with Union and national environmental law are preserved in physical archives and its samples and raw data remain open for further research and innovation.

Removed:Recital 32: (32) The Commission should assist and support Member States’ monitoring of soil health by continuing to carry out and enhancing regular in-situ soil sampling and related soil measurements (LUCAS soil) as part of the Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey (LUCAS) Programme. For that purpose, the LUCAS Programme should be enhanced and upgraded to fully align it with the specific quality requirements and all the descriptors to be met for the purpose of this Directive. In order to alleviate the burden, Member States should take into account the soil health data surveyed under the enhanced LUCAS soil. LUCAS soil will sample and analysis at least 20 % of the size of national samples, thereby contributing to the monitoring carried out by Member States. The Member States thus supported should take the necessary legal arrangements to ensure that the Commission can carry out such in-situ soil sampling, including on privately owned fields, and in compliance with applicable national or Union legislation.

Removed:Recital 33: (33) The Commission is developing remote sensing services in the context of Copernicus as a user-driven programme, hereby also supporting Member States. In order to increase the timeliness and effectiveness of soil health monitoring, and where relevant, Member States should use remote sensing data including outputs from the Copernicus services for monitoring relevant soil descriptors and for assessing soil health. The Commission and the European Environment Agency should support exploring and developing soil remote sensing products, to assist the Member States in monitoring the relevant soil descriptors. The Commission and Member States should further support the use of reliable and available digital technologies, such as electronic databases, geographic information systems, automated image identification or e-DNA, to improve knowledge sharing and transparency on soil health and to reduce the costs of soil measurements and monitoring.

Removed:The Commission and Member States should make the most of the existing technologies and methods that can improve soil monitoring, without doing any harm to either environmental or climate objectives, and therefore help implement this Directive.

Removed:Recital 34: (34) Building on and upgrading the existing EU soil observatory, the Commission should establish a digital soil health data portal that should be compatible with the EU Data Strategy and the EU data spaces and which should be a hub providing access to soil data coming from various sources. Those data should be made publicly available in a format that can be used by the research community and the public. That portal should primarily include all the data collected by the Member States and the Commission as required by this Directive and serve as a platform for the establishment of a Sustainable Soil Management Toolbox that will provide up-to-date context-specific information about sustainable soil management practices based on different soil type, land use and climatic conditions. It should also be possible to integrate in the portal, on a voluntary basis, other relevant soil data collected by Member States or any other party (and in particular data resulting from projects under Horizon Europe and the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’), provided that those data meet certain requirements as regards format and specifications. Those requirements should be specified by the Commission by way of implementing acts.

Removed:To implement Art.10, an up-to-date toolbox with information about the effects of the practices on various ecosystem services and soil threats, their context specific applicability (based on soil type, land use and climatic conditions) is proposed. The database should be supplemented with new information from research, such as from the Soil Mission EU and the EJP on Agricultural Soil Management projects. The data should be publicly available, so that farmers, land managers, private and public entities, and others can use those to improve soil health.

Removed:Recital 35: (35) It is also necessary to improve the harmonization of soil monitoring systems used in the Member States, exploit the synergies between Union and national monitoring systems and make full use of already existing harmonised monitoring tools such as LUCAS in order to have more comparable data across the Union. Moreover, harmonisation of monitoring systems in Member States would help to scale up investments in advanced soil monitoring techniques and technologies.

Removed:Recital 36: (36) In order to make the widest possible use of soil health data generated by the monitoring carried out under this Directive, Member States should be required to facilitate the access to such data for relevant stakeholders such as farmers, foresters, land owners, advisors working within the farm advisory system and local authorities.

Removed:Recital 37: (37) To maintain or enhance soil health, soils need to be managed sustainably. Sustainable soil management will enable the long-term provision of soil services, including improved air and water quality, climate change mitigation and adaptation, pollution prevention and control and food security. It is therefore appropriate to lay down sustainable soil management principles to guide soil management practices.

Removed:Recital 39: (39) Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council52 , Member States have to describe in their CAP Strategic Plans how the environmental and climate architecture of those Plans is meant to contribute to the achievement of, and be consistent with, the long-term national targets set out in, or deriving from, the legislative acts listed in Annex XIII to that Regulation. This Directive should be added to that list of legislative acts when, in accordance with Article 159 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the Commission reviews it by 31 December 2025.

Removed:Recital 42: (42) To ensure synergies between the different measures adopted under other Union legislation that may have an impact on soil health, and the measures that are to be put in place to sustainably manage and regenerate soils in the Union, Member States should ensure that the sustainable soil management and regeneration practices are coherent with the national restoration plans adopted in accordance with Regulation (UE) …/… of the European Parliament and of the Council53 +, the national biodiversity strategies and action plans established in accordance with Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common Agricultural Policy in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, the codes of good agricultural practices and the action programmes for designated vulnerable zones adopted in accordance with Council Directive 91/676/EEC54 , the conservation measures and prioritized action framework established for Natura 2000 sites in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC55 , the measures for achieving good ecological and chemical status of water bodies included in river basin management plans prepared in accordance with Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council56 , the flood risk management measures established in accordance with Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council57 , the drought management plans promoted in the Union Strategy on Adaptation to C…

Removed:Reflects addition to Annex IV on Programmes, plans, targets and measures referred to in Article 10.

Removed:Recital 46: (46) Flexibility for the management of potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites is needed to take account of costs, benefits and local specificities. Member States should therefore at least adopt a risk-based approach for managing potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites, taking into account the difference between these two categories, and which allows to allocate resources taking account of the specific environmental, economic and social context. Decisions should be taken, in cooperation with local health practitioners, health authorities and the scientific community, based on the nature and extent of potential risks for human health and the environment resulting from exposure to soil contaminants (e.g. exposure of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, persons with disabilities, elderly people and children), including exposure, and cumulative effects on human health, soil ecosystems and associated ecosystem services. The cost-benefit analysis of undertaking remediation should be positive. The optimum remediation solution should be sustainable and selected through a balanced decision-making process that takes account of the environmental, economic and social impacts. The management of potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites should respect the polluter-pays, precautionary and proportionality principles. Member States should lay down the specific methodology for determining the site-specific risks of contaminated sites. Member St…

Removed:Recital 47: deleted / (deleted)

Removed:The reference has no value in the legislation as there is no link to the legislation or paragraph related to it in the operational part of the Directive.

Removed:Recital 48 a (new): (48a) In order to ensure the protection of soils from pollution by emerging chemicals that have the potential to cause significant risks to human health and to contaminate surrounding air, surface waters, groundwater, and subsequently oceans, policy mechanisms to detect and assess such substances of emerging concern should be established. In that regard, an approach that allows monitoring and analysis of those substances or groups of substances via watch lists, as is already the case for surface water and groundwater, should be developed for soil contamination. The substances or groups of substances to be placed on the watch list should be selected from amongst those substances for which the information available indicates that they could pose a significant risk at Union level to, or via, the soil environment, and for which the monitoring data are insufficient. The number of such substances or groups of substances to be monitored and analysed under the watch lists should not be limited.

Removed:Recital 48 b (new): (48b) Substances such as persistent organic pollutants, materials and particles, including microplastics or nanoplastics, pose a clear risk to soil health, but also to basic activities such as the development of agriculture. Their presence in soils can have implications for soil fertility, thereby compromising the health and healthy development of crops. It is therefore essential that this Directive provides for a framework for both substances and materials to be included in the monitoring of soil contaminants, and for the establishment of environmental quality standards and set of measures to prevent and remediate soil contamination from known and emerging threats.

Removed:Recital 53: (53) The Commission should carry out an evidence-based evaluation and, where relevant, a revision of this Directive, 6 years after its entry into force on the basis of the results of the soil health assessment. The evaluation should assess in particular the need to set more specific requirements and intermediate targets for 2040 to make sure unhealthy soils are regenerated and the objective to achieve healthy soils by 2050 is met. The evaluation should also assess the need to adapt the definition of healthy soils to scientific and technical progress by adding provisions on certain descriptors or criteria based on new scientific evidence relating to the protection of soils or on the grounds of a problem specific to a Member State arising from new environmental or climatic circumstances. Pursuant to paragraph 22 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, that evaluation should be based on the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and EU value added and should provide the basis for impact assessments of possible further measures.

Removed:Intermediate targets should be considered to facilitate reaching the overall objective of healthy soils by 2050.

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1: 1. The objective of the Directive is to put in place a solid and coherent soil monitoring framework for all soils across the EU and to continuously improve soil health in the Union to achieve healthy soils by 2050 and maintain soils in healthy condition, so that they can supply multiple ecosystem services at a scale sufficient to meet environmental, societal and economic needs, prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, increase the resilience against natural disasters and for food security and that soil contamination is reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and the environment. / This Directive therefore establishes a framework within which Member States are required to put in place measures to ensure that by 2050 all soils are in a healthy condition.

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. This Directive contributes to fulfilling international and Union commitments, including: / (a) to combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world by 2030; / (b) to achieve the ‘no net land take by 2050’ target and reduce erosion, increase soil organic carbon, and progress with remedial work; / (c) to manage land sustainably in the Union, protect soils adequately, and make sure that the remediation of contaminated sites is well underway;

Removed:Commitments stemming from the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular SDG 15, the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030, Decision No 1386/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’.

Removed:Article 1 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) monitoring and assessment of soil health, based on its ecological status;

Removed:Specification following the newly introduced soil ecological classes.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 a (new): (1a) ‘soil ecological status’ means the ecological quality of a soil evaluated according to the soil’s diversity, biological and functional activity, habitat and the presence of degradation factors and determined according to the following classification:. / (a) ‘high soil ecological status’ for soils with high biological and functional activity and structure; / (b) ‘good soil ecological status’ for soils in an overall good ecological status but that show evidence of slight adverse impacts from one or multiple degradation factor; / (c) ‘moderate soil ecological status’ for soils with evidence of slight adverse impacts from one or multiple degradation factors; / (d) ‘degraded soils’ for soils with clear evidence of adverse impacts from one degradation factor; and / (e) ‘critically degraded soils’ for soils with clear evidence of adverse impacts from more than one degradation factor.

Removed:The definition of "ecological status", ranging from "critically degraded soils" to "high soil ecological status" is linked to the proposed modification of the binary approach proposed by the Commission in Article 9 (Assessment of the soil health) to a more gradual and nuanced assessment of the state of the soil, as applied also in the Water Framework Directive.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 1 b (new): (1b) ‘soil ecological functions’ means the set of interrelated processes and interactions within the soil ecosystem that sustain life, support and are the result of soil biodiversity and maintain the overall health and productivity of terrestrial environments, such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, soil structure formation, water filtration and purification, carbon sequestration, and the provision of habitats and resources for a diverse range of organisms.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 3: (3) ‘ecosystem services’ means direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to the wellbeing of society as a whole, and economic, social, cultural and other benefits that people derive from those ecosystems;

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new): (3a) ‘soil biodiversity’ means the variation in soil life, from genes to communities, and the ecological complexes of which they are part, that is from soil micro-habitats to landscapes.

Removed:The Directive lays down measures on monitoring soil biodiversity. Therefore, a definition of "soil biodiversity" according to the FAO and following the definition of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is inserted.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 4: (4) ‘soil health’ means the physical, chemical, functional and biological condition of the soil determining its capacity to function as a vital living system and to provide ecosystem services;

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 5: (5) ‘sustainable soil management’ means soil and land management practices that maintain or enhance soil biodiversity and the ecosystem services provided by the soil without impairing the functions enabling those services, or being detrimental to other properties of the environment;

Removed:A highly performant ecosystem service system does not necessarily imply an optimal biodiversity pool, e.g. positive effect of Acacia dealbata sp. on the retention of dunes with negative consequences for local biodiversity and fire risk (a complete degradation of biodiversity and a dramatic increase of fire risk). The addition of soil biodiversity in the definition is thus necessary to meet the overall goal of this Directive: achieve healthy soils.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 19: (19) ‘public concerned’ means the public affected or likely to be affected by soil degradation, or having an interest in the decision-making procedures related to the implementation of the obligations under this Directive, including citizens, land owners, land users, as well as non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment and meeting any requirements under national law.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 19 a (new): (19a) ‘public’ means one or more natural or legal persons and, in accordance with national law or practice, associations, organisations or groups comprising such persons;

Removed:Both definitions for ‘public’ and ‘public concerned' should be included, as public participation provisions refer to ‘public concerned’ and access to justice provisions refer to the ‘public’. The definition of ‘public’ is according to Directive 2003/35/EC providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending with regard to public participation and access to justice Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EC.

Removed:Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point 20: (20) ‘soil contamination’ means the presence of a substance or material in the soil in a concentration that may lead to harmful effects on human health or the environment;

Removed:The definition reflects that not all soil contaminants are substances or chemicals (e.g plastics). The new definition therefore better reflects the nature of soil contamination and is more forward looking, allowing for the incorporation of other contaminants by the Member States.

Removed:Article 4 – paragraph 2 – introductory part: 2. When establishing the geographic extent of soil districts, Member States may take into account existing administrative units and shall prioritise homogeneity within each soil district regarding the following parameters:

Removed:Article 4 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. Member States shall ensure that soil districts of neighbouring Member States where there are similar values for the parameters referred to paragraph 2, points (a) to (d), cooperate, where appropriate, with each other to exchange best practices and to ensure that a coherent approach is taken across borders.

Removed:Article 4 – paragraph 2 b (new): 2b. The Commission shall, by setting up a dedicated working group, actively support Member States in complying with their obligation to ensure cross-border cooperation of their soil districts and shall facilitate harmonisation of monitoring systems, transfer functions, monitoring design and classification of ecological status at the level of the soil descriptors listed in Annex I.

Removed:The Commission should create synergies and actively facilitate cooperation and smooth implementation of the Directive and its monitoring framework in soil districts across neighboring countries, specifically because of the special situation of these districts.

Removed:Article 5 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall by ... [OP: please insert the date = 12 months from the date of entry into force of this Directive] designate the competent authorities responsible at an appropriate level for carrying out the duties laid down in this Directive.

Removed:The Directive is to be transposed by 24 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive. Nevertheless, to ensure that the soil districts, together with their respective competent authorities, are going to be established in an inclusive process, there is a need to designate a competent authority responsible for the internal process and coordination, prior to their establishment.

Removed:Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the list of competent authorities referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article in accordance with Article 18(3)(b). The Commission shall maintain an updated list of the competent authorities on its website.

Removed:Article 6 – paragraph 4: 4. The Commission shall, in cooperation with Member States, carry out regular soil measurements on soil samples taken in-situ at least every three years, based on the relevant descriptors and methodologies referred to in Articles 7 and 8, to support Member States’ monitoring of soil health. Member States shall provide the necessary authorisation and support to the Commission in order to ensure that the Commission can carry out such in-situ soil sampling.

Removed:Engagement between the Commission (JRC and LUCAS soil) and the Member States to the take samples in different countries would promote training and capacity building when needed in each country. Member States will by involving relevant authorities and research institutions take full advantage of existing programs and local knowledge and improve the link between national and EU monitoring projects.