Legal provisions of COM(2023)416 - Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2023)416 - Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law). |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)416 |
| date | July 5, 2023 |
Chapter I
General provisions
Article 1
Objective and Subject matter
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 with the view 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.
2. This Directive lays down measures on:
(a) monitoring and assessment of soil health;
(b) sustainable soil management;
(c) contaminated sites.
Article 2
Scope
This Directive applies to all soils in the territory of Member States.
Article 3
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) ‘soil’ means the top layer of the Earth’s crust situated between the bedrock and the land surface, which is composed of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms;
(2) ‘ecosystem’ means a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit;
(3) ‘ecosystem services’ means indirect contributions of ecosystems to the economic, social, cultural and other benefits that people derive from those ecosystems;
(4) ‘soil health’ means the physical, chemical and biological condition of the soil determining its capacity to function as a vital living system and to provide ecosystem services;
(5) ‘sustainable soil management’ means soil management practices that maintain or enhance the ecosystem services provided by the soil without impairing the functions enabling those services, or being detrimental to other properties of the environment;
(6) ‘soil management practices’ mean practices that impact the physical, chemical or biological qualities of a soil;
(7) ‘managed soils’ means soils where soil management practices are carried out;
(8) ‘soil district’ means the part of the territory of a Member State, as delimited by that Member State in accordance with this Directive;
(9) ‘soil health assessment’ means the evaluation of the health of the soil based on the measurement or estimation of soil descriptors;
(10) ‘contaminated site’ means a delineated area of one or several plots with confirmed presence of soil contamination caused by point-source anthropogenic activities;
(11) ‘soil descriptor’ means a parameter describing a physical, chemical, or biological characteristic of soil health;
(12) ‘land’ means the surface of the Earth that is not covered by water;
(13) ‘land cover’ means the physical and biological cover of the earth’s surface;
(14) ‘natural land’ means an area where human activity has not substantially modified an area’s primary ecological functions and species composition;
(15) ‘semi-natural land‘ means an area where ecological assemblages have been substantially modified in their composition, balance or function by human activities, but maintain potentially high value in terms of biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides;
(16) ‘artificial land’ means land used as a platform for constructions and infrastructure or as a direct source of raw material or as archive for historic patrimony at the expense of the capacity of soils to provide other ecosystem services;
(17) ‘land take’ means the conversion of natural and semi-natural land into artificial land;
(18) ‘transfer function’ means a mathematical rule that allows to convert the value of a measurement, performed using a methodology different from a reference methodology, into the value that would be obtained by performing the soil measurement using the reference methodology;
(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 land owners and land users, as well as non-governmental organisations promoting the protection of human health or the environment and meeting any requirements under national law.
(20) ‘soil contamination’ means the presence of a chemical or substance in the soil in a concentration that may be harmful to human health or the environment;
(21) ‘contaminant’ means a substance liable to cause soil contamination;
(22) ‘regeneration’ means an intentional activity aimed at reversing soil from degraded to healthy condition;
(23) ‘risk’ means the possibility of harmful effects to human health or the environment resulting from exposure to soil contamination;
(24) ‘soil investigation’ means a process to assess the presence and concentration of contaminants in the soil which is usually performed in different stages;
(25) ‘geographically explicit’ means information referenced and stored in a manner that permits it to be mapped and localised with specific precision and accuracy.
(26) ‘soil remediation’ means a regeneration action that reduces, isolates or immobilizes contaminant concentrations in the soil.
Article 4
Soil districts
1. Member States shall establish soil districts throughout their territory.
The number of soil districts for each Member State shall as a minimum correspond to the number of NUTS 1 territorial units established under Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.
2. When establishing the geographic extent of soil districts, Member States may take into account existing administrative units and shall seek homogeneity within each soil district regarding the following parameters:
(a) soil type as defined in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources74;
(b) climatic conditions;
(c) environmental zone as described in Alterra Report 228175;
(d) land use or land cover as used in the Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey (LUCAS) programme.
Article 5
Competent authorities
Member States shall designate the competent authorities responsible at an appropriate level for carrying out the duties laid down in this Directive.
Member States shall designate one competent authority for each soil district established in accordance with Article 4.
Chapter II
Monitoring and assessment of soil health
Article 6
Soil health and land take monitoring framework
1. Member States shall establish a monitoring framework based on the soil districts established in accordance with Article 4(1), to ensure that regular and accurate monitoring of soil health is carried out in accordance with this Article and Annexes I and II.
2. Member States shall monitor soil health and land take in each soil district.
3. The monitoring framework shall be based on the following:
(a) the soil descriptors and soil health criteria referred to in Article 7;
(b) the soil sampling points to be determined in accordance with Article 8(2);
(c) the soil measurement carried out by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, if any;
(d) the remote sensing data and products referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article, if any;
(e) the land take and soil sealing indicators referred to in Article 7(1).
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.
5. The Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) shall leverage existing space-based data and products delivered under the Copernicus component of the EU Space Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/696 to explore and develop soil remote sensing products, to support the Member States in monitoring the relevant soil descriptors.
6. The Commission and the EEA shall, on the basis of existing data and within two years of the entry into force of this Directive, establish a digital soil health data portal that shall provide access in georeferenced spatial format to at least the available soil health data resulting from:
(a) the soil measurements referred to in Article 8(2);
(b) the soil measurements referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article;
(c) the relevant soil remote sensing data and products referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article.
7. The digital soil health data portal referred to in paragraph 6 may also provide access to other soil health related data than the data referred to in that paragraph if those data were shared or collected in accordance with the formats or methods established by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 8.
8. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to establish formats or methods for sharing or collecting the data referred to in paragraph 7 or for integrating those data in the digital soil health data portal. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21.
Article 7
Soil descriptors, criteria for healthy soil condition, and land take and soil sealing indicators
1. When monitoring and assessing soil health, Member States shall apply the soil descriptors and soil health criteria listed in Annex I.
When monitoring land take, Member States shall apply the land take and soil sealing indicators referred to in Annex I.
2. Member States may adapt the soil descriptors and the soil health criteria referred to in part A of Annex I, in accordance with the specifications referred to in the second and third columns in part A of Annex I.
3. Member States shall determine the organic contaminants for the soil descriptor related to soil contamination referred to in part B of Annex I.
4. Member States shall set soil health criteria for the soil descriptors listed in part B of Annex I in accordance with the provisions set out in the third column in part B of Annex I.
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’).
6. Member States shall inform the Commission when soil descriptors, land take indicators and soil health criteria are set or adapted in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article.
Article 8
Measurements and methodologies
1. Member States shall determine sampling points by applying the methodology set out in part A of Annex II.
2. Member States shall carry out soil measurements by taking soil samples at the sampling points referred to in paragraph 1 and collect, process and analyse data in order to determine the following:
(a) the values of the soil descriptors as set in Annex I;
(b) where relevant, the values of the additional soil descriptors;
(c) the values of the land take and soil sealing indicators listed in part D of Annex I.
3. Member States shall apply the following:
(a) the methodologies for determining or estimating the values of the soil descriptors set out in part B of Annex II;
(b) the minimum methodological criteria for determining the values of the land take and soil sealing indicators set out in part C of Annex II;
(c) any requirements laid down by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 6.
Member States may apply other methodologies than the ones listed in the first subparagraph, points (a) and (b), provided that validated transfer functions are available, as required in Annex II, part B, fourth column.
4. Member States shall ensure that the first soil measurements are performed at the latest by… (OP: please insert the date = 4 years after date of entry into force of the Directive).
5. Member States shall ensure that new soil measurements are performed at least every 5 years.
Member States shall ensure that the value of the land take and soil sealing indicators are updated at least every year.
6. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 20 to amend Annex II in order to adapt the reference methodologies mentioned in it to scientific and technical progress, in particular where values of soil descriptors can be determined by remote sensing referred to in Article 6(5).
Article 9
Assessment of the soil health
1. Member States shall assess the soil health in all their soil districts based on the data collected in the context of the monitoring referred to in Articles 6, 7 and 8 for each of the soil descriptors referred to in Parts A and B of Annex I.
Member States shall also take into account the data collected in the context of soil investigations referred to in Article 14.
Member States shall ensure that soil health assessments are performed at least every 5 years and that the first soil health assessment is performed by … (OP: please insert the date = 5 years after date of entry into force of the Directive).
2. A soil is considered healthy in accordance with this Directive where the following cumulative conditions are fulfilled:
(a) the values for all soil descriptors listed in part A of Annex I meet the criteria laid down therein and, where applicable, adapted in accordance with Article 7;
(b) the values for all soil descriptors listed in part B of Annex I meet the criteria set in accordance with Article 7 (‘healthy soil’).
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph the assessment of soils within a land area listed in the fourth column of Annex I, shall not take into account the values set out in the third column for that land area.
Soil is unhealthy where at least one of the criteria referred to in subparagraph 1 is not met (‘unhealthy soil’).
3. Member States shall analyse the values for the soil descriptors listed in part C of Annex I and assess whether there is a critical loss of ecosystem services, taking into account the relevant data and available scientific knowledge.
Member States shall analyse the values of land take and soil sealing indicators listed in part D of Annex I and assess their impact on the loss of ecosystem services and on the objectives and targets established under Regulation (EU) 2018/841.
4. Based on the assessment of soil health carried out in accordance with this Article, the competent authority shall, where relevant in coordination with local, regional, national authorities, identify, in each soil district, the areas which present unhealthy soils and inform the public in accordance with Article 19.
5. Member States shall set up a mechanism for a voluntary soil health certification for land owners and managers pursuant to the conditions in paragraph 2 of this Article.
The Commission may adopt implementing acts to harmonise the format of soil health certification. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21.
6. Member States shall communicate soil health data and assessment referred to in Articles 6 to 9 to the relevant land owners and land managers upon their request, in particular to support the development of the advice referred to in Article 10(3).
Chapter III
Sustainable soil management
Article 10
Sustainable soil management
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.
2. Member States shall ensure easy access to impartial and independent advice on sustainable soil management, training activities and capacity building for soil managers, landowners and relevant authorities.
Member States shall also take the following measures:
(a) promoting awareness on the medium- and long-term multiple benefits of sustainable soil management and the need to manage soils in a sustainable manner;
(b) promoting research and implementation of holistic soil management concepts;
(c) making available a regularly updated mapping of available funding instruments and activities to support the implementation of sustainable soil management.
3. Member States shall regularly assess the effectiveness of the measures taken in accordance with this Article and, where relevant, review and revise those measures, taking into account the soil health monitoring and assessment referred to in Articles 6 to 9.
4. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 20 to amend Annex III in order to adapt the sustainable soil management principles to take into account scientific and technical progress.
Article 11
Land take mitigation principles
Member States shall ensure that the following principles are respected in case of land take:
(a) avoid or reduce as much as technically and economically possible the loss of the capacity of the soil to provide multiple ecosystem services, including food production, by:
(i) reducing the area affected by the land take to the extent possible and
(ii) selecting areas where the loss of ecosystem services would be minimized and
(iii) performing the land take in a way that minimizes the negative impact on soil;
(b) compensate as much as possible the loss of soil capacity to provide multiple ecosystem services.
Chapter IV
Contaminated sites
Article 12
Risk-based approach
1. Member States shall manage the risks for human health and the environment of potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites, and keep them to acceptable levels, taking account of the environmental, social and economic impacts of the soil contamination and of the risk reduction measures taken pursuant to Article 15 paragraph 4.
2. By … (OP: please insert the date =4 years after the date of entry into force of the Directive) Member States shall establish a risk-based approach for the following:
(a) the identification of potentially contaminated sites in accordance with Article 13;
(b) the investigation of potentially contaminated sites in accordance with Article 14;
(c) the management of contaminated sites in accordance with Article 15.
3. The requirement laid down in paragraph 2 is without prejudice to more stringent requirements arising from Union or national legislation.
4. The public concerned shall be given early and effective opportunities:
(a) to participate in the establishment and concrete application of the risk-based approach as defined in this Article;
(b) to provide information relevant for the identification of potentially contaminated sites in accordance with Article 13, the investigation of potentially contaminated sites in accordance with Article 14 and the management of contaminated sites in accordance with Article 15;
(c) to request correction of information contained in the register for contaminated sites and potentially contaminated sites in accordance with Article 16.
Article 13
Identification of potentially contaminated sites
1. Member States shall systematically and actively identify all sites where a soil contamination is suspected based on evidence collected through all available means (‘potentially contaminated sites’).
2. When identifying the potentially contaminated sites Member States shall take into account the following criteria:
(a) operation of an active or inactive potentially contaminating risk activity;
(b) operation of an activity referred to in Annex I to Directive 2010/75/EU;
(c) operation of an establishment referred to in Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council76;
(d) operation of an activity referred to in Annex III to Directive 2004/35/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council77;
(e) occurrence of a potentially contaminating accident, calamity, disaster, incident or spill;
(f) any other event liable to cause soil contamination;
(g) any information resulting from the soil health monitoring carried out in accordance with Articles 6, 7 and 8.
For the purpose of the first subparagraph point (a), Member States shall lay down a list of potentially contaminating risk activities. Those activities may be further classified according to their risk to cause soil contamination based on scientific evidence.
3. Member States shall ensure that all potentially contaminated sites are identified by (OP: please insert date = 7 years after date of entry into force of the Directive) and are duly recorded in the register referred to in Article 16 by that date.
Article 14
Investigation of potentially contaminated sites
1. Member States shall ensure that all potentially contaminated sites identified in accordance with Article 13 are subject to soil investigation.
2. Member States shall lay down the rules concerning the deadline, content, form and the prioritisation of the soil investigations. Those rules shall be established in accordance with the risk-based approach referred to in Article 12 and the list of potentially contaminating risk activities referred to in Article 13(2), second subparagraph.
Member States may consider baseline reports and monitoring measures implemented in accordance with the Directive 2010/75/EU as soil investigation where appropriate.
3. Member States shall also establish specific events that trigger an investigation before the deadline set in accordance with paragraph 2.
Article 15
Risk assessment and management of contaminated sites
1. Member States shall lay down the specific methodology for determining the site-specific risks of contaminated sites. Such methodology shall be based on the phases and requirements for site-specific risk assessment listed in Annex VI.
2. Member States shall define what constitutes an unacceptable risk for human health and the environment resulting from contaminated sites by taking into account existing scientific knowledge, the precautionary principle, local specificities, and current and future land use.
3. For each contaminated site identified pursuant to Article 14 or by any other means, the responsible competent authority shall carry out a site-specific assessment for the current and planned land uses to determine whether the contaminated site poses unacceptable risks for human health or the environment.
4. On the basis of the outcome of the assessment referred to in paragraph 3, the responsible competent authority shall take the appropriate measures to bring the risks to an acceptable level for human health and the environment (‘risk reduction measures’).
5. The risk reduction measures may consist of the measures referred to in Annex V. When deciding on the appropriate risk reduction measures, the competent authority shall take into consideration the costs, benefits, effectiveness, durability, and technical feasibility of available risk reduction measures.
6. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 20 to amend Annexes V and VI to adapt the list of risk reduction measures and the requirements for site-specific risk assessment to scientific and technical progress.
Article 16
Register
1. By … (OP : please insert date = 4 years after entry into force of the Directive), Member States shall, in accordance with paragraph 2, draw up a register of contaminated sites and potentially contaminated sites.
2. The register shall contain the information set out in Annex VII.
3. The register shall be managed by the responsible competent authority and shall be regularly kept under review and up to date.
4. Member States shall make public the register and information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2. Disclosure of any information may be refused or restricted by the competent authority where the conditions laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council78 are fulfilled.
The register shall be made available in an online georeferenced spatial database.
5. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts establishing the format of the register. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21.
Chapter V
Financing, information to the public and reporting by Member States
Article 17
Union financing
Given the priority inherently attached to the establishment of soil monitoring and sustainable management and regeneration of soils, the implementation of this Directive shall be supported by existing Union financial programmes in accordance with their applicable rules and conditions.
Article 18
Reporting by Member States
1. Member States shall electronically report the following data and information to the Commission and to the EEA every 5 years:
(a) the data and results of the soil health monitoring and assessment carried out in accordance with Articles 6 to 9;
(b) a trend analysis of the soil health for the descriptors listed in parts A, B, and C of Annex I and for the land take and soil sealing indicators listed in part D of Annex I in accordance with Article 9;
(c) a summary of the progress on:
(i) implementing sustainable soil management principles in accordance with Article 10;
(ii) the registration, identification, investigation, and management of contaminated sites in accordance with Articles 12 to 16;
(d) the data and information contained in the register referred to in Article 16.
The first reports shall be submitted by … (OP: please insert date = 5 years and 6 months after entry into force of the Directive).
2. Member States shall ensure that the Commission and the EEA have permanent access to the information and data referred to in paragraph 1.
3. Member States shall provide the Commission with online access to the following:
(a) an up-to-date list and spatial data of their soil districts referred to in Article 4 by … (OP: please insert the date = 2 years and 3 months after date of entry into force of the Directive);
(b) an up-to-date list of the competent authorities referred to in Article 5 by … (OP: please insert the date = 2 years and 3 months after date of entry into force of the Directive);
(c) the measures and sustainable soil management practices referred to in Article 10 by… (OP: please insert the date = 4 years and 3 months after date of entry into force of the Directive).
4. The Commission is empowered to adopt implementing acts establishing the format and the modalities for submitting the information referred to paragraph 1 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 21.
Article 19
Information to the public
1. Member States shall make public the data generated by the monitoring carried out under Article 8 and the assessment carried out under Article 9 of this Directive accessible to the public, in accordance with the provisions under Article 11 of Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council79 for geographically explicit data and Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 for other data.
2. The Commission shall ensure that soil health data made accessible through the digital soil health data portal referred to in Article 6 is available to the public in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council80 and Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council81.
3. Member States shall ensure that the information referred to in Article 18 of this Directive is available and accessible to the public in accordance with Directive 2003/4/EC, Directive 2007/2/EC and Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the Parliament and of the Council82.
4. Disclosure of any information required under this Directive may be refused or restricted where the conditions laid down in Article 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC are fulfilled.
Chapter VI
Delegation and Committee procedure
Article 20
Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.
2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles 8, 10, 15 and 16 shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from the date of entry into force of this Directive.
3. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 8, 10, 15 and 16 may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.
5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 8, 10, 15 and 16 shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 21
Committee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Chapter VII
Final provisions
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.
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.
Article 24
Evaluation and review
1. By (OP :please insert the date = 6 years after the date of entry into force of the Directive), the Commission shall carry out an evaluation of this Directive to assess the progress towards its objectives and the need to amend its provisions in order to set more specific requirements to ensure that unhealthy soils are regenerated and that all soils will be healthy by 2050. This evaluation shall take into account, inter alia, the following elements:
(a) the experience gained through the implementation of this Directive;
(b) the data and information referred to in Article 18;
(c) relevant scientific and analytical data, including results from research projects funded by the Union;
(d) an analysis of the gap towards achieving healthy soils by 2050;
(e) an analysis of the possible need to adapt to scientific and technical progress the provisions of this Directive in particular regarding the following items:
(i) the definition of healthy soils;
(ii) the establishment of criteria for soil descriptors listed in part C of annex I;
(iii) the addition of new soil descriptors for monitoring purposes.
2. The Commission shall present a report on the main findings of the evaluation referred to in paragraph 1 to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions.
Article 25
Transposition
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by … [OP please insert date = 2 years after date of entry into force of the Directive]. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions.
When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
Article 26
Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 27
Addressees
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.