Spotlight on Soil Protection Law in Germany

For companies, measures related to the investigation or remediation of contaminated properties can have significant economic consequences. For them as polluter, property (pre-)owner, as well as tenant or leaseholder of a property, soil protection law entails a high liability risk. This is because soil protection law does not always ask who is "to blame" for a harmful soil change. On the contrary, the ownership or possession of the property is sufficient for the soil protection authority to issue official orders - for example, if the property owner unknowingly takes over a contaminated property from the previous owner. It is therefore necessary to collaborate with the authorities.In Germany the Federal Soil Protection Act (Bundes-Bodenschutzgesetz, BBodSchG) and the Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance (Bundes-Bodenschutz- und Altlastenverordnung, BBodSchV), represent the central regulations for the area of soil protection in sectoral environmental law.