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| 216. | While the definition of ‘baseline condition’ relates to all natural resources and their services, it provides limited assistance for the purpose of assessing the significance of the risk to human health. Where there is an imminent threat of land damage occurring, but land contamination has not yet actually occurred, the baseline condition may be relevant for purposes of measuring the risks to human health that could arise without preventive measures. Where contamination is in the process of occurring, the baseline condition may similarly be relevant for purposes of measuring the risks to human health that could arise if the factors causing the contamination are not immediately managed. When it comes to remediation of land damage, however, the purpose of the Directive is to remove any significant risk to human health rather than restore the land to the condition it was in before contamination. Such restoration may, of course, be appropriate or necessary in some situations in order to address the human-health risk. Contaminants can be removed, controlled, contained or diminished with remediation techniques like excavation, in-situ or ex-situ soil treatment or bioremediation, and control and containment measures like capping, construction of barriers or fencing. It may be noted that the Industrial Emissions Directive requires operators of permitted facilities to prepare a baseline report (190). Apart from its role under the Industrial Emissions Directive, this baseline report may provide valuable information for purposes of addressing land damage under the Environmental Liability Directive.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.