Towards a legal framework in the EU for brownfield redevelopment

Article abstract:

Brownfield sites are a major soil-related problem in every industrialised nation. Within the European Union more and more Member States are searching for different measures to deal with soil remediation in general, and with brownfields in particular. Soil remediation will demand tremendous investment. It remains unclear how these costs will be distributed among public authorities and the business community. Several governments, together with their administrations, have already taken different initiatives. Nevertheless, the shortage of knowledge and information regarding brownfield development still creates a lot of difficulties with the start up and realisation of potential brownfield projects in the EU. This article offers a comparative survey of different legal approaches within the EU and in the United States to deal with brownfields. Starting with the US legal framework; then pointing to relevant European legislation and recent actions taken by the European Commission; finally, the article describes interesting developments within several Member States with regard to soil remediation and, more specifically, brownfield redevelopment.