PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreia Candeias Mousinho, Diogo Duarte Campos, João Marques Mendes and Raquel Freitas, PLMJ
12. Contaminated Land 12.1 Key Laws Governing Contaminated Land There are no specific laws concerning contaminated land. A draft law has been under discussion in Portu- gal since 2015 and a proposal for a European Direc- tive on soil monitoring and resilience was released in 2023, but no official publication of these laws has yet occurred. Nevertheless, the prevention of emissions into the soil is covered by environmental procedures, such as environmental licensing and the EIA. Furthermore, the law of responsibility for environmental damage deter- mines that soil damage must be communicated to the appropriate authorities within 24 hours. For further details concerning self-reporting obligations, see 16. Environmental Disclosure and Information . Considering the absence of regulation on this mat- ter, the APA recommends that, in the case of transfer of property on land where potentially polluting activi- ties have been conducted or where there are signs of contamination, a technical quality assessment be carried out. The APA has issued supporting documents about the technical requirements to use in contamination assessments and remediation operations. 12.2 Clearing Contaminated Land If the soil contamination creates a significant risk to human health and the environment (environmental damage), remediation can be demanded from the liable party referred to in 6.1 Liability for Historical Environmental Incidents or Damage . However, the public authorities may intervene as a last-recourse solution if the operator does not act accordingly or if it cannot be identified. Furthermore, according to the Waste Management Act, in contamination situations that are not con- sidered environmental damage, if the current owner wishes to excavate contaminated soil and the liable operator is not identified, it may have to take on the remediation operations under the terms of the previ- ously obtained licence.
Soil remediation operations aim to remove the source of contamination and treat the contaminated soil so that the contamination no longer poses an unaccepta- ble risk to human health and/or the environment, tak- ing into account its current or intended use. Although responsibility for soil remediation can be transferred to a party that did not cause the contamination, the party that did cause it remains liable to the regulatory authorities. 12.3 Determining Liability See 5.3 Key Defences . 12.4 Proceedings Against Polluters See 5.3 Key Defences . From another perspective, if any legal or natural per- son is aware of a situation of contamination or envi- ronmental damage, a complaint may be made to the competent authorities – even if the person concerned did not suffer any damage as a result of said situation. 12.5 Investigating Environmental Accidents An investigation may be triggered following informa- tion disclosure by the operators, a complaint from any third party, or inspections performed by the public authorities. Regarding the investigation process, see 4.1 Investi- gative and Access Powers . 13. Climate Change and Emissions Trading 13.1 Key Policies, Principles and Laws Key Policies The key policies to combat climate change are based on fundamental principles of environmental law, par- ticularly the principle of sustainable development, the “polluter pays” principle and the principle of intergen- erational solidarity. In particular, the following goals have been set to tackle climate change: • a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; • improving the capacity for CO₂ sequestration; and
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