Flexibility with regard to the management of contaminated sites is necessary to take account of costs, benefits and local specificities. Member States should therefore at least adopt a risk-based and stepwise approach for identifying and investigating potentially contaminated sites and for managing contaminated sites, taking into account the difference between those two categories and thereby enabling resources to be allocated taking account of the specific environmental, social and economic context. Decisions with regard to the management of contaminated sites, including on the risk-based and stepwise approach, should be taken based on the nature and extent of potential risks to human health, including the exposure to contaminants of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, persons with disabilities, elderly people and children, and to the environment resulting from exposure to soil contaminants or to contaminants that migrated to the groundwater and, if possible, the cumulative effects on human health, soil ecosystems and associated ecosystem services.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
