Land Remediation Obligation from an Entity-Based Perspective

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to examine the issue of allocation of responsibility for conducting land remediation works, the aim of which is to return the land to its original state or some degree of its former baseline condition, understood as creation or restoration of utility or natural value for degraded land. Remediation is meant to stop or reverse environmental damage to soils, waters and air. The study seeks, in the first place, to determine how the obligation to remediate arises and the impacts it has. Secondly, it shall determine to what degree the obligation to remediate is allocated to a specific entity and whether it can be transferred to another entity. These considerations have been made on the grounds of applicable provisions of the Act of 3 February 1995 on the Protection of Agricultural and Forest Lands.