Soil Monitoring Law proposal | Technical Briefing on the importance of access to justice

The European Commission’s current proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law, or SML) sets an overarching objective to “continuously improve soil health in the Union with the view to achieve healthy soils by 2050”. It is a positive step that the proposal includes an article on access to justice. However, this provision should be improved to guarantee the right of wide access to justice for members of the public, including environmental and health NGOs. This technical briefing gives an overview of the importance of access to justice and provides policy recommendations for strengthening Article 22 to ensure its effectiveness.