UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Output 5.1 and 5.2 – PCB contaminated site investigation report including investment interest information with the Prioritized list of PCB contaminated site for decontamination related to Full-sized Project to Implement an Environmentally Sound Management and Final Disposal of PCBs in the Republic of Serbia, 100313 5th April 2018 These report provide PCB contaminated site investigation report including investment interest information with the Prioritized list of PCB contaminated site for decontamination to undertake the project activities of the project entitled “Full-sized Project to Implement an Environmentally Sound Management and Final Disposal of PCBs in the Republic of Serbia”, UNIDO ID: 100313, GEF ID: 4877. Introductory considerations Legislative framework Soil protection, as well as soil recovery and remediation are principally regulated by the Law on Environmental Protection (“Official Gazette of the RS” No 135/04, 36/09, 36/09 other law, 72/09 other law), leaving to the special law on soil protection to address the issue in details. The Law on Land Protection ("Sl. glasnik RS", No. 112/15) was adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and came into force in January 7, 2016. This law regulates land protection, systematic monitoring of the condition and quality of land, measures for recovery, remediation, recultivation, inspection supervision and other important issues for the protection and conservation of land as a natural resource of national interest. In the transitional Decree of the Law on Protection of Land, it is defined that the by-laws enacted on the basis of the authorization referred to in this Law, shall be adopted within one year from the date of Page 1 of 39 entry into force of this Law. As well, the Land Protection Plan will be adopted within two years from the date of entry into force of this Law and local self-government units are obliged to make Annual Land Protection Programs within one year from the date of adoption of the Land Protection Plan. In addition, the Government of the Republic of Serbia shall issue a Land Monitoring Program at the level of the state network within one year from the adoption of the act referred to in Article 28, paragraph 2 of this Law. The competent authority of the autonomous province and the local self-government unit shall submit the approval for the land monitoring program at the local network level to the Ministry responsible for environmental protection within six months from the day of the adoption of the Land Monitoring Program at the state network level. Also, the Cadastre of contaminated locations will be established within six months from the date of entry into force of the sub-legal act referred to in Article 34, paragraph 5 of this Law. The content and method of managing a cadastre of contaminated sites, types, contents, forms, as well as the manner and deadlines for submitting the data, shall be defined by a sub-legal act issued in accordance to Article 34, paragraph 5 of the Law on Protection of Land. The cadastre of contaminated sites will be managed by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is important to note that until the adoption of bylaws based on the authorization from the Law on Land Protection, the relevant bylaws adopted on the basis of the Law on Environmental Protection will be applied ("Sl. glasnik RS ", No. 135/04, 36/09, 36 / 09- law, 72/09-dr law and 43/11-US), since the by-law acts prescribed by the Law on Land Protection have not been adopted to date. Also, the Land Protection Plan at the national level has not been adopted yet, as well as the Annual Land Protection Programs at the level of local self-governments. However, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection also focuses on the issue of land protection. Article 9 of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection defines the principle of "polluter pays". If polluter’s activities cause or can cause environmental burdens, he pays compensation for environmental pollution. Polluter, in accordance with regulations, shall bear the total cost of measures to prevent and reduce pollution which include environmental risk and environmental damage costs. This law, as well, prescribes that the protection of land and its sustainable use are achieved through measures of systematic monitoring of soil quality, monitoring indicators for the assessment of the risk of land degradation, as well as the implementation of remediation programs for removing the consequences of contamination and degradation of the land, that can happen naturally or the ones caused by human activities. The regulation adopted by the Government (The Decree on criteria to determine the status of a particularly endangered environment, the status of the endangered environment and determining the priorities for rehabilitation and remediation, " Sl. glasnik RS " No. 22/10) sets out the criteria for determining the status of endangered environment and for setting priorities for rehabilitation and remediation. Based on these criteria, the ministry responsible for environmental protection determines the status of the endangered environment and priorities for rehabilitation and remediation for areas of Page 2 of 39 importance for the republic, and the areas of local importance are under the authority of the local self-government unit. We should here mention the Decree on the program for systematic monitoring of soil quality, indicators for assessing the risk of land degradation and the methodology for the development of remediation programs ("Sl. glasnik RS ", No. 88/2010) which define representative contaminated sites on which it was confirmed the presence of hazardous and harmful substances in concentrations that may cause a significant risk to human health and the environment, all caused by human activities. The Decree defines the limit minimum values that represent the values on which the functional properties of the land have been completely achieved, i.e. they indicate the level at which the sustainable land quality and remediation values have been reached, which represent values that indicate that the basic functions of the land are endangered or seriously damaged, and require remedial and other measures. Mentioned values are also defined for PCB content in the soil (limit value - 0.02 mg / kg, remediation value - 1 mg / kg). In the case of remediation values, the sum of the congeners polychlorinated biphenyls is taken into account: PCB 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153 and 180, and in the case of limit values, the sum of the same congeners other than PCB 118 is taken into account. Limit and remedial values and values that may indicate significant contamination for organic compounds, depend on the content of organic matter in the soil and their correction is done on the basis of the formulas given in the Decree. In the case of exceeding the limit values, additional surveys are carried out at contaminated sites to determine the degree of pollution and for the improvement of remediation programs. Remediation programs and remediation projects are realized if the average concentration of any hazardous or harmful substance exceeds the remediation value given in Annex 2 of the Decree in more than 100 m³ of water volume in contaminated sites or exceeds the remediation value given in Annex 3 of the Decree in more than 25 m³ volume of land. Also, the Law on Amendments and Amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection stipulates that the obligation of remediation and restitution of the degraded areas will remain on the legal and physical entity for which it is determined that it degrades the environment. This obligation must be implemented in accordance with the rehabilitation and remediation projects. The minister responsible for environmental protection shall prescribe the methodology for the development of these projects (Rulebook on the methodology for the development of the project of rehabilitation and remediation "Sl. glasnik RS ", No. 74/15). Land contamination, in addition to pollution of land due to regular activities, can occur even in the case of a chemical accident. Therefore, this law obliges the operator of the plant that carries out certain activities to draw up the Accident Prevention Policy or the Safety Report and the Accident Protection Plan, all depending on the amount of hazardous materials it uses to Page 3 of 39 carry out these activities. It is also obliged to take measures to prevent a chemical accident and to limit the impact of such an accident on the life and health of people and the environment, as specified in those documents. In addition, the operator is obliged to provide, in the Accident Protection Plan, the appropriate measures for cleaning, remediation and recultivation of the environment after a chemical accident. Also, the operator is obliged to inform immediately the Ministry that is competent of environmental protection and the authorities in charge of emergency situations, on the chemical accident. This notice includes, inter alia: circumstances related to chemical accidents, presence of dangerous substance, available data for the assessment of consequences of chemical accident for humans and the environment, as well as notification of taken emergency measures. In the case of a chemical accident, the state of environmental vulnerability can be declared and the public can be informed about the measures taken. However, when pollution in a certain area exceeds the effects of measures being taken, that is, when the environmental capacity is endangered or there is a risk of permanent quality disturbance or damage to the environment, the law also provides for sanitary plans. The Government adopts a recovery plan when: 1. when the level and extent of environmental degradation exceeds the sanational possibilities of the autonomous province, that is, the local self-government unit; 2.