Shigeru Takahashi

Faculty of Law, Hitotsubashi University
(2-1, Naka, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo 186 Japan)

Abstract

Since the middle of the 1980s, the problem of abandoned hazardous sites has emerged as a serious environmental issue in Germany. There are many legal schemes (Federal Waste Management Act, Federal Water Management Act, Water Management Act of some states, General Police laws of each state, and so on), which can be applied to respective areas of this field. But they make only a patchwork of legal systems, which is insufficient to prevent the contamination of lands and inadequate to make fair and consistent standards for the remediation of contaminated sites. Therefore, in 1992, the Federal Government in Germany embarked upon a programme of enacting a Federal Soil Protection Act. At present, the new draft dated 7. Feb. 1994 is discussed and the Cabinet Draft is to be proposed to the parliament in the near future. These works by the Federal Goverment in Germany give many suggestions to legal discussions regarding soil prevention in Japan.

Key words: abandonded hazardous sites (Altlasten), contamination of lands, soil protection, remediation of contaminated sites, german law