Soil Quality Norms
The legal regulation of soil pollution begins with the system of environmental quality norms under the Georgian Law on Environmental Protection. According to Article 29 of the law, the environmental quality norms are: the maximum permissible norms for the concentration of substances harmful to human health and the natural environment and for the quantities of microorganisms in atmospheric air, water and soil; the maximum permissible norms for noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields and other physical impacts; and the maximum permissible norms for radiation exposure. Soil is named directly in this list, which means that the assessment of land pollution is made precisely against these limit norms. The quality norms are determined once every 5 years, by a statute developed and approved, in agreement with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, by the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs — the agreed competence of the health and environment ministries ensures that the normative values simultaneously protect both the human being and the soil as a component of the natural environment.