In the following cases for an immovable whole that falls under the system of compulsory co-ownership, as stated in Article 577-3 of the Civil Code, an exploratory soil investigation must be carried out on the initiative of and the costs borne by the association of co-owners before 31 December 2014:
§ 1. Decriminalised legislation
As a result of the commencement of operations at the installations designated as high-risk by the Government of Flanders and which are subject to licencing obligations pursuant to Title V of the Decree of 5 April 1995 containing general provisions regarding environmental policy, an exploratory soil survey shall be carried out at the operator’s own initiative and own cost.
The exploratory soil survey shall be carried out and a report on it shall be submitted to the OVAM before the environmental licence application for the operation of the high-risk installation is submitted to the licensing authority.
§ 2. Decriminalised legislation
A one-off exploratory soil survey shall be carried out at the operator’s own initiative and own cost for the high-risk installations, stated in paragraph 2, to which the investigation obligation, stated in §1, was not applicable at the commencement of operations.
The Government of Flanders shall specify which high-risk installations must carry out the exploratory soil survey and which must submit the report thereof to the OVAM before 7 January 2014, and which of these high-risk installations must comply with these obligations before 7 July 2015.
If the OVAM is of the opinion that there are indications of severe soil contamination in a piece of land, then it can impose the obligations on the persons stated in Article 11 or 22 to carry out an exploratory soil survey of the site within a certain period of time and to then submit the report thereof to it.
All stakeholders can lodge an appeal against the OVAM’s decision, stated in the first paragraphs, with the Government of Flanders in accordance with Articles 153 to 155, inclusive.
The Government of Flanders can stipulate the conditions for the cases, stated in Articles 29 to 34, inclusive, in which there is no obligation to carry out a new exploratory soil survey or there is an obligation to only do a limited additional survey to add to the most recent exploratory soil survey.