Law on soil protection.

This Law regulates the protection of land, systematic monitoring of the quality of soil, extent of remediation, re-cultivation, inspection and monitoring and other issues of importance for the protection and preservation (rules aimed to preserve the land surface and functions and to prevent or to eliminate specific harmful changes) of the land and soil that are considered as a natural resource of great national importance. The provisions of this Law will apply to all types of soil (on the territory of the Republic of Serbia) as a natural resource, regardless of the form of ownership, its purpose and momentary use.The principal aims of this Law are to preserve the land surface and functions of natural resources and to prevent or eliminate various harmful changes in soil which may arise as a result of: erosion processes; reduction of organic matter in the soil; inappropriate agricultural and forest production (inadequate and uncontrolled reclamation and agro-technical measures, deforestation, etc.); uncontrolled change of use, management and use of land; unplanned urbanization, and construction and infrastructure development; acidification, salinisation and alkalizing of land; soil compaction, landslides and avalanches; fire and chemical accidents; pollution (generated waste, wastewater discharges, emissions and chemical contamination); exploitation of mineral and organic raw materials; exploitation of gravel, stone and sand; unauthorized archaeological excavations and research.The Law is divided into 9 Chapters and 54 articles. The Chapters are: General provisions (I); Preventive measures of land protection (II); Land protection (III); Program of systematic monitoring and quality of land (IV); Access to information (V); Financing of the land protection (VI); Supervision (VII); Penalty measures (VIII); Transitional and final provisions (IX).