A Preliminary Analysis on Enforcement Processes of the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act in Japan

Abstract

　To clarify the current situation of enforcement process of the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act (SCCA) in Japan, we analyze the status of administrative order issuances of the local government under the Article 4 of the law. The Article 4 of the SCCA came into force in 2010, and its purpose is to carry out soil investigations of the site with the possibility of contamination in the case of changes to the form or nature of land. Having received notification of changes to the form or nature of land, the local government examines the risks whether the land is contaminated by a designated hazardous substance under the criterion in the ordinance of the Ministry of the Environment. Completing administrative procedures, the prefectural governor is able to order the land owner to conduct an investigation of the site with high risk of contamination. In fact, the number of administrative orders remains relatively low (about 2%) so far comparing to the number of notifications. To understand the decision making process inside the local government, detailed analysis on administrative official's behaviors in issuing administrative orders is needed. We conduct a preliminary analysis on enforcement process of the SCCA using data issued by the Ministry of the Environment. Our results imply that there is a possibility that the regulators attitude toward examination of the contamination risks has some differences among the organizations.