Cases / Protected area / relocation · Netherlands · 2019
Dutch PFAS soil limit, 2019
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
In July 2019 the Dutch government set a PFAS limit of 0.1 microgram per kilogram for soil moved to agricultural and nature land. The national health institute RIVM states that this value is a measurement limit, not a risk threshold.
0.1 µg/kgPFAS limit for soil moved to agriculture and nature land (July 2019)
RIVM describes this as a measurement limit, not a risk threshold.
RIVM describes this as a measurement limit, not a risk threshold.
Status As of the latest source reviewed (2025): the 0.1 µg/kg limit is described by RIVM as a measurement limit; later changes to the limit are not verified in the sources reviewed.
What?
A PFAS limit of 0.1 µg/kg was set for soil moved to agricultural and nature land. RIVM
Where?
Netherlands, national. RIVM
When?
Framework published 8 July 2019. RIVM
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
An interim government action framework set the limit; RIVM states it is a measurement limit, not a risk threshold. RIVM
5 of 6 questions answered from the record · open: who
What happened
The record, in order.
On 8 July 2019 the Dutch government published an interim action framework for PFAS in soil. It set a limit of 0.1 microgram per kilogram for soil to be moved to agricultural and nature land.
RIVM, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, states on its own question-and-answer page that this value is a measurement limit and not a risk threshold.
RIVM also measured PFAS in eggs from home-kept chickens at 60 locations across the country in 2025. no source link is on record for that measurement, so its results are not recorded here.
- 20198 July: interim PFAS action framework published; 0.1 µg/kg limit for soil moved to agricultural and nature land
- 2025RIVM measures PFAS in eggs from home-kept chickens at 60 locations
How it looked
What was shown, beside what was recorded.
Who gained
Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.
Reached nature or the ground
Not published
No figure published.
Gained elsewhere
Not totalled
Currency: EUR · Window: n/a. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.
Responses on record
- rivm (RIVM page, 8 July 2019 entry): The 0.1 µg/kg value is a measurement limit, not a risk threshold. · RIVM
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What nature saw
Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
PFAS limit, soil moved to agriculture and nature (8 July 2019)
0.1 µg/kg
RIVM: a measurement limit, not a risk threshold
Independent ecological evaluation of the limit
None on record
The sources reviewed do not describe one
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the limit took effect on 1 October 2019, that it halted soil transport and dredging projects, and that an industry body put the Dutch PFAS background level at 0.5–1 microgram per kilogram.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the limit was raised to 0.8 microgram per kilogram on 1 December 2019 and that in 2020 background values (PFOA 1.9, PFOS 1.4 microgram per kilogram) were adopted as usable values for agriculture and nature.
- None on record The national distribution of Dutch agricultural soil across the soil-quality classes, and how much of it exceeds PFAS background values, is not on record in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Government and regulators
- Questions and answers: PFAS in soil and dredged sedimentRIVM · 2019-07-08
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Dutch nitrogen crisis and farm buyouts Netherlands · 1990–2026
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) (Research institution) — here: National institute for public health and the environment; published the explanation of the limit; there: Monitoring of deposition on nature and nitrate; assessment of the 2035 target
- Government of the Netherlands (Government) — here: Issued the interim PFAS action framework; there: Sets nitrogen policy and funds the voluntary buyouts
- Netherlands Q fever outbreak and goat sector growth Netherlands · 2021
- Government of the Netherlands (Government) — here: Issued the interim PFAS action framework; there: Government; ordered culls and described Q fever as under control
- RWE drops 1.4 billion euro claim over Dutch coal ban; Hemweg-8 closure announced Netherlands · 2019–2023
- Government of the Netherlands (Government) — here: Issued the interim PFAS action framework; there: Defendant in the treaty claims; issued the coal ban
- RWE sought €1.4bn from the Netherlands over its coal phase-out Netherlands · 2019–2023
- Government of the Netherlands (Government) — here: Issued the interim PFAS action framework; there: defendant in the RWE claim