Priority criteria for intervention
Priority criteria for intervention
The Regional Plans for the Remediation of Polluted Areas (PRB) must establish “the order of priority for interventions, based on a risk evaluation criterion formulated by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA)” in accordance with Article 199 – paragraph 6, letter a) of Legislative Decree 152/06. According to the priority order established by the PRBs, the competent Administration carries out ex officio the procedures and interventions referred to in Article 242 of Legislative Decree 152/06, as indicated in Article 250 of the same decree.
Since 2019, ISPRA has initiated the mandated activities, starting with the identification of criteria at both national and European levels, leading to the initial establishment of national priority criteria for application to potentially contaminated sites. This proposal underwent evaluation and was endorsed by the Technical Table, formed in 2021 (phase 1 of the activities) by 8 Regions and their supporting Regional Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPAs), who committed to participating in the initiative.
In phase 1, a preliminary proposal for intervention priority criteria applicable to contaminated sites was also delineated.
An extensive description of the phase 1 activities is documented in the ISPRA Report 365/2022.
To "validate" the proposed criteria for the application to potentially contaminated sites, while considering specific regional characteristics, phase 2 of the activities was conducted. This phase involved the participation of additional Regions/Autonomous Provinces and their supporting Environmental Protection Agencies, for a total of 31 administrations.
The initial procedural steps carried out have led to the development of the software ROCKS (Risk Ordering for Contamination Key Sites) by ISPRA, enabling data input and calculation of the Relative Risk Index for the sites under evaluation, as illustrated in the ISPRA Report 392/2023.
With the December 2023 update of the Technical Table, now including the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner for the 2025 Catholic Church Jubilee, a smaller working group was created, joined by eight Administrations. This group aimed to test the practicability and adaptability of the proposed Priority Criteria, beginning with the methodology’s application to selected site lists from each territorial area.
Based on the results of the trial phase conducted by the smaller working group, the definitive National Priority Criteria were identified. The related software ROCKS was also updated (version 1.3). Both are outlined in the "Operating Manual of National Intervention Priority Criteria for Potentially Contaminated Sites" (ISPRA Manual 209/2025).
The ROCKS software is freely downloadable from the ISPRA portal (see next section)
Produced Documentation
- Risk evaluation for determing the priority order of interventions. Phase 1 (ISPRA Report 365/2023).
- Tools for testing national priority criteria in potentially polluted sites
- Operational manual of the national priority intervention criteria for potentially contaminated sites
Update: June 2025