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Contaminated sites of national interest (SIN)

The contaminated Sites of National Interest (SIN) have been defined by specific statutory provisions on the basis of site characteristics, quantity and hazardousness of pollutants, extent of the environmental impact in terms of health and ecological risk, and the detriment to cultural and environmental heritage. For these sites, the administrative competence in remediation procedures is a responsibility of the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security -  MASE. 

The Law no. 134/2012 modified the criteria for identifying SIN. Open the image
Based on these new criteria, the 57 sites previously classified as SIN were reduced to 39 by the Decree of the Minister of the Environment, Land and Sea ((now Ministry of Environment and Energy Security - MASE) ) dated 11 January 2013.
The administrative competence on the 18 sites that do not match new criteria has been assigned to the Regions.
Afterwards three more SIN have been identified and nowadays there are 42 SIN.

 

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For some SIN, the perimeter includes both land and marine areas. The perimeter of a SIN can vary over time by increasing or reducing the areas involved on the basis of new information on potential and/or confirmed contamination of new areas or on the basis of a more accurate definition of the areas affected by potential sources of contamination.
The total surface of land areas included in SIN is about 150,000 hectares and represents the 0.49% of the whole surface of the Italian territory. The total surface of marine areas included in SIN is about 77,000 hectares.

 

 

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Last update: January 2024