Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act 2002 (No. 53 of 2002).

This Act provides for soil contamination countermeasures for protecting health through assessing contamination and preventing the damage to human health.
The Act requires that owners, managers and occupiers of sites on which certain facilities producing, using or processing specified hazardous substances exist are responsible for examining soil for contamination of the sites when the operation of the facilities finishes and for reporting results of the investigation to the prefectural governors. If the investigation shows that sites are polluted above certain levels, the governors designate the sites and list them in registers accessible by the public. It is not until a site is cleaned up that it can be deleted from the register.
The Act further provides for: measures to prevent health damage by soil contamination in the designated sites; establishment of a Designated Support Corporation; offences and penalties; etc.