Managing Contaminated Agricultural Land: A Six-Layer Non-Compensatory Decision Architecture from Productive Rating to Food-Law Compliance

Productive land ratings address suitability for a specified use; contamination and food-law decisions require additional evidence. We propose an empirically unvalidated conceptual framework using Romania’s 1987 bonitation method as an institutional case. Critical documentary analysis compared Romanian pedological and environmental instruments, European Union law, and purpose-selected soil-science literature by decision object, trigger, matrix, indicator, threshold, actor, output, and permitted inference. MESP indicator 28 records pollution type and source; indicator 29 translates estimated plant-production impairment into a land-rating coefficient. These indicators supply no analyte-specific soil or edible-crop concentration. The comparison supports six analytically distinct decisions: productive suitability, soil health, hazard and operational availability, soil-to-plant transfer, edible-part concentration, and food-law compliance. A transversal gate records the trigger, selects the relevant evidence requirements, and assigns responsibilities. The sewage-sludge regime illustrates legal coverage and remaining evidence requirements; an explicitly hypothetical scenario explains possible referrals. Productive ratings remain available alongside hazard and food results, with no averaging across legal safety limits. The six-layer partition and proposed handoffs require testing through source-coding checks, paired soil and edible-crop studies, and observed decision exercises.