Standards Australia has opened industry consultation on a proposed modified adoption of AS ISO 18400-106 Soil Quality – Sampling: Part 106 Quality Control and Quality Assurance in response to the withdrawal of AS4482.1-2005 and AS4482.2-1999 on the grounds that the latter were well past their renewal / revision date and more recent guidance, such as the NEPM, was available.
ALGA and ACLCA are represented on Standards Australia Committee EV-009 (Sampling and Analysis of Soils), which reviews stands soil sampling and analysis. The committee also includes representatives from ACLCA, Soil Science Australia, commercial analytical laboratories and government laboratories.
Following the withdrawal of AS 4482.1-2005 Guide To the Investigation and Sampling of Potentially Contaminated Soil for Non-Volatile Analytes and AS 4482.2-1999 Guide To the Investigation and Sampling of Potentially Contaminated Soil for Volatile Analytes, the EV-009 Committee established a Subcommittee to consider the best path forward. The subcommittee was co-chaired by the ALGA and ACLCA representatives on EV-009, and comprises nominated representatives of both ALGA, ACLCA and more recently regulators. The Subcommittee has been reviewing the 14 documents in the ISO 18400 Soil Quality series for possible adoption as Australian Standards to replace the AS4482 standards.
The review found that the ISO 18400 series generally aligns with current Australian industry practice, covers most of the content of AS 4482 standards, and includes additional areas not addressed in the AS4482 standards and recommended review of identical or modified adoption of the ISO 18400 series as a replacement of AS4482. The committee also identified the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing development and review of the ISO 18400 series and other related standardsconcerned with contaminated land assessment being developed by ISO, helping ensure Australian adoption remains consistent with international best practice.
The first proposed modified standard to be adopted as an AS in the ISO series is now open for comment from 5 June 2026 to 26 June 2026. The first proposed modified adoption of the ISO 18400 Series is:
- AS ISO 18400 – Soil Quality – Sampling: Part 106 Quality Control and Quality Assurance
The proposed modified adoption includes modifications to better align with AS 4482 and Australian contaminated land industry practice.
Industry comments are now invited, with feedback closing on 26 June 2026.
To view the details of this Proposal and to provide comments click here, OR:
- Go to the Standards Australia Project Proposal Portal at: https://standards.my.site.com/proposal
- Login with your registered email address and password
- If you are not already registered, you can register by clicking on Sign Up from: https://standards.my.site.com/proposal
- If you have forgotten your password, go to: https://standards.my.site.com/proposal, enter your email address to continue and from there click on Reset Password to receive a link to set a new password.
- Once logged in to the Project Proposal Portal, click on ‘Proposals in Consultation’ in the navigation menu
- Locate the proposal in the list of ‘Open Proposals’ or search for: P-005361
- Once you open the Proposal you can download a copy of it by clicking on the ‘Export Proposal to PDF’ button on the Proposal Details page.