The final assessment of soil contamination and the final decision on the remediation strategy are two crucial decisions in soil remediation. In the decision-making process the data gathered can be set against generic values, against site-specific criteria, or against a mix of these. The thing is that the decision-making process for both decisions is largely regulated almost everywhere. Policy, rules and specific circumstances limit the available options in a different way in any given country or region. This presentation will look at a wide range of different models in use in industrialized countries. Current trends will be presented within the historical framework of a quarter century of dealing with soil contamination.