Over recent years, an increasing public and private concern has arisen over soil contamination following the closure of former industrialised sites or due to publicity over certain ''scandals'' (Love Canal in the United States) which occurred on former redeveloped industrial sites, affecting human health. Subsequently most countries have started a register of all industrial contaminated sites. With the number of contaminated sites and public pressure, governmental and industrial stakeholders have had to devise advisory and/or mandatory policies and methodologies for managing and particularly assessing risks related to these sites. According to country-specific (social, economical, ecological, etc.) contexts, different site-assessment methods have been developed, but they are generally all based to different degrees on an (eco)toxicological risk assessment. The purpose of this article is to provide a comparison of methodologies between several countries.