BPEJ - soil quality unit (bonitovaná půdně ekologická jednotka)

BPEJ (bonitovaná půdně ekologická jednotka) is a five-digit Czech code describing the main soil and climatic conditions of a farmland plot, and therefore its productive capacity. The meaning of each digit is set by Decree No. 227/2018 Coll.; 2,995 codes exist in the country. The code is often written with dots, e.g. 7.50.11, which is the most widespread BPEJ in Czechia according to the BPEJ e-catalogue.

How to read the code

• 1st digit: climatic region (0-9)
• 2nd and 3rd digits: main soil unit (01-89), a group of soils with similar properties, such as brown earths on loess or stagnosols
• 4th digit: combination of slope and aspect
• 5th digit: combination of stoniness and soil depth

What BPEJ is used for

Annex 4 of valuation Decree No. 441/2013 Coll. assigns each code a base price in CZK per m², the official farmland price. In the version in force from 1 January 2026 it ranges from CZK 1.15 to 19.79 per m². Decree No. 48/2011 Coll. places each code in one of five protection classes. The class determines how easily land can be taken out of the agricultural land fund and, together with the price, how much is paid for removal. The fifth digit also sets the permissible level of soil erosion risk.

Watch out for

Only agricultural plots have a BPEJ, such as arable land, gardens, orchards or permanent grassland. The parcel under a house (built-up area and courtyard) has none, even if the BPEJ map covers it. The code describes conditions across the whole mapped area at the time of soil survey; the actual soil in a particular garden may differ, for example because of fill or compaction during construction. The official price based on BPEJ is not the market price of the plot.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find the BPEJ code of a parcel?

Under the decree the BPEJ code is available in the Czech land register; for a given parcel it is shown, for example, by Nahlížení do katastru, the free online land register viewer. Each code is described, including its protection class and price, in the BPEJ e-catalogue run by the state soil research institute VÚMOP (Výzkumný ústav monitoringu a ochrany půdy).

Can a BPEJ change?

Yes. Decree No. 227/2018 Coll. provides for updating BPEJ, for example after a flood, a landslide, severe erosion, or where the unit was clearly misidentified in the past.