Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise - Declaration by the Commission in the Conciliation Committee on the Directive relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

• Celex Number: 32002L0049
• Coming into Force: 18 July 2002
• End of Effective Date: 31 December 9999
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2002/49/oj
• Published date: 18 July 2002
• Date: 25 June 2002
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale delle Comunità europee, L 189, 18 luglio 2002,Diario Oficial de las Comunidades Europeas, L 189, 18 de julio de 2002,Journal officiel des Communautés européennes, L 189, 18 juillet 2002

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32002L0049

Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise - Declaration by the Commission in the Conciliation Committee on the Directive relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

Official Journal L 189 , 18/07/2002 P. 0012 - 0026

Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 25 June 2002

relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 175(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(4), and in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 8 April 2002,

Whereas:

(1) It is part of Community policy to achieve a high level of health and environmental protection, and one of the objectives to be pursued is protection against noise. In the Green Paper on Future Noise Policy, the Commission addressed noise in the environment as one of the main environmental problems in Europe.

(2) In its Resolution of 10 June 1997(5) on the Commission Green Paper, the European Parliament expressed its support for that Green Paper, urged that specific measures and initiatives should be laid down in a Directive on the reduction of environmental noise, and noted the lack of reliable, comparable data regarding the situation of the various noise sources.

(3) A common noise indicator and a common methodology for noise calculation and measurement around airports were identified in the Commission Communication of 1 December 1999 on Air Transport and the Environment. This communication has been taken into account in the provisions of this Directive.

(4) Certain categories of noise emissions from products are already covered by Community legislation, such as Council Directive 70/157/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the permissible sound level and the exhaust system of motor vehicles(6), Council Directive 77/311/EEC of 29 March 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the driver-perceived noise level of wheeled agricultural or forestry tractors(7), Council Directive 80/51/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the limitation of noise emissions from subsonic aircraft(8) and its complementary directives, Council Directive 92/61/EEC of 30 June 1992 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles(9) and Directive 2000/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the noise emission in the environment by equipment for use outdoors(10).

(5) This Directive should inter alia provide a basis for developing and completing the existing set of Community measures concerning noise emitted by the major sources, in particular road and rail vehicles and infrastructure, aircraft, outdoor and industrial equipment and mobile machinery, and for developing additional measures, in the short, medium and long term.

(6) Certain categories of noise such as noise created inside means of transport and noise from domestic activities should not be subject to this Directive.

(7) In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, the Treaty objectives of achieving a high level of protection of the environment and of health will be better reached by complementing the action of the Member States by a Community action achieving a common understanding of the noise problem. Data about environmental noise levels should therefore be collected, collated or reported in accordance with comparable criteria. This implies the use of harmonised indicators and evaluation methods, as well as criteria for the alignment of noise-mapping. Such criteria and methods can best be established by the Community.

(8) It is also necessary to establish common assessment methods for "environmental noise" and a definition for "limit values", in terms of harmonised indicators for the determination of noise levels. The concrete figures of any limit values are to be determined by the Member States, taking into account, inter alia, the need to apply the principle of prevention in order to preserve quiet areas in agglomerations.

(9) The selected common noise indicators are Lden, to assess annoyance, and Lnight, to assess sleep disturbance. It is also useful to allow Member States to use supplementary indicators in order to monitor or control special noise situations.

(10) Strategic noise mapping should be imposed in certain areas of interest as it can capture the data needed to provide a representation of the noise levels perceived within that area.

(11) Action plans should address priorities in those areas of interest and should be drawn up by the competent authorities in consultation with the public.

(12) In order to have a wide spread of information to the public, the most appropriate information channels should be selected.

(13) Data collection and the consolidation of suitable Community-wide reports are required as a basis for future Community policy and for further information of the public.

(14) An evaluation of the implementation of this Directive should be carried out regularly by the Commission.

(15) The technical provisions governing the assessment methods should be supplemented and adapted as necessary to technical and scientific progress and to progress in European standardisation.

(16) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(11),

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Objectives

1. The aim of this Directive shall be to define a common approach intended to avoid, prevent or reduce on a prioritised basis the harmful effects, including annoyance, due to exposure to environmental noise. To that end the following actions shall be implemented progressively:

(a) the determination of exposure to environmental noise, through noise mapping, by methods of assessment common to the Member States;

(b) ensuring that information on environmental noise and its effects is made available to the public;

(c) adoption of action plans by the Member States, based upon noise-mapping results, with a view to preventing and reducing environmental noise where necessary and particularly where exposure levels can induce harmful effects on human health and to preserving environmental noise quality where it is good.

2. This Directive shall also aim at providing a basis for developing Community measures to reduce noise emitted by the major sources, in particular road and rail vehicles and infrastructure, aircraft, outdoor and industrial equipment and mobile machinery. To this end, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council, no later than 18 July 2006, appropriate legislative proposals. Those proposals should take into account the results of the report referred to in Article 10(1).

Article 2

Scope

1. This Directive shall apply to environmental noise to which humans are exposed in particular in built-up areas, in public parks or other quiet areas in an agglomeration, in quiet areas in open country, near schools, hospitals and other noise-sensitive buildings and areas.

2. This Directive shall not apply to noise that is caused by the exposed person himself, noise from domestic activities, noise created by neighbours, noise at work places or noise inside means of transport or due to military activities in military areas.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a) "environmental noise" shall mean unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activities, including noise emitted by means of transport, road traffic, rail traffic, air traffic, and from sites of industrial activity such as those defined in Annex I to Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control(12);

(b) "harmful effects" shall mean negative effects on human health;

(c) "annoyance" shall mean the degree of community noise annoyance as determined by means of field surveys;

(d) "noise indicator" shall mean a physical scale for the description of environmental noise, which has a relationship with a harmful effect;

(e) "assessment" shall mean any method used to calculate, predict, estimate or measure the value of a noise indicator or the related harmful effects;

(f) "Lden" (day-evening-night noise indicator) shall mean the noise indicator for overall annoyance, as further defined in Annex I;

(g) "Lday" (day-noise indicator) shall mean the noise indicator for annoyance during the day period, as further defined in Annex I;

(h) "Levening" (evening-noise indicator) shall mean the noise indicator for annoyance during the evening period, as further defined in Annex I;

(i) "Lnight" (night-time noise indicator) shall mean the noise indicator for sleep disturbance, as further defined in Annex I;

(j) "dose-effect relation" shall mean the relationship between the value of a noise indicator and a harmful effect;

(k) "agglomeration" shall mean part of a territory, delimited by the Member State, having a population in excess of 100000 persons and a population density such that the Member State considers it to be an urbanised area;

(l) "quiet area in an agglomeration" shall mean an area, delimited by the competent authority, for instance which is not exposed to a value of Lden or of another appropriate noise...