THE EUROPEAN POLICY AND LEGISLATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE

Transcription

1 Draft for the Journal of the INCE/Japan T. ten Wolde. THE EUROPEAN POLICY AND LEGISLATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE Tjeert ten Wolde Formerly: TNO (Delft) and European Commission (Brussels) Graaf Willem de Rijkelaan TK, Leidschendam The Netherlands Tel: ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has a policy on environmental noise which is similar to its policies on air pollution and water pollution. All these policies make a clear distinction between emission and immission oriented legislation, and they have several other common elements. The European legislation on environmental noise consists of a general directive and a large number of directives concerning the reduction of noise emission by products. Examples of such products are cars, aircraft and lawnmowers. The general directive was issued in 2002 and its application has just started. The first EU directives on noise emission were issued some 35 years ago. In the last decade existing directives have been modernised and new directives have been added, covering more and more machines. The European legislation is implemented through the national legislation of the 25 EU Member States, which means that the main elements are identical but that the details are different from Member State to Member State. Alongside the EU legislation, many EU Member States have additional national legislation on environmental noise. HISTORY OF NOISE LEGISLATION IN EUROPE About 40 years ago, several European countries started with the introduction of legislation on environmental noise. Since than, in most countries legislation has been developed for parts of the noise problems, like for example industrial noise or aircraft noise. There are a few countries that introduced a general law on environmental noise, covering all aspects of environmental noise control. Early examples of such countries are Germany and The Netherlands, Italy followed more recently. Soon after the introduction of their national legislation, Germany and The Netherlands realized that legislation on the noise emission by machines is a vital element of a general noise policy. They also realised that such legislation can be better handled at the EU level than at the national level. Other EU Member States agreed and in 1970 the first directives on the reduction of noise emission by products were issued. In the next decades directives for more and more machines were added. 1

2 Around 1997 the EU Member States agreed to a further harmonisation and modernisation of their legislation on environmental noise and adopted the following policy: 1. Modernization of the noise emission directives and extension of the number of machines covered by these directives. 2. Development of a general directive on environmental noise, in line with the EU environmental policy for air pollution and water pollution. 3. Stimulation of research. Since than, important steps have been taken to implement this policy. RELATED EU POLICIES An important related EU policy is that on the health and safety aspects of machines. Its principles are laid down in the so-called Machinery directive. Machines are only allowed for sale in the EU when they satisfy the requirements as defined in a special directive for that machine. Regarding measurement methods, the Machinery directive stimulates the use of European Standards. The directive also provides a number of standard procedures for the conformity assessment. Under certain conditions manufacturers are allowed to assess their new products themselves, in other cases a special test laboratory shall do it. The policy is primarily focussed on the health and safety of the users of the machine, but it has been agreed that also directives that are focussed on the noise emission into the environment should be adapted to the principles of the Machinery directive. Another strongly related policy is that on air pollution. That policy has the following principles: 1. Determination, as good as possible, of the actual pollution. 2. Separate attention for the emission, the transmission and the immission (reception). 3. Application of the best available science. 4. Information and consultation of the public. 5. Action plans. 6. Limit values for emission and for immission. It was agreed that the EU policy on environmental noise would also follow these lines. Figure 1 The different types of EU noise legislation: emission legislation for products and general immission oriented legislation. The latter legislation includes transmission and emission elements. 2

3 THE EU DIRECTIVES ON NOISE EMISSION There are already a considerable number of EU directives on noise emission and others are being prepared. Table 1 gives an overview. More information can be found via an EU website [1]. Table 1. - Overview of the EU legislation on noise emission into the environment. Noise source(s) Document code(s) Requirements Subsonic aircraft 80/51/EEC Type approval ( certification ) with limit values Subsonic jet aeroplanes 89/629/EEC Type approval ( certification ) with limit values Motor vehicles (cars, trucks, 70/157/EEC, 73/350/EEC, Type approval with limit values vans, busses) 84/372/EEC, 84/424/EEC, 96/20/EC Tyres for motor vehicles 2001/43/EC Type approval with limit values Motor cycles 97/24/EC Type approval and limit values Trans European high speed trains and railway Directive 96/48/EC and the Commission Decisions Limit values and/or recommendations for rolling stock and/or infrastructure infrastructure 2002/735/EC and 2002/732/EC Trans European conventional 2001/16/EC and Commission Recommendations for rolling stock trains decision 2004/446/EC Recreational craft (boats) 2003/44/EC Type approval with limit values Equipment for use outdoors 2000/14/EC Type approval with marking and for some machines also limit values Most directives require type approval with limit values, some define other requirements like the application of a label see Figure 2. Figure 2 Noise label on a lawnmower according to directive 2000/14/EC, together with other labels. Lawnmowers shall also satisfy a limit for noise emission. 3

4 Most of the emission directives concern market access. Equipment can only be placed on the market or put into service in the European Union when it satisfies the requirements of the specific directive. This concerns all equipment, either produced in the EU or imported. The directives on the emission by aircraft follow the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Additionally to the directives on the emission by aircraft, there are also two directives on the limitation of the operations of aircraft from airports in relation to noise control [2]. For motor vehicles (cars, vans, trucks, motor cycles) the EU adapts to the developments in the World Forum for Vehicle Regulations within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). The emission directives for trains cover as well high speed trains as conventional rolling stock. The directives include recommendations for the railway tracks. The directive 2000/14/EC on the noise emission from equipment for use outdoors has a different set-up than the other directives mentioned in table 1. It is the only directive which takes care of the uncertainties due to measurements and production. According to the directive the manufacturer guarantees with 95% certainty that the noise emission of the particular machine does not exceed the labelled value. The same is true regarding the limit value, if applicable. THE GENERAL DIRECTIVE ON ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE According to [3] the new European Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise, has the aim to provide a common basis for tackling the noise problem across the EU. The underlying principles of this text, are similar to those for other overarching environment policy directives: Monitoring the environmental problem; by requiring competent authorities in Member States to draw up "strategic noise maps" for major roads, railways, airports and agglomerations, using harmonised noise indicators L den (dayevening-night equivalent level) and L night (night equivalent level). These maps will be used to assess the number of people annoyed and sleep-disturbed respectively throughout Europe. Informing and consulting the public about noise exposure, its effects, and the measures considered to address noise, in line with the principles of the Aarhus Convention [4]. Addressing local noise issues by requiring competent authorities to draw up action plans to reduce noise where necessary and maintain environmental noise quality where it is good. The directive does not set any limit value, nor does it prescribe the measures to be used in the action plans, which remain at the discretion of the competent authorities. Developing a long-term EU strategy, which includes objectives to reduce the number of people affected by noise in the longer term, and provides a framework for developing existing Community policy on noise reduction from 4

5 source. With this respect, the Commission has made a declaration concerning the provisions laid down in article 1.2 of the directive with regard to the preparation of legislation relating to sources of noise. These principles are also shown in figure 3. HARMONISATION OF NOISE INDICATORS AND ASSESSMENT METHODS LIMIT VALUES (optional; set by the Member States) NOISE MAPS for MAJOR AGGLOMERATIONS, ROADS, RAILWAYS AND AIRPORTS European Commission ACTION PLANS INFORMATION/CONSUL- TATION of the PUBLIC Proposals for: 1. FURTHER EU ACTIONS, particularly on NOISE SOURCES 2. PROTECTION OF QUIET AREAS IN OPEN COUNTRY European Council and European Parliament Figure 3 Overview of the European directive 2002/49/EC on environmental noise. The noise indicators were recommended by a special working group [5, 6]. The indicators are the day-evening-night level L den and the equivalent noise level over the night period L night. They are carefully defined in an annex of the directive. The definition for L den is as follows: L den = 10lg *10 Lday Levening+ 5 L *10 + 8* night The equivalent noise levels for the day, the evening and the night periods, which form the basis for L den, are taken over all the day, evening and night periods of a year. L night is also such a long-term average. For the so-called strategic noise mapping in the context of the directive, the position at which L den shall be determined lies 4 m above the local ground. The incident sound is considered, which means that no account is taken of the sound that is reflected from the façade of the dwelling under consideration. The assessment methods for the determination of the value of the noise indicators concern: 5

6 Measurement methods for L den en L night Computation methods for L den en L night Dose-effect relations providing the possibility to determine the number of annoyed and sleep disturbed people. Reports and other documents on these issues can be found on a special website [6]. For the time being the EU Member States are allowed to use their own national computation and measurement methods, provided that the results do not differ significantly from the recommended interim methods as defined by the European Commission. The Member States are invited to estimate the number of annoyed and sleep disturbed people on the bases of the noise mapping results and the dose-effect relations as presented by the European Commission. An example of a noise map is shown in figure 4. Figure 4: Road traffic noise map for Amsterdam. Maps for limited areas with more detailed information are also available. A vital element of the directive is the communication with the public through the publication of the mapping results and the discussion on action plans. Another important element of this communication is the periodical report with a survey of mapping results and action plans for all agglomerations, major roads, railways and airports in the Union, to be published by the European Commission. 6

7 Although the directive is primarily immission oriented, it gives the European Commission also the task to improve the emission oriented legislation and to develop policy for the protection of relatively quiet areas in the open country. RESEARCH The development of the noise policy in the EU is accompanied by research projects covering the following subjects: 1. Improvement of computation methods 2. Dose-effect relations 3. Noise control of sources like aircraft and lawnmowers. 4. Noise valuation. Details can be found at the general noise website [1] and the Cordis website [7] of the EU. PRESENT SITUATION The noise emission directives for products are in full operation, also in the new EU Member States. Most EU Member States have incorporated the environmental noise directive 2002/49/EC in their national legislation, although in several countries further adaptations are still going on. For the 10 Member States which recently joined the Union, the implementation of directive is not yet completed. New candidate countries, like Turkey, have started its implementation. The EU Member States are preparing the first round of strategic noise mapping, which must be finished before 30 June They are also preparing the process of public interaction and the making of action plans (the first round to be finished before 18 July 2008). FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS The intentions of the European Commission regarding a further reduction of the noise emission by sources are given in a recent report to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers [8]. It concerns many types of noisy equipment, but particularly the intentions to reduce the noise from trucks, vans, passenger cars, motor cycles, tyres, trains and aircraft are important. Some elements of the EU noise policy are already handled at the global level. The most important example is the noise emission from civil aircraft, where ICAO has the lead. For road vehicles there is an attempt to handle the noise emission matters in the UN/ECE World Forum for harmonisation of vehicles. It should be expected that in the future more elements of the noise emission policy for products are shifted to the global level. This usually means however that progress is slow. For aircraft, for example, it implies that new limit values for the certification (= type approval) do not directly follow the state-of-the-art but the lower levels for new aircraft which have already been 7

8 sold. For road vehicles it means that it is extremely difficult to introduce more effective test methods. Improvement would be very useful because, at present, noise reduction according to the motor vehicle noise directives does not always mean that the immission in the environment is reduced with a similar number of db. Often it is much less. Furthermore, attempts of the EU to develop global legislation on the noise emission by tyres has been blocked, so far. The most spectacular improvement that will be realised in the future is the retrofitting of existing wagons for freight trains from cast iron to composite break blocks, which can reduce the noise emission with 8 to 10 db [8]. This program has already started, but should be accelerated. Regarding the general directive 2002/49/EC it should be expected that, in spite of the efforts of the European Commission to provide a preliminary state of harmonisation, the results of the strategic noise mapping shall have a limited degree of comparability throughout the EU. Consequently the Commission is developing more modern and more accurate methods and intends to introduce these as harmonised methods in all Member States. A first step on this difficult road has been set by the HARMONOISE and the IMAGINE projects [9, 10]. In most EU Member States there is additional noise immission legislation alongside the legislation prescribed by the EU. It is expected that much of this legislation will gradually adopt the two EU noise indicators and the EU assessment methods. REFERENCES AND WEBSITES [1] EU website on environmental noise: [2] Directive 92/14/EEC on the limitation of the operations of aeroplanes and Directive 2002/30/EC on operating restrictions at Community airports. [3] Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise, Official Journal of the European Communities L 189/12, 18 July 2002 [4] UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, Aarhus, Denmark (1998 June 25), see or [5] Position paper on EU noise indicators, European Commission, Brussels, ISBN X, [6] The position paper on noise indicators [5] and many other position papers and reports of EU working groups can be downloaded from [7] Website on EU research: 8

9 [8] Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council concerning further policy on sources. COM(2004) 160 final, Can be downloaded from the general noise website [1] and from the EU noise library website [6]. [9] For information on the HARMONOISE project see website or [1] or [6]. [10] For information on the IMAGINE project see the website or [1] or [6]. 9