Grassroots reform to cut down the noise

Date: 19/09/1996

By Michael Mann

PEACE could soon return to the gardens of Europe.

Plans being drawn up by officials in the European Commission's Directorate-General for environment (DGXI) to limit emissions from 'outdoor equipment' will be music to the ears of all those whose weekend barbecues have been ruined by their neighbours' battles to keep their lawns under control.

The measure, due to be adopted by the full Commission early next year, would set noise limits for garden and leisure equipment, adding to existing legislation on tools used in the construction industry. The proposals will cover about 60 different types of machinery.

For those 20 or so machines where sufficient data is already available, noise limits will be set from the outset.

“This would cover things like lawnmowers, pneumatic drills and municipal vehicles, and would hopefully incorporate all the old directives in one,” said an official.

For the rest, industry would be obliged initially to label the equipment with a mark stating how loud the equipment was. Once a reliable database had been established, limits would be set for the remaining products on the list.

Proposals will be based on experience gathered in the member states. France, for example, already has laws limiting noise from construction machinery, while the Dutch are actively encouraging the manufacture of low-noise machines.

But before unveiling any concrete proposals, the Commission will launch a Europe-wide debate on the future of noise policy, asking governments, industry and 'green' groups to set out their vision of how far EU legislation should extend.

Its efforts will concentrate on urban and “environmental” noise, rather than problems in the workplace, which are already covered to a large extent by health and safety legislation.

Where the Commission has previously concentrated on harmonisation as a means of dismantling barriers to trade within the single market, officials stress its approach now is to combine this with a concern for tighter environmental standards.

A separate discussion paper, due for release in the coming weeks, will look at noise levels from all forms of transport.

A spokesman for the Association of European Airlines said the organisation was “girding its loins” to fight any moves to limit its members' activities.

Officials stress there is as yet no European legislation limiting noise from trains, seen by many as the ideal solution to the problem of heavily-congested roads.

Interested parties will also be asked to look at ways of harmonising methods for measuring exposure to noise. In time, this could lead to the compilation of “noise maps”, according to officials.

Research will be encouraged into how to judge the relative annoyance caused by different noises. “Do some things cause more irritation than others at the same decibel level?” wonders one official.