The Environmental Noise Directive

The European Parliament and Council have adopted the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise 2002/49/EC, more commonly referred to as the Environmental Noise Directive (END) whose main aim is to provide a common basis for assessing environmental noise issues across the EU and taking action to address them.

The END deals with noise from road, rail, air traffic, and from industry. It focuses on the impact of such noise on individuals, complementing existing EU legislation, which sets standards for noise emissions from specific sources.

The aim of the END is to define a common approach to environmental noise issues across the European Union. The three main objectives of the END are:

• To determine the noise exposure of the population through noise mapping. 
• To make information available on environmental noise to the public. 
• To establish Action Plans based on the mapping results, to reduce noise levels where necessary, and to preserve environmental noise quality where it is good.

The Directive was transposed into Welsh legislation by the National Assembly for Wales as Welsh Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 2629 (W.225) The Environmental Noise (Wales) Regulations 2006 (here after known as the 2006 Regulations). In the UK, environmental noise is a Devolved matter and the requirements of the Directive will therefore be taken forward separately in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

In 2002 the Welsh Assembly Government commissioned a study to provide information on the availability and collection of data involved in the production of noise maps as required by the EU Directive on Environmental Noise. The study was undertaken by Colthurst Stealey and a copy of the study can be found on the noise monitoring and mapping page.

Visit: Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise 2002/49/EC (external link)

Visit: The Environmental Noise (Wales) Regulations 2006 (external link)