Assessment and management of environmental noise

Of the 10 amendments adopted by the european Parliament, six can be accepted in full. The remaining four cannot be accepted. Amendments accepted by the Commission include: - reinstatement of the Commission's initial proposal wording for the objectives of the directive instead of the common position's text; - those amendments that seek partly to reintroduce technical specifications for noise mapping form the original Commission proposal. These amendments will allow for a better protection of quiet areas while at the same time seeking compromise with the Council; - the reintroduction of the original deadline proposed by the Commission for provision by Member States of information on the agglomeration and infrastructures concerned by the second phase of noise mapping. Some attention will need to be paid to the general consistency of the timetable of the directive, with a view to avoiding inappropriate deadlines. The amendments which the Commission cannot accept include the case for daughter directives laying down binding quality standards for all sources of emission. The Commission believes that it would be premature to consider setting new limit values before any noise maps have been produced. Other amendments rejected: - the obligation to use common noise indicators Lden and Lnight for acoustical planning and noise zoning. The Council agreed that common indicators should only be used for the purpose of strategic noise mapping; - the deletion of the two-phase approach for action plans for noise from roads and railways. However, this approach is kept for noise maps. This will lead to minor roads and railways having action plans drawn up without the information from the noise maps-whose preparation will not be compulsory. This amendment will introduce inconsistencies in the implementation of the directive.�