Assessment and management of environmental noise

This report provides the European Parliament and the Council with a review of existing Community legislation relating to sources of environmental noise, pursuant to article 10 (1) of Directive 2002/49/EC. The present report states that environmental noise is addressed at the Community level through a wide range of instruments including provisions on harmonisation of noise assessment and management, on environmental assessment, market access requirements for certain vehicles and equipments, railway interoperability specifications and rules on operating restrictions at airports. Furthermore, research and development constitute an essential building block in the development of Community measures relating to noise. The Commission endeavours to develop these measures in order to further improve the noise exposure situation in Europe, on the understanding that legislative proposals on sources of noise should be made on the basis of robust evidence supporting such proposals. This is in line with the 'knowledge based approach' for policy making as laid down in the Sixth Environment Action Programme. Lastly, the Commission will regularly assess the need for making new legislative proposals on sources of noise and, where appropriate, make such proposals.�