Regulations, 2022

L.N. 35 of 2022

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT

(CAP. 549)

Assessment and Management of Environment Noise (Amendment)

Regulations, 2022

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by articles 54 and 55(2)

of the Environment Protection Act, the Minister for the Environment,

Climate Change and Planning, after consultation with the Environment

and Resources Authority, has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Assessment and Citation.

Management of Environment Noise (Amendment) Regulations, 2022

and these regulations shall be read and construed as one with the

Assessment and Management of Environment Noise Regulations, S.L. 549.37.

hereinafter referred to as "the principal regulations".

In regulation 3 of the principal regulations, the words Amends

"Commission Directive (EU) 2015/996 of 19 May 2015 establishing regulation

the principal

common noise assessment methods, according to Directive 2002/49/ regulations.

EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, as from 31

December 2018" shall be substituted by the words "Commission

Directive (EU) 2015/996 of 19 May 2015, Commission Directive (EU)

2020/367 of 4 March 2020 and Commission Delegated Directive (EU)

2021/1226 of 21 December 2020.".

The Second Schedule to the principal regulations shall be Substitutes the

Second

substituted by the following new Schedule

Schedule to the

principal

regulations.

"SECOND SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR THE NOISE INDICATORS

REFERRED TO IN REGULATION 7(1)

Refer to Annex II to Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament

and of the Council, as amended.".

The Third Schedule to the principal regulations shall be Substitutes the

Third Schedule

substituted by the following new Schedule

to the principal

regulations.

" THIRD SCHEDULE

ASSESSMENT METHODS FOR HARMFUL EFFECTS REFERRED

TO IN REGULATION 7(2)

1. Set of harmful effects

For the purposes of the assessment of harmful effects the

following shall be considered

— ischaemic heart disease (IHD) corresponding to codes BA40

to BA6Z of the international classification ICD-11 established by the

World Health Organisation;

— high annoyance (HA);

— high sleep disturbance (HSD).

2. Calculation of harmful effects

The harmful effects shall be calculated by either of the following

— the relative risk (RR) of a harmful effect defined as

(Formula 1)

— the absolute risk (AR) of a harmful effect defined as

(Formula 2)

2.1. IHD

For the calculation of the RR, with respect to the harmful effect

of IHD and concerning the incidence rate (i) , the following dose-effect

relations shall be used

(Formula 3) for road noise.

2.2. HA

For the calculation of the AR, with respect to the harmful effect

of HA the following dose-effect relations shall be used

for road noise;

for railway noise;

for aircraft noise.

2.3

HSD

For the calculation of the AR, with respect to the harmful effect

of HSD the following dose-effect relations shall be used

for road noise;

for railway noise;

for aircraft noise.

3. Assessment of harmful effects

3.1 The exposure of the population shall be assessed

independently for each noise source and harmful effect. Where the

same people are simultaneously exposed to different noise sources, the

harmful effects may, in general, not be cumulated. However, those

effects may be compared to assess the relative importance of each

noise.

3.2

Assessment for IHD

3.2.1. For IHD in the case of railway and aircraft noise, the

population exposed above adequate L den levels is estimated as subject

to an increased risk of IHD, while the exact number N of cases of IHD

cannot be calculated.

3.2.2. For IHD in the case of road noise, the proportion of cases

of the specific harmful effect in the population exposed to a RR that is

calculated to be caused by environmental noise is derived, for the

noise source x (road), harmful effect y (IHD) and for the incidence i

by

(Formula 10)

Where

— PAF x,y is the population attributable fraction,

— the set of j noise bands is made up of single bands spanning

over a maximum of 5 dB (e.g.: 50-51 dB, 51-52 dB, 52-53 dB, etc. or

50-54 dB, 55-59 dB, 60-64 dB, etc.),

— p j is the proportion of the overall population P in the area

assessed that is exposed to the j -th exposure band, which is associated

with a given RR of a specific harmful effect RR j,x,y . The RR j,x,y is

calculated using the formulas described in point 2 of this Schedule,

calculated at the central value of each noise band (e.g.: depending on

availability of data, at 50,5 dB for the noise band defined between 50-

51 dB, or 52 dB for the noise band 50-54 dB).

3.2.3. For IHD in the case of road noise, the total number N of

cases of IHD (people affected by the harmful effect y ; number of

attributable cases) due to the source x is then

N x,y = PAF x,y,i * I y * P (Formula 11)

for road.

Where

— PAFx,y,i is calculated for the incidence i ,

— Iy is the incidence rate of IHD in the area under assessment,

that can be obtained from statistics on health for the region or country

where the area is,

— P is the total population of the area under assessment (the sum

of the population in the different noise bands).

3.3. For HA and HSD in the case of road, railway and aircraft

noise, the total number N of people affected by the harmful effect y

(number of attributable cases) due to the source x , for each

combination of noise source x (road, railway or aircraft source) and

harmful effect y (HA, HSD), is then

Where

— AR x,y is the AR of the relevant harmful effect (HA, HSD), and

is calculated using the formulas set out in point 2 of this Schedule,

calculated at the central value of each noise band (e.g.: depending on

availability of data, at 50,5 dB for the noise band defined between 50-

51 dB, or 52 dB for the noise band 50-54 dB),

— n j is the number of people that is exposed to the j -th exposure

band.

4. Future revisions

The dose-effect relations introduced by future revisions of this

Schedule will concern in particular

— the relation between annoyance and L den for industrial noise,

— the relation between sleep disturbance and L night for industrial

noise.

If necessary, specific dose-effect relations could be presented for

— dwellings with special insulation against noise as defined in

the Sixth Schedule,

— dwellings with a quiet façade as defined in the Sixth Schedule,

— different climates/different cultures,

— vulnerable groups of the population,

— tonal industrial noise,

— impulsive industrial noise and other special cases.".

€0.54