Environmental Science Popularization | Six Highlights of the New Noise Law

The newly revised Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution (hereinafter referred to as the "New Noise Law") will come into force on June 5, 2022. The author sorts out six highlights of the new law for your further study and reference.

Highlight 1

Clarify the connotation of noise pollution and expand the scope of law application

First of all, it redefined the connotation of noise pollution, expanded the scope of application of the law, and made it clear that "it refers to the phenomenon that noise is generated by exceeding the noise emission standard or failing to take prevention and control measures according to law, and interferes with the normal life, work and study of others", so as to solve the problem that some noise pollution behaviors have regulatory gaps in the existing laws.

Areas without noise emission standards that generate noise include urban rail transit, "street bombing" by motor vehicles, taking public transport, raising pets, catering and other noise disturbing behaviors.

In view of the fact that there is no noise emission standard in some noise producing fields, the new noise law defines the phenomenon of noise disturbing others' normal life, work and study "without taking prevention and control measures according to law" as noise pollution on the basis of "exceeding the standard+disturbing people".

Secondly, the word "environment" in the name of the original law has been deleted, because it is man-made noise that needs to be prevented and controlled, not natural environmental noise. The new noise law makes it clear that the object of legal norms is man-made noise, which does not affect the strict requirements for noise pollution prevention and control, but focuses more on the noise pollution that needs to be solved by legal means.

The new noise law also extends industrial noise to the noise generated in production activities, increases the management and control of industrial equipment that may cause noise pollution, and clarifies the environmental vibration control standards and measures.

Highlight 2

Improve the noise standard system and scientifically and accurately control pollution according to law

There are three current noise standards, and there is no corresponding noise emission standard for new noise disturbing behaviors. In order to improve the noise standard system, the new noise law has three measures:

First of all, establish a standard system for noise pollution prevention and control. The new noise law specifies that the state should promote the construction of the standard system for prevention and control of noise pollution, and authorizes the competent ecological environment department under the State Council and other relevant departments under the State Council to formulate and improve relevant standards for prevention and control of noise pollution within their respective responsibilities, and strengthen the coordination between standards.

Secondly, expand the main scope of noise standard formulation. The new Noise Law authorizes people's governments at the provincial level to formulate local noise emission standards for those whose national noise emission standards have not yet been formulated; Where national noise emission standards have been formulated, local noise emission standards that are stricter than the national noise emission standards may also be formulated. At the same time, local governments at or above the county level are authorized to delimit the applicable areas of various acoustic environmental quality standards in their respective administrative areas according to the national acoustic environmental quality standards, land and space planning and the current situation of land use.

Third, clearly formulate environmental vibration control standards. Due to the lack of relevant control standards and systems, the vibration problem is difficult to collect evidence and the management basis is unclear, which needs to be solved urgently. The new noise law clearly requires the competent ecological environment department under the State Council to formulate national noise emission standards and relevant environmental vibration control standards according to the national acoustic environment quality standards and the national economic and technical conditions.

Highlight 3

Strengthen the prevention and control of noise sources and build a solid line of defense against pollution

First, prevent and control in the planning. The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments are required to carry out environmental impact assessment according to law when formulating and revising land space plans and relevant plans, fully consider the impact of noise generated by urban and rural regional development, transformation and construction projects on the surrounding living environment, make overall planning, reasonably arrange land use and construction layout, and prevent and reduce noise pollution.

Secondly, prevent and control in the layout. When determining the construction layout, it is required to reasonably delimit the noise prevention distance between the building and the traffic trunk line according to the national acoustic environment quality standard and the relevant standards for the sound insulation design of civil buildings, and put forward the corresponding planning and design requirements; When building noise sensitive buildings on both sides of traffic trunk lines, around industrial enterprises and other places, a certain distance should also be set according to regulations, and measures should be taken to reduce vibration and noise.

Third, prevention and control in products. To request the competent department for standardization under the State Council, together with the relevant regulatory authorities, to specify the noise limits in its technical specifications or product quality standards for industrial equipment, construction machinery, motor vehicles, railway rolling stock, urban rail transit vehicles, civil aircraft, motor ships, electrical and electronic products, building auxiliary equipment and other products that may cause noise pollution; The market supervision and management shall strengthen the supervision and sampling of the noise emitted by elevators and other special equipment, and the competent department of ecological environment shall cooperate.

Highlight 4

Strengthen the responsibilities of governments at all levels and clarify the target assessment and evaluation

First, the completion of noise pollution prevention and control objectives will be included in the government's evaluation, that is, by using the targeted, quantitative and institutionalized management methods, the main responsible person and the scope of responsibility for noise pollution prevention and control will be detailed in the form of a letter of responsibility, so that the tasks can be broken down and implemented layer by layer, so as to achieve the established acoustic environment quality objectives.

Second, the ecological environment departments of the people's governments at or above the provincial level should negotiate with other departments responsible for the supervision and management of noise pollution prevention and control in areas where the targets set in the sound environment quality improvement plan have not been completed and where the noise pollution problem is prominent and the public has a strong response, and require timely rectification, while the situation should be disclosed to the public.

Third, if serious pollution is caused by the noise emitted from the operation of highways, urban roads and urban rail transit, or by the noise emitted from the operation of railways, the noise emitted from the takeoff and landing of civil aircraft, etc., the people's governments of cities divided into districts and at the county level should organize the relevant departments to investigate, evaluate and determine the responsibility for the noise pollution, and formulate a comprehensive noise pollution control plan.

Fourth, the people's governments of cities and counties divided into districts where the areas fail to meet the national acoustic environmental quality standards shall promptly formulate plans for improving the acoustic environmental quality and their implementation plans, and take effective measures to improve the acoustic environmental quality. At the same time, the planning and implementation plan should be made public to the public.

Highlight 5

Classified prevention and control of noise pollution, and accurate measures to suit the situation

For industrial noise, the management system of pollutant discharge permit and the self monitoring system have been added. At the same time, new reconstruction and expansion projects that may cause noise pollution are required to carry out environmental impact assessment; It is required that the facilities for prevention and control of noise pollution of a construction project shall be designed, constructed and put into operation simultaneously with the main part of the project; Before putting into production or use, the construction unit shall check and accept the supporting noise pollution prevention and control facilities, prepare an acceptance report and make it public.

For construction noise, the first is to clarify the responsibility of the construction unit for noise pollution prevention and control. The construction unit is required to include the cost of noise pollution prevention and control into the project cost. The second is to clarify the automatic monitoring responsibility of the construction unit and be responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of the monitoring data. Third, the provision of prohibiting night construction has been added, except for rush repair and emergency construction operations that must be carried out continuously due to production process requirements or other special needs. Fourth, the requirements for giving priority to the use of low-noise construction equipment have been added. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Ministry of Ecological Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development and other departments, should publish the directory of low-noise construction equipment guidance and update it in due time.

For traffic noise, first, the impact of noise shall be considered in infrastructure site selection. For example, the route selection design of newly-built highways and railways should try to avoid areas where noise sensitive buildings are concentrated; The distance between the location of the new civil airport and the area where noise sensitive buildings are concentrated shall meet the requirements of the standard. Second, there should be requirements for noise pollution prevention in the technical specifications of infrastructure related projects. Third, strengthen the prevention and control of subway and railway noise. Fourth, strengthen the management of the use of alarms.

As for the noise of social life, the first is to encourage the cultivation of a good habit of reducing noise generation. In daily activities, noise generation should be avoided as far as possible to cause interference to surrounding people. The second is to prevent noise pollution in the neighborhood. When using household appliances, musical instruments or other family activities, we should control the volume or take other effective measures. Third, to prevent indoor decoration noise, the operation time shall be limited according to regulations and effective measures shall be taken. The fourth is to encourage the creation of quiet areas. During the middle school entrance examination and college entrance examination, restrictions on the time and area of activities that may have noise impact are made.

Highlight 6

Focus on the difficulties of noise disturbing residents to ensure a peaceful and harmonious environment

First, it is forbidden to disturb people with square dance noise. It is required to organize or carry out activities in public places, abide by the regulations of the public place manager on the activity area, time period, volume, etc., and take effective measures to prevent noise pollution. At the same time, managers of public places are required to specify the area, period and volume of entertainment, fitness and other activities, and take measures such as setting up automatic noise monitoring and display facilities to strengthen supervision and management. If anyone violates the regulations, the first thing is to persuade and educate him and order him to make corrections; If it refuses to make corrections, it shall be given a warning, and the individual may be fined not less than 200 yuan but not more than 1000 yuan, and the unit may be fined not less than 2000 yuan but not more than 20000 yuan.

Second, it is forbidden for motor vehicles to "bomb the streets" and disturb people. It is clearly forbidden to drive a motor vehicle that has been refitted without authorization, such as removing or damaging the muffler or installing exhaust pipes, to cause noise pollution by roaring or speeding. It is required to control the volume when using motor vehicle audio equipment. Those who violate the regulations shall be punished by the traffic control department of the public security organ in accordance with the laws and regulations on road traffic.

Third, bars and other commercial places are not allowed to disturb residents with noise. It is explicitly required that the operators and managers of cultural entertainment, sports, catering and other places should take effective measures to prevent and reduce noise pollution, and prohibit the use of loudspeakers in commercial activities, or use other methods of continuous repeated high noise for advertising. Those who violate the regulations shall be ordered to make corrections and fined not less than 5000 yuan but not more than 50000 yuan; If it refuses to make corrections, it shall be fined not less than 50000 yuan but not more than 200000 yuan, and may be ordered to suspend business with the approval of the people's government with the power of approval.

If the above three acts cannot be stopped after dissuasion, mediation and handling, continue to interfere with the normal life, work and study of others, or have other acts against the administration of public security, the public security organ shall impose administrative penalties for public security according to law; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.