A Malta Environment and Planning Authority tender for the commissioning of a national noise map has been cancelled, leaving a process that would have already been three years late, as per EU regulations, in more of a lurch than ever.

The tender, for noise control consultancy services, was dropped from the EU’s tendering process this week with the explanation that the tendering procedure was incomplete, has been declared unsuccessful and has been discontinued.

But even if the tender had been awarded, its final implementation would have already been three years after the deadline for the implementation of the EU’s Noise Directive.

The European Commission said last week it was considering taking further steps against Malta to ensure that the country complies with European regulations on noise mapping and the supply of data on the population’s exposure to noise pollution.

In reply to a European Parliamentary question last week, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas had said, “Malta has not yet submitted any report to the Commission regarding either the preparation of the noise maps or action plans,” and that, “the Commission is considering further steps to ensure that Malta complies with its obligations under the directive.”

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s plans for the commissioning of national noise maps, as required by the EU’s Noise Directive, have been seriously delayed, despite the significant amount of public outcry on the issue.

Malta had until the end of 2007 to bring itself in line with the European Union’s Noise Directive and it was to have been still over a year before the noise-mapping project is completed, leaving Malta in breach of the EU directive for over three years.

Now that the process has hit another hurdle, the process could very well be expected to be dragged out further still.

Directive 2002/49/EC, more commonly known as the Environmental Noise Directive (END), deals with noise from road, rail and air traffic as well as from industry. It focuses on the impact of such noise on individuals and complements existing EU legislation that sets standards for noise emissions from specific sources.

In short, the END requires the determination of exposure to environmental noise through noise mapping, as well as the provision of information on environmental noise and its effects on the public. Action plans based on noise-mapping results will also need to be adopted.

The noise-mapping project also forms part of a wider and more holistic environmental monitoring system, which is also in the pipeline.

The noise maps themselves will determine levels of exposure to environmental noise using common noise indicators, inform the public on environmental noise and its effects, as well as report the noise exposure data to the European Commission.

Overall, according to the directive, the noise action plan will be geared towards preventing and reducing environmental noise “where necessary and particularly where exposure can induce harmful effects on human health”; and protecting “quiet areas”.

Malta will then be required to develop and implement measures to limit ambient noise where it exceeds limit values set by the EU and Maltese legislation on the control of ambient noise levels. According to the directive, member states themselves are to establish standard noise limits, noise targets and noise values to be taken into consideration in the designation and protection of “quiet areas”.

The competent authorities, Mepa in Malta’s case, will, at their own discretion, also consider applicable mitigation measures.