Laws concerning the regulation of noise pollution are spread over a number of different legislative measures, most of which are independent of each other. This results in a lack of enforcement and a subjective approach being taken by the courts.

The only instance when action was taken to consolidate the law was in 2012 when a White Paper on the subject was published by the then Nationalist-administered Ministry for Tourism, Culture and the Environment. That White Paper attempted to harmonise the law on noise by presenting a number of pertinent solutions.

In 2013, there was a change in government and, to date, no bill has been presented to Parliament. The Malta Independent on Sunday put forward a number of questions to the Ministry for the Environment and Climate Change on 16 June, with one in particular asking when and if a bill will be presented. Despite several reminders, the questions remained unanswered by the time of going to press.

Several articles by different newspapers in the last six years had reported the Ministry as saying that the bill on noise pollution would be presented in the near future.

While laws do exist on the subject, perhaps the reason for the lack of enforcement is the significant amount of coordination required between different authorities and the inherent fragmentation that exists.

A Eurostat survey showed that between 2016 and 2017, Malta remained in the top spot with the highest percentage of noise from neighbours or from the street.

 

Commercial and entertainment premises

With regard to commercial and entertainment places like nightclubs, the regulation of noise is stipulated by the Trading Licence Regulations and the latter even by the Catering Regulations. These stipulate time limits on noise that may be considered a nuisance.

However, these limits are dependent on localities and the conditions of the licence. If the operation of the commercial premises is licensed to open between 1am and 4am, it should be ensured that during those hours any sound that can be heard outside the premises or anything done inside or outside the premises should not cause annoyance or inconvenience.

It appears however, that noise limits these entertainment premises must not exceed are not stipulated in the law, although WHO and EU guidelines may be applied. One of the questions also put forward to the Ministry was: what is done when noise is made by customers of these premises when they gather outside after hours.

Several complaints received by this newspaper from residents in San Gwann and Attard say that music from nightclubs close by can be heard from their residences clearly indicate that the regulations are not being enforced.

 

Fireworks

In the case of fireworks, the law seems to be quite extensive, as it stipulates both time limits when the fireworks are set-off as well as the duration. Regulations even provide for the maximum noise limits which fireworks have to comply with depending on the category which they fall under.

However, residents of Qormi who spoke to this newspaper stated that fireworks, as well as marching bands, go on for much later than the times stipulated by law. This is also evident in a number of other localities by the number of complaints posted on social media.

 

Animals

Noise caused by animals is regulated in the Police Code which states: “Any person who keeps confined or causes or suffers any animal to be kept confined in any place shall take such precautions as may be required by the circumstances to prevent such animal from annoying the neighbours by howling or whimpering or otherwise.”

The law, in this case, seems to imply maltreatment of the animal and does not stipulate the length of time the animal can make noise for it to be deemed a nuisance. Furthermore, several reports have stated that in most cases nothing is done about dogs that bark constantly. 

 

Construction sites

The noise emanating from construction sites is regulated by the Environmental Management Construction Site Regulations which states that if noise generated by construction work can be heard from outside the site they cannot start before 7am and they must finish at 8pm. Constructions sites creating noise exceeding 65dB must stop work from 2pm to 4pm.

Several reports made to this newspaper confirm that many construction sites do not abide by these laws.

Again, it seems that enforcement is the issue as The Malta Independent has run several stories about the lack of enforcement by the Building Regulations Office.

 

Noise maps

According to the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) website, it is obliged by the EU Environmental Noise Directive to produce strategic noise maps, the publication of information on environmental noise, and the drawing up of action plans.

The Directive states that these maps and reports need to be made to the European Commission every five years.

The ERA website indicates that the reports for 2007 and 2012 were produced, which means that the next noise maps should have been due in 2017. To date, none are currently available.

 

The White Paper’s proposals

The list of noise sources is a long one and includes those emanating from human activity, construction and building sites, road noise, church bells etc. What is clear is that although laws preventing noise pollution do exist they are not harmonised and sometimes are too general. Furthermore, the lack of enforcement of the current laws by the many noise regulators is by far the largest problem.

The 2012White Paper made a good attempt at solving all these issues by putting forward coordinated rules on how noise pollution and noise nuisance can be prevented and controlled to the benefit of society. It referred to WHO guidelines on community noise as well as a number of other European guidelines.

Perhaps the most important proposal in the White Paper was the possibility of establishing a distinct Noise Regulation Board and a 24/7 call centre to receive noise complaints.

The White Paper stressed the need for a preventive, apart from a remedial, approach. It proposed to treat noise as a form of environmental pollution and recognised the need to avoid duplicating roles of existing entities in regulating noise.