In November 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its Evaluation Report of the Outdoor Noise Directive 2000/14/EC (OND). The report concluded a positive evaluation in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence with other legislations and an EU added value.
The evaluation also identified a number of critical aspects to be addressed, including scope, noise limit requirements, test codes & measurement methods, labelling, conformity assessment procedures and the noise database. As a result, the EC has indicated two possible ways forward for the OND:
- Revising only Annex III of the Directive (test codes and measurement methods) through non-legislative acts called delegated acts
- Revising the whole directive – the ordinary legislative procedure
CECE members have worked together within the PT Noise and in cooperation with Orgalim to develop a position paper on the subject. CECE members agree on revising only the Annex III of the Directive through the delegated acts. Such process would be quicker than a full revision, it would allow adapting the measurement methods to technical progress and state of the art standards and in some cases align the test methods with the ones Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) on the measurement of the sound pressure levels.
CECE presented orally its position to the European Commission, Member States and other industry stakeholders during the next meeting of the Outdoor Noise Directive Working Group of 17th March 2021.
