The Court of Justice of the EU Thursday condemned Poland for failing to implement EU noise pollution law at the national level.
The Environmental Noise Directive establishes recommended maximum noise levels and asks countries to collect data on noise. It also requires governments to develop action plans to tackle noise pollution, including for areas where the recommended levels were not exceeded.
Warsaw failed to adopt noise action plans for such areas within the required timeframe, the court found. The government also failed to translate into national law a requirement that these plans include measures to preserve “quiet areas,” it said.
According to the court, the country also has not drawn up the required action plans for 13 major railways and 247 major roads, and has not submitted summaries of action plans for 16 other major roads.
The European Commission’s Zero Pollution Action Plan sets the goal of reducing the share of people “chronically disturbed by transport noise” by 30 percent compared to 2017 levels by the end of the decade. But the European Environment Agency estimates that the number of people chronically affected by traffic noise may actually increase by 2030.
