JRC announces successful completion of the first phase of the development of common noise assessment methods (CNOSSOS-EU) in Europe

A common approach for assessing noise levels in Europe is an important prerequisite for improving the effectiveness of implementing the Environmental Noise Directive (2002/49/EC). This will help in obtaining consistent and comparable figures on the number of people exposed to noise levels in and across EU Member States. To achieve this, Article 6.2 of the Directive foresees the development of a harmonised methodological framework for noise assessment. In 2009, the European Commission decided to develop CNOSSOS-EU (Common NOise aSSessment MethOdS) for noise mapping of road traffic, railway traffic, aircraft and industrial noise.

Phase A (2010-2012) of the CNOSSOS-EU process was led by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre on behalf of the Directorate General for Environment. The successful completion of this phase was presented to the EU Member States and noise stakeholders on 16th July 2012 in Brussels along with the further steps to be undertaken in the implementation phase of the CNOSSOS-EU process (2012-2015). This work represents the technical basis for the amendment of Annex II of the Directive, in connection with the implementation phase of CNOSSOS-EU (2012-2015). The ultimate goal is to have the common noise assessment methodology operational for the next round of strategic noise mapping in the European Union, foreseen for 2017.
 
The CNOSSOS-EU (phase A) Final Event was opened on behalf of the European Commission by Thomas Verheye (Head of Unit DG ENV/C.3). Eight keynote lectures presented the CNOSSOS-EU process and a description of the choices made about the core CNOSSOS-EU framework:

• The CNOSSOS-EU process - Stelios Kephalopoulos, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection

• Quality Framework - Paul de Vos, DHV, The Netherlands

• Road traffic noise emission source - Fabienne Anfosso-Lédée, IFSTTAR, France

• Railway traffic noise emission source - Marco Paviotti, DG ENV

• Aircraft noise prediction - Laurent Cavadini (EUROCONTROL) & Darren Rhodes (CAA, UK)

• Sound propagation and industrial noise - Marco Paviotti, DG ENV

• Good practice guidelines - Simon Shilton, Acustica Ltd, UK

• Assigning noise levels and population to buildings - Christian Popp, LÄRMKONTOR GmbH, Germany

Subsequently, an interesting debate was held in a plenary discussion which was moderated by Konstantinos Vogiatzis (University of Thessaly, Greece), member of the Noise Regulatory Committee. The participants appreciated the work performed and the outcome of phase A of the CNOSSOS-EU process. They provided their ideas about the implementation phase of CNOSSOS-EU (phase B) which is an essential step before having CNOSSOS-EU fully operational in EU countries by 2017. The event was closed by an intervention of the Environment attache' of the Cypriot Presidency, Kyriakos Psychas, who welcomed the progress made concerning the development of common noise assessment methods in Europe and looks forward to seeing CNOSSOS-EU operational in the EU MS starting from the 3rd round of strategic noise mapping in Europe.

More information on the Agenda and the presentations made during the CNOSSOS-EU (phase A) final event