The European Commission has put forward a proposal in order to reduce noise produced by cars, vans, buses, coaches, light and heavy trucks. These measures, which are expected to reduce vehicle nuisance by 25%, will be put in place in two steps, two and three years once the text approved by the European Parliament and the Council is published.

With its proposal on vehicle noise reduction the European Commission will update current EU rules applicable to noise emissions from vehicles in order to align them with internationally recognised United Nations standards. This measure should enable to improve market access for European car manufacturers in those third countries which are contracting parties to the UNECE Agreement of 1958 and thus boost the competitiveness of European industry.

According to the Commission's proposal, noise limit values would be lowered in two steps of each 2 dB(A) for passenger cars, vans, buses and coaches, and in 1 dB(A) in the first step and 2 dB(A) in the second step in the case of trucks. These measures aimed to reduce noise pollution, come on top of some others such as the charge included in the “Eurovignette” required for heavy-duty vehicles which was adopted earlier this year.

Furthermore, the proposal will also ensure that the noise levels of new vehicles will be measured by a new and more reliable test method. In order to ensure that the sound emissions of a vehicle under street driving conditions are not significantly different from what can be expected from the type-approval test result for this specific vehicle, the so-called additional sound emission provisions (ASEP) preventive requirements will also be included in these provisions.

On the oposite side, regarding electric and hybrid electric vehicles, the proposal provides for the inclusion of an 'Approaching Vehicle Audible Systems' which can optionally fitted in these kind of vehicles to make them safer and help avoiding road-accident injuries. The text would ensure that only adequate sound generating devices are used which will also lead to a harmonisation of the applied technology.