Existing legal framework for environmental acoustics in Greece

Abstract

Noise is one of the most important degrading factors of the acoustic environment in Greece. The major sources of National law for the protection of the environment is the Constitution, the laws and lawful provisions issued for the implementation or by authorization (decrees, ministerial decisions, etc.), as well as the jurisprudence and legislation of the State Council. An additional source is the E.U. law. Environmental Politics in Greece started developing in 1975, with the new Constitution and the article 24, where environmental protection issues were taken into account. The institution of 1659/1986 law-framework for the protection of the environment, deals with noise as acoustic pollution (article 14). It was then possible for the Ministry to specify noise level limits (for vehicles, works, and noisy activities), noise buffer zones, etc. where Environmental Impact Assessment studies are necessary. The implementation of this law was time consuming and quite difficult and demanded the issuing of a great number of decrees and ministerial decisions. The major contribution of this law was that it set the frameworks of environmental politics in Greece. E.U. environmental politics contributed to a further advancement of Greece's environmental politcs. E.U. parliament with E.U. council composed and enacted the no 2002/49/CE (25 June 2002) directive, which concerns evaluation and management of environmental noise, the first complete effort of harmonization of EU practices. The objective of the directive is to determine a common EU approach for the avoidance, prevention or limitation of unfavorable effects, including the annoyance from environmental noise.