The Commission today launched the second step of a procedure against Belgium for failing to properly implement the new…
The Commission today launched the second step of a procedure against Belgium for failing to properly implement the new Directive on aircraft noise. A Reasoned Opinion on the case will be sent to the Belgian authorities regarding the Royal Decree of 14 April 2002, which introduces operating restrictions for night flights. The Decree does not adequately transpose the Directive and is incorrectly based on repealed EU legislation. Commenting on the procedure Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President responsible for Transport and Energy, said, If we are to have real reductions in aircraft noise at airports in Belgium and elsewhere it is essential that the Community acts as a whole, and not in a piecemeal fashion. The Belgian authorities must follow the new Directive.
The new Directive on aircraft noise requires the application of certain procedures prior to introducing noise related operating restrictions such as those in the Royal Decree. Belgium has not applied these mandatory procedures nor the definition of noisy aeroplanes as prescribed by the Directive. The Commission has already, on 24 October 2002, sent a letter of formal notice requesting the Belgian authorities to act in accordance with the Directive.
Failure to transpose
The objective of the Belgian Royal Decree is to limit nighttime use of aircraft equipped with hushkits at all airports in Belgium. It forbids take-offs and landings by these aircraft between 23h and 6h. The Decree is based on a 1999 Council Regulation(1) on hushkits. However, this Regulation had been repealed and replaced by Directive 2002/30/EC(2), which came into force on 28 March 2002, before the signing of the Decree.
The full and correct application of the provisions of the new Directive, which allows for the aims similar to those of the Belgian Decree but also more extensive measures, subject to the prescribed procedures, would have a comparable or greater effect. The Directive must in any event be fully transposed by 28 September 2003.
Belgium is urged to drop the Royal Decree that is due to enter into force on 1 July 2003, or, at least, to adapt it to the new directive.
Background
Directive 2002/30/EC holds to the principle established in the 1999 Communication on Aviation and the Environment that there should be no increase in the number of people exposed to aircraft noise after 2002. The most recent guidelines from the International Civil Aviation Organisation regarding environmental aspects of civil aviation, included in the Directive, provide agreed rules and procedures aimed at restricting the use of the noisiest Chapter 3 aircraft irrespective of their technological characteristics.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 925/1999 of 29 April 1999 on the registration and operation within the Community of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified and recertificated as meeting the standards of volume 1, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993), OJ L 115, 4.5.1999.
(2) Directive 2002/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 March 2002 on the establishment of rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at Community airports, Official Journal, L 085, 28.03.2002.
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