Common Noise Assessment Methods in Europe (CNOSSOS-EU)

Abstract

In accordance with Art. 6.2 of the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END), the European Commission developed Common NOise aSSessment methOdS (CNOSSOS-EU) for road, railway, aircraft and industrial noise to be used after adoption by the Member States for the purpose of strategic noise mapping as required by Article 7 of the END. The development of CNOSSOS-EU was co-ordinated by the Joint Research Centre's Institute of Health and Consumer Protection and performed in close liaison with the CNOSSOS-EU Technical Committee, which was composed from experts nominated by the Member States and setup under the DG ENV’s Noise Regulatory Committee. The overall work was performed in the context of two consecutive administrative arrangements stipulated between the Joint Research Centre and the Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV), namely NOISE-II (contract no. 070307/2008/511090) and NOISE-III (contract no. 070307/2009/549280).

The CNOSSOS-EU methodological framework described in this report forms the basis for amending Annex II of Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise in Europe. CNOSSOS-EU aims at improving the consistency and comparability of noise assessment results across the EU Member States which are performed on the basis of the data becoming available through the consecutive rounds of strategic noise mapping in Europe.