Launch of WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region

10 October 2018, Basel, Switzerland

WHO/Europe will launch the new Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region at an event on 10 October 2018 in Basel, Switzerland. The 1-day symposium will gather representatives of Member States as well as experts and stakeholders. A formal presentation of the Guidelines will be complemented by panel discussions with the experts and stakeholders.

Noise is one of the top environmental risks to health, and a growing concern among policy-makers and the public alike. Based on the assessment threshold specified in the Environmental Noise Directive of the European Union, at least 100 million people in the European Union are affected by road traffic noise. In countries of western Europe alone, at least 1.6 million healthy years of life are lost every year due to road traffic noise.

WHO/Europe developed the Guidelines in response to Member States’ request at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in 2010 in Parma, Italy, “to develop noise guidelines that include transportation noise sources, but also leisure noise and wind turbine noise that have not been considered thus far”.

It followed a rigorous process outlined in the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development, and involved several groups of experts and stakeholders. The Guidelines provide a set of source-specific public health recommendations on long-term exposure to environmental noise, including road traffic, railway, aircraft, wind turbine and leisure noise.

The working language will be English only with no interpretation provided, and participation is by invitation only. For more information, please contact: eurolwe@who.int.