You must not emit unreasonable noise from any place or premises.
The duty:
- does not apply to noise emitted from residential premises
- does apply to noise from the construction, demolition or removal of residential premises.
There are separate requirements for unreasonable noise from residential premises.
Unreasonable noise, section 166, Environment Protection Act 2017(opens in a new window).
Who it applies to
Any business or person emitting noise from a place or premises, including:
- commercial, industrial and trade premises
- indoor entertainment venues
- outdoor entertainment venues and events
- construction and demolition sites
- transport infrastructure such as roads and railways.
What you must do
You must make sure you do not emit unreasonable noise.
What is unreasonable noise is determined by:
- volume – how far the noise spreads
- intensity – how loud or how many decibels the noise is
- duration – how long the noise lasts
- character – what the noise sounds like
- time, place and other circumstances in which the noise is emitted
- how often the noise is emitted
- any factors set out in legislation, including low-frequency noise from industry.
There are more unreasonable noise requirements that apply to noise from:
Examples
There are case studies in our Unreasonable noise guidelines.
Use these case studies to understand how to meet this duty together with the general environmental duty.
This information is a summary of our Unreasonable noise guidelines.
Updated