Article 1 Subject matter, objectives and scope
1. This Regulation lays down, where a noise problem has been identified, rules on the process to be followed for the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions in a consistent manner on an airport-by-airport basis, so as to help improve the noise climate and to limit or reduce the number of people significantly affected by potentially harmful effects of aircraft noise, in accordance with the Balanced Approach. 2. The objectives of this Regulation are: (a) to facilitate the achievement of specific noise abatement objectives, including health aspects, at the level of individual airports, while respecting relevant Union rules, in particular those laid down in Directive 2002/49/EC, and the legislation within each Member State; (b) to enable the use of operating restrictions in accordance with the Balanced Approach so as to achieve the sustainable development of the airport and air traffic management network capacity from a gate-to-gate perspective. 3. This Regulation shall apply to aircraft engaged in civil aviation. It shall not apply to aircraft engaged in military, customs, police or similar operations.
Article 2 Definitions
For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (1) ‘aircraft’ means fixed-wing aircraft with a maximum certificated take-off mass of 34 000 kg or more, or with a certificated maximum internal accommodation for the aircraft type in question consisting of 19 passenger seats or more, excluding any seats for crew only; (2) ‘airport’ means an airport which has more than 50 000 civil aircraft movements per calendar year (a movement being a take-off or landing), on the basis of the average number of movements in the last three calendar years before the noise assessment; (3) ‘Balanced Approach’ means the process developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization under which the range of available measures, namely the reduction of aircraft noise at source, land-use planning and management, noise abatement operational procedures and operating restrictions, is considered in a consistent way with a view to addressing the noise problem in the most cost-effective way on an airport-by-airport basis; (4) ‘marginally compliant aircraft’ means aircraft which are certified in accordance with limits laid down in Volume 1, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed on 7 December 1944 (the Chicago Convention) by a cumulative margin of less than 8 EPNdB (Effective Perceived Noise in Decibels) during a transitional period ending on 14 June 2020, and by a cumulative margin of less than 10 EPNdB following the end of that transitional period, whereby the cumulative margin is the figure expressed in EPNdB obtained by adding the individual margins (i.e. the differences between the certificated noise level and the maximum permitted noise level) at each of the three reference noise measurement points defined in Volume 1, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Chicago Convention; (5) ‘noise-related action’ means any measure that affects the noise climate around airports, for which the principles of the Balanced Approach apply, including other non-operational actions that can affect the number of people exposed to aircraft noise; (6) ‘operating restriction’ means a noise-related action that limits access to or reduces the operational capacity of an airport, including operating restrictions aimed at the withdrawal from operations of marginally compliant aircraft at specific airports as well as operating restrictions of a partial nature, which for example apply for an identified period of time during the day or only for certain runways at the airport.
Article 3 Competent authorities
1. A Member State in which an airport as referred to in point (2) of Article 2 is located shall designate one or more competent authorities responsible for the process to be followed when adopting operating restrictions. 2. The competent authorities shall be independent of any organisation which could be affected by noise-related action. That independence may be achieved through a functional separation. 3. The Member States shall notify the Commission, in a timely manner, of the names and addresses of the designated competent authorities referred to in paragraph 1. The Commission shall publish that information.
Article 4 Right of appeal
1. Member States shall ensure the right to appeal against operating restrictions adopted pursuant to this Regulation before an appeal body other than the authority that adopted the contested restriction, in accordance with national legislation and procedures. 2. The Member State in which an airport as referred to in point (2) of Article 2 is located shall notify the Commission, in a timely manner, of the name and address of the designated appeal body referred to in paragraph 1 or, where appropriate, of the arrangements for ensuring that an appeal body is appointed.
Article 5 General rules on aircraft noise management
1. Member States shall ensure that the noise situation at an individual airport as referred to in point (2) of Article 2 is assessed in accordance with Directive 2002/49/EC. 2. Member States shall ensure that the Balanced Approach is adopted in respect of aircraft noise management at those airports where a noise problem has been identified. To that end, they shall ensure that: (a) the noise abatement objective for that airport, taking into account, as appropriate, Article 8 of, and Annex V to, Directive 2002/49/EC, is defined; (b) measures available to reduce the noise impact are identified; (c) the likely cost-effectiveness of the noise mitigation measures is thoroughly evaluated; (d) the measures, taking into account public interest in the field of air transport as regards the development prospects of their airports, are selected without detriment to safety; (e) the stakeholders are consulted in a transparent way on the intended actions; (f) the measures are adopted and sufficient notification is provided for; (g) the measures are implemented; and (h) dispute resolution is provided for. 3. Member States shall ensure that, when noise-related action is taken, the following combination of available measures is considered, with a view to determining the most cost-effective measure or combination of measures: (a) the foreseeable effect of a reduction of aircraft noise at source; (b) land-use planning and management; (c) noise abatement operational procedures; (d) not applying operating restrictions as a first resort, but only after consideration of the other measures of the Balanced Approach. The available measures may if necessary include the withdrawal of marginally compliant aircraft. Member States, or airport managing bodies, as appropriate, may offer economic incentives to encourage aircraft operators to use less noisy aircraft during the transitional period referred to in point (4) of Article 2. Those economic incentives shall comply with the applicable rules on State aid. 4. The measures may, within the Balanced Approach, be differentiated according to aircraft type, aircraft noise performance, use of airport and air navigation facilities, flight path and/or the timeframe covered. 5. Without prejudice to paragraph 4, operating restrictions which take the form of the withdrawal of marginally compliant aircraft from airport operations shall not affect civil subsonic aircraft that comply, through either original certification or re-certification, with the noise standard laid down in Volume 1, Part II, Chapter 4 of Annex 16 to the Chicago Convention. 6. Measures or a combination of measures taken in accordance with this Regulation for a given airport shall not be more restrictive than is necessary in order to achieve the environmental noise abatement objectives set for that airport. Operating restrictions shall be non-discriminatory, in particular on grounds of nationality or identity, and shall not be arbitrary.
Article 6 Rules on noise assessment
1. The competent authorities shall ensure that the noise situation at airports for which they are responsible is assessed on a regular basis, in accordance with Directive 2002/49/EC and the legislation applicable within each Member State. The competent authorities may call on the support of the Performance Review Body referred to in Article 3 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 691/2010 ( 7 ) . 2. If the assessment referred to in paragraph 1 indicates that new operating restriction measures may be required to address a noise problem at an airport, the competent authorities shall ensure that: (a) the method, indicators and information in Annex I are applied in such a way as to take due account of the contribution of each type of measure under the Balanced Approach, before operating restrictions are introduced; (b) at the appropriate level, technical cooperation is established between the airport operators, aircraft operators and air navigation service providers to examine measures to mitigate noise. The competent authorities shall also ensure that local residents, or their representatives, and relevant local authorities are consulted, and that technical information on noise mitigation measures is provided to them; (c) the cost-effectiveness of any new operating restriction is assessed, in accordance with Annex II. Minor technical amendments to measures without substantive implications on capacity or operations shall not be considered new operating restrictions; (d) the process of consultation with interested parties, which may take the form of a mediation process, is organised in a timely and substantive manner, ensuring openness and transparency as regards data and computation methodologies. Interested parties shall have at least three months prior to the adoption of the new operating restrictions to submit comments. The interested parties shall include at least: (i) local residents living in the vicinity of the airport and affected by air traffic noise, or their representatives, and the relevant local authorities; (ii) representatives of local businesses based in the vicinity of the airport, whose activities are affected by air traffic and the operation of the airport; (iii) relevant airport operators; (iv) representatives of those aircraft operators which may be affected by noise-related actions; (v) the relevant air navigation service providers; (vi) the Network Manager, as defined in Commission Regulation (EU) No 677/2011 ( 8 ) ; (vii) where applicable, the designated slots coordinator. 3. The competent authorities shall follow up and monitor the implementation of the operating restrictions and take action as appropriate. They shall ensure that relevant information is made available free of charge and that it is readily and promptly accessible to local residents living in the vicinity of the airports and to the relevant local authorities. 4. The relevant information may include: (a) while respecting national law, information on alleged infringements due to changes in flight procedures, in terms of their impact and the reasons why such changes were made; (b) the general criteria applied when distributing and managing traffic in each airport, to the extent that those criteria may have an environmental or noise impact; and (c) data collected by noise measuring systems, if available.
Article 7 Noise performance information
1. Decisions on noise-related operating restrictions shall be based on the noise performance of the aircraft as determined by the certification procedure conducted in accordance with Volume 1 of Annex 16 to the Chicago Convention, sixth edition of March 2011. 2. At the request of the Commission, aircraft operators shall communicate the following noise information in respect of the aircraft that they operate at Union airports: (a) the aircraft nationality and registration mark; (b) the noise documentation of the aircraft used, together with the associated maximum take-off weight; (c) any modification of the aircraft which affects its noise performance and is stated on the noise documentation. 3. Upon request of the Agency, holders of an aircraft type certificate or a supplemental type certificate issued in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 9 ) , and legal or natural persons operating aircraft for which no type certificate has been issued under that Regulation, shall provide aircraft noise and performance information for noise modelling purposes. The Agency shall specify the data required and the timeframe for, and the form and manner of, its provision. The Agency shall verify the received aircraft noise and performance information for modelling purposes and shall make the information available to other parties for noise modelling purposes. 4. The data referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall be limited to what is strictly necessary and shall be provided free of charge, in electronic form and using the format specified, where applicable. 5. The Agency shall verify the aircraft noise and performance data for modelling purposes in relation to its tasks performed in accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. 6. Data shall be stored in a central database and made available to competent authorities, aircraft operators, air navigation service providers and airport operators for operational purposes.
Article 8 Rules on the introduction of operating restrictions
1. Before introducing an operating restriction, the competent authorities shall give to the Member States, the Commission and the relevant interested parties six months’ notice, ending at least two months prior to the determination of the slot coordination parameters as defined in point (m) of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/93 ( 10 ) for the airport concerned for the relevant scheduling period. 2. Following the assessment carried out in accordance with Article 6, the notification shall be accompanied by a written report in accordance with the requirements specified in Article 5 explaining the reasons for introducing the operating restriction, the noise abatement objective established for the airport, the measures that were considered to meet that objective, and the evaluation of the likely cost-effectiveness of the various measures considered, including, where relevant, their cross-border impact. 3. At the request of a Member State or on its own initiative, the Commission may, within a period of three months after the day on which it receives notice under paragraph 1, review the process for the introduction of an operating restriction. Where the Commission finds that the introduction of a noise-related operating restriction does not follow the process set out in this Regulation, it may notify the relevant competent authority accordingly. The relevant competent authority shall examine the Commission notification and inform the Commission of its intentions before introducing the operating restriction. 4. Where the operating restriction concerns the withdrawal of marginally compliant aircraft from an airport, no additional services above the number of movements with marginally compliant aircraft in the corresponding period of the previous year shall be allowed at that airport six months after the notification referred to in paragraph 1. The Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities decide on the annual rate for reducing the number of movements of marginally compliant aircraft of affected operators at that airport, taking due account of the age of the aircraft and the composition of the total fleet. Without prejudice to Article 5(4), that rate shall not be more than 25 % of the number of movements of marginally compliant aircraft for each operator serving that airport.
Article 9 Developing countries
1. In order to avoid undue economic hardship, the competent authorities may exempt marginally compliant aircraft registered in developing countries from noise operating restrictions, while fully respecting the principle of non-discrimination, provided that such aircraft: (a) are granted a noise certification to the standards specified in Chapter 3, Volume 1 of Annex 16 to the Chicago Convention; (b) were operated in the Union during the five-year period preceding the entry into force of this Regulation; (c) were on the register of the developing country concerned in that five-year period; and (d) continue to be operated by a natural or legal person established in that country. 2. Where a Member State grants an exemption provided for in paragraph 1, it shall forthwith inform the competent authorities of the other Member States and the Commission thereof.
Article 10 Exemption for aircraft operations of an exceptional nature
The competent authorities may, on a case-by-case basis, authorise individual operations at airports for which they are responsible in respect of marginally compliant aircraft which could not otherwise take place on the basis of this Regulation. The exemption shall be limited to: (a) operations which are of such an exceptional nature that it would be unreasonable to withhold a temporary exemption, including humanitarian aid flights; or (b) non-revenue flights for the purpose of alterations, repair or maintenance.
Article 11 Delegated acts
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 12 concerning: (a) technical updates to the noise certification standards provided for in Article 5(5) and point (a) of Article 9(1), and to the certification procedure provided for in Article 7(1); (b) technical updates to the methodology and indicators set out in Annex I. The purpose of those updates shall be to take into account changes to relevant international rules, as appropriate.
Article 12 Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 11 shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 13 June 2016. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 11 may be revoked by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the powers specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 11 shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 13 Information and revision
Member States shall upon request submit information on the application of this Regulation to the Commission. No later than 14 June 2021, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of this Regulation. That report shall be accompanied, where necessary, by proposals for revision of this Regulation.
Article 14 Existing operating restrictions
Noise-related operating restrictions which were already introduced before 13 June 2016 shall remain in force until the competent authorities decide to revise them in accordance with this Regulation.
Article 15 Repeal
Directive 2002/30/EC is repealed with effect from 13 June 2016.
Article 16 Transitional provisions
Notwithstanding Article 15 of this Regulation, noise-related operating restrictions adopted after 13 June 2016 may be adopted in accordance with Directive 2002/30/EC where the consultation process prior to their adoption was ongoing at that date and provided that those restrictions are adopted at the latest one year after that date.
Article 17 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on 13 June 2016.