The Council of Ministers has approved the Royal Decree implementing Law 37/2003 on Noise, with regard to the assessment and management of environmental noise. The purpose of the Noise Law is to regulate noise pollution in order to avoid and, where appropriate, reduce the damage it may cause to human health, property or the environment. Noise pollution is understood as the presence in the environment of noise or vibrations that imply nuisance or damage to people, to the development of their activities or to goods of any nature, or that cause significant effects on the environment.

The purpose of this Royal Decree is the assessment and management of environmental noise, with the aim of preventing, reducing or avoiding harmful effects, including nuisances arising from exposure to environmental noise, according to the scope of application of the Community directive that is incorporated. The concepts of environmental noise and its effects and nuisances on the population are developed, together with a series of measures that allow the achievement of the intended objective, such as strategic noise maps, action plans and information to the population.

Consequently, it represents a partial development of the Noise Law, since it covers noise pollution produced not only by environmental noise, but also by vibrations and their implications on health, material goods and the environment, while this Royal Decree only covers noise pollution derived from environmental noise and prevention and correction, where appropriate, of its effects on the population.

In order to fulfil its purpose, certain actions are regulated, such as the preparation of strategic noise maps to determine the exposure of the population to environmental noise, the adoption of action plans to prevent and reduce environmental noise and, in particular, when exposure levels may have harmful effects on human health. as well as making available to the population the information on environmental noise and its effects and that available to the authorities in relation to acoustic mapping and the derived action plans in compliance with it.