People disturbed by noise may soon have their own hotline through which they may file their complaints as part of an Environment Ministry drive to abate noise pollution.

Tourism and Environment Minister Mario de Marco this afternoon presented a White Paper entitled Neighbourhood Noise Prevention, Abatement and Control for public consultation.

It is intended to spark a discussion about noise pollution and how best to prevent it.

The White Paper was drawn up by head of the Environmental Law Department at University Simone Borg in consultation with various regulatory bodies, authorities and NGOs, particularly the Noise Abatement Society of Malta.

It recommends the setting up of a Noise Control Board, made up of representatives of the various regulatory bodies involved, which will continuously enhance noise regulation in accordance with updated guidelines.

Meanwhile, a 24 hour hotline will be set up to deal with public complaints. Each complaint will be passed on to the responsible authority using a tracking system, to enable accountability and so the public can now where the complaints have reached. This would improve the current situation whereby complainants must try to identify which is the authority responsible for its complaints.

The White Paper proposes a preventive approach to noise pollution, since noise has adverse effects on health and the environment.

Since noise-related laws are spread over various laws and regulations, the White Paper proposes the bringing together of some of these laws to enable better user-friendliness.

It also proposes to introduce objective noise limit values which are based on the guidelines established by the World Health Organisation.

These guidelines will not replace the presently used subjective criteria which refer to noise as nuisance or disturbance but will complement them and render the law more practical and enforceable.

It proposes higher penalties and criminal liability for noise-related offences.

The White Paper can be downloaded from www.tsdu.gov.mt/noise. Questions and suggestions can be emailed to noise.mtce@gov.mt Consultation will close on April 15.

The White Paper may be downloaded from http://www.tsdu.gov.mt/noise