Monte Paraiso - Noticeboard


	NOTICEBOARD
	Malaga Courts Start To Tackle Noise Problems

A recent court decision in Malaga has opened the way towards a more effective noise control policy. At the same time the police have fined 200 bars and discotheques since 2002, and make special efforts to combat noise pollution during the weekends.

It would be an understatement to say that excess noise is a problem in Spain, especially at night. The upper limit of sound allowed by law is 65 decibels during the night, but nobody seems to have been taking much notice of this law, which has been in force for some years.

Until now, that is. The battle against excess noise has begun in earnest in the province of Malaga, and the courts are now determined that the noise laws be complied with.

Physical and mental
Noise is considered to be excessive when it endangers health, as much physical and mental.
But although the Penal Code focuses on noise as an environmental issue, the courts are tackling the problem from the point of view of public health, and calling noise pollution a crime. The reason has to do with a recent court decision.

At the beginning of March, the High Court sentenced the owner of a nightclub in Palencia to two years and three months in prison for causing excess noise.
This, says Malaga Environment Councillor Jose Carlos Caballero, is the step in the right direction he and his department have' been waiting for.
"The decision now opens the way for the ordinary person to take to the criminal courts anybody causing too much noise, if only in a restricted sense, and not have to rely on the administrative courts," says a Malaga prosecutor.

A criminal charge can be made under two criteria: intensity of noise that might cause physical or mental damage, and the number or times this noise is caused.
And there is such a case pending in Malaga, López Caballero tells us. "A nightclub in the Axarquía is being taken to court for making excess noise right now," he adds. The consequences for somebody making excess noise are more severe when charged in the criminal courts, with sentences of between six months and four years in prison a likely outcome if found guilty.

Banned
Fines may be heavy, and the guilty party may be banned from the activity that caused the noise in the first place. These contrast sharply with the relatively light fines imposed on wrongdoers taken through the administrative courts.

The police have received more than 200 reports of bars and nightclubs making too much noise since January of 2002 in Malaga. The cause is usually loud music. "In 85 percent of cases, we are talking about bars and discotheques in the nightclub areas of the city," says a police spokesman. When such an establishment is reported for excess noise, the police check it out in person, and if they find the accusation justified, they warn the owner. If this happens a second time, technicians from the Environment Department measure the noise level in the establishment in question, and if found to be in excess of the legal limit, a charge is made. In some cases, the music equipment is confiscated.