Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has begun the implementation of provisions with regard to noise regulation in Saudi Arabia.

The ministry noted that the provisions of the regulation apply to all people in residential, commercial, industrial, and environmentally-sensitive areas, in addition to roadsides and construction sites, noting that the regulation does not include noise inside buildings, military activities, and sirens, as well as airports, railways, operational activities at seaports and national celebrations.

The regulation aims to identify the scope of work of the National Center for Environmental Compliance with regard to monitoring people’s compliance with standards of noise levels stipulated in the regulation, periodic monitoring, and evaluation of noise levels across the Kingdom.

It also seeks to identify constraints and conditions related to monitoring, measuring, and oversight on noise levels and plans to reduce them, publishing information, data and environment reports related to noise as set by the ministry, as well as making necessary procedures and actions when people are about to exceed the allowed noise limits.

The ministry noted that the regulation stipulated a number of fines and penalties, such as failure to provide the center with required data related to monitoring noise level, failure to commit to allowed times and levels of noise, failure to develop an action plan to reduce noise levels after receiving a notice from the center, in addition to failure to adhere by conditions and constraints of licenses related to noise, and failure to provide the center with reports on the progress made in executing the compliance plan on allowed levels of noise.

For more information about the regulation, the ministry called for visiting its website on: https://www.mewa.gov.sa/ar/InformationCenter/DocsCenter/RulesLibrary/Pages/default.aspx.

The National Center for Environmental Compliance works on monitoring environmental compliance of all facilities with impact on the environment in all development sectors, supervising programs of detecting environmental pollution and detecting environmental media, monitoring the quality of air, water, and soil.

The center also endorses studies on environmental impact, issuing environmental licenses for all development projects, conducting environmental inspection campaigns on facilities, as well as coordinating with stakeholders to improve environmental compliance.