Law of the People's Republic of China on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control

Law of the People's Republic of China on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China
(No. 104)

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control, as adopted at the 32nd Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 24, 2021, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on June 5, 2022.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
December 24, 2021
Law of the People's Republic of China on Noise Pollution Prevention and Control
(Adopted at the 32nd Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on December 24, 2021)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Standards and Plans for Noise Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter III Supervision and Administration of Noise Pollution Prevention and Control
Chapter IV Prevention and Control of Industrial Noise Pollution
Chapter V Prevention and Control of Construction Noise Pollution
Chapter VI Prevention and Control of Traffic Noise Pollution
Chapter VII Prevention and Control of Community Noise Pollution
Chapter VIII Legal Liability
Chapter IX Supplemental Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of preventing and controlling noise pollution, guaranteeing public health, protecting and improving the living environment, maintaining social harmony, advancing ecological conservation, and promoting sustainable economic and social development.

Article 2 For the purposes of this Law, “noise” means the sound that is emitted in the course of industrial production, construction, transportation and social activities and that impairs the living environment of surrounding area.
For the purposes of this Law, “noise pollution” means noise emission that exceeds the prescribed noise emission standards or is the result of failure to take prevention and control measures in accordance with the law and that disrupts others' normal life, work and study.

Article 3 This Law shall apply to the prevention and control of noise pollution.
The provisions of laws on labor protection and other relevant laws shall apply to the prevention and control of noise hazards resulting from production or business operation someone is engaged in.

Article 4 The prevention and control of noise pollution shall adhere to the principles of overall planning, prevention and control at the source, classified management, full public participation, and accountability for the damage caused.

Article 5 The people's government at or above the county level shall incorporate noise pollution prevention and control in the national economic and social development plan and the ecological environment protection plan, and include the funds for noise pollution prevention and control in its budget.
The ecological environmental protection plan shall specify such information as the target, tasks and safeguard measures for noise pollution prevention and control.

Article 6 The local people's government at any level shall be responsible for the acoustic environment quality within its administrative region, and take effective measures to improve the quality of the acoustic environment.
The state shall implement a target-oriented responsibility system for noise pollution prevention and control and an assessment and evaluation system and take the accomplishment of a target set for noise pollution prevention and control as part of assessment and evaluation.

Article 7 The local people's government at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and the State Council, specify the relevant departments' duties of supervision and administration in respect of noise pollution prevention and control, and establish a coordination mechanism for noise pollution prevention and control on an as-needed basis, so as to strengthen coordination and cooperation and information sharing among departments and advance noise pollution prevention and control within its administrative region.

Article 8 The department of ecology and environment of the State Council shall exercise unified supervision and administration of noise pollution prevention and control nationwide.
The department of ecology and environment of a local people's government shall exercise unified supervision and administration of noise pollution prevention and control within its administrative region.
The housing and urban-rural development, public security, transport, railway supervision and administration, civil aviation, maritime safety and other departments at all levels shall, within the scope of their respective duties, supervise and administer the prevention and control of noise pollution as a result of construction, traffic and social activities.
The people's organizations for self-governance at the primary level shall assist the local people's governments and their relevant departments in effectively conducting noise pollution prevention and control.

Article 9 All entities and individuals shall be obligated to protect the acoustic environment and meanwhile have the right prescribed by law to access the information on the acoustic environment and participate in and supervise noise pollution prevention and control.
Any entity or individual that emits noise shall take effective measures to prevent and reduce noise pollution.

Article 10 The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall strengthen the publicity, education and popularization of laws, regulations and knowledge on noise pollution prevention and control, so as to raise the public's awareness of noise pollution prevention and control and guide the public to participate in noise pollution prevention and control in accordance with the law.
News media shall publicize the laws, regulations and knowledge on noise pollution prevention and control for the public good, and, conduct supervision through public opinion in respect of the violations of laws and regulations on noise pollution prevention and control.
The state encourages people's organizations for self-governance at the primary level, social organizations, managers of public places, employers' committees, property service providers and volunteers, among others, to publicize the laws, regulations and knowledge on noise pollution prevention and control.

Article 11 The state encourages and supports the research and development of, commercialization of the achievements in, and promotion and application of science and technology for noise pollution prevention and control, and strengthens the cultivation of professional and technical talents in noise pollution prevention and control, to promote the scientific and technological progress and industry development with respect to noise pollution prevention and control.

Article 12 Entities and individuals that have made remarkable achievements in noise pollution prevention and control shall be commended and rewarded according to the applicable provisions issued by the state.

Chapter II Standards and Plans for Noise Pollution Prevention and Control

Article 13 The state promotes the establishment of a system of standards for noise pollution prevention and control.
The department of ecology and environment of the State Council and other relevant departments of the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective duties, develop and improve the standards for noise pollution prevention and control, and strengthen the coordination between the standards.

Article 14 The department of ecology and environment of the State Council shall develop the national quality standards for the acoustic environment.
The local people's government at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the national quality standards for the acoustic environment and territorial spatial plans and the current status of land use, divide its administrative region into different areas to which different quality standards for the acoustic environment apply, and designate the areas where the buildings used mainly for residence, scientific research, medical treatment and health, culture and education, office work of government agencies and organizations, and social welfare, among others, as the areas where noise-sensitive buildings are concentrated, to strengthen the prevention and control of noise pollution.
The scope of areas to which the quality standards for the acoustic environment apply and of areas where noise-sensitive buildings are concentrated shall be announced to the public.

Article 15 The department of ecology and environment of the State Council shall, in accordance with the national quality standards for the acoustic environment and the state's economic and technological conditions, develop the national standards for noise emission and the relevant standards for ambient vibration control.
Where no national standards have been developed for noise emission, the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may develop local standards; where there are existing national standards for noise emission, they may develop local standards stricter than such national standards. The local standards for noise emission shall be filed with the department of ecology and environment of the State Council.

Article 16 The standardization department of the State Council shall work with the development and reform, ecology and environment, industry and information technology, housing and urban-rural development, transport, railway supervision and administration, civil aviation, maritime safety and other departments of the State Council to provide for in their technical specifications or product quality standards the noise emission limits for such products as industrial equipment, construction machines, motor vehicles, locomotives, urban rail transit vehicles, civil aircrafts, motor vessels, electric and electronic products, and auxiliary construction equipment that may cause noise pollution in accordance with the requirements for the protection of the acoustic environment and the economic and technological conditions of the state.
The limits of noise emitted by the products set out in the preceding paragraph in operation shall be indicated in the relevant technical documents. The production, import or sale of products beyond the noise emission limits shall be prohibited.
The market regulation or any other department of the people's government at or above the county level shall conduct supervision and spot check of the produced or sold products subject to noise emission limits, and of the noise emitted by such special equipment as elevators in use, and the department of ecology and environment shall cooperate.

Article 17 The quality standards for the acoustic environment, noise emission standards and other relevant standards for noise pollution prevention and control shall be appraised on a periodical basis and revised according to the appraisal results in due time.

Article 18 The local people's government at any level or its relevant departments shall, when making or amending the territorial spatial plan or the relevant plan, conduct environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law, give full consideration to the impact of noise emitted in development, renovation and construction projects in urban and rural areas on the surrounding living environment, make overall plans and reasonable arrangements on land use and the layout of buildings, in order to prevent or reduce noise pollution. The sections and chapters, statements or reports on the environmental impact shall include the contents on noise pollution prevention and control.

Article 19 When the layout of buildings is determined, the anti-noise spacing between the buildings and the traffic trunk lines, among others, shall be reasonably determined and the corresponding requirements for planning and design shall be put forward in accordance with the national quality standards for the acoustic environment and the standards for the sound insulation design of civil buildings.

Article 20 The people's government of a city divided into districts or a county where an area that fails to reach the national quality standards for the acoustic environment is located shall prepare a plan for improving the quality of the acoustic environment and its implementation plan in a timely manner, and take effective measures to improve the quality of the acoustic environment.
The above-mentioned plan and its implementation plan shall be released to the public.

Article 21 The opinions of the relevant trade associations, enterprises, public institutions, experts and the public, among others, shall be solicited for the preparation of the plan for improving acoustic environment quality and its implementation plan, as well as the development and revision of the relevant standards for noise pollution prevention and control.

Chapter III Supervision and Administration of Noise Pollution Prevention and Control

Article 22 The emission of noise and generation of vibration shall comply with the noise emission standards, the relevant ambient vibration control standards and the requirements of relevant laws, regulations and rules.
The entities that emit noise and the managers of public places shall establish accountability rules for noise pollution prevention and control to specify the responsibilities of persons in charge of them and other relevant persons.

Article 23 The department of ecology and environment of the State Council shall be responsible for developing the rules for noise monitoring and evaluation, and shall work with the relevant departments of the State Council to set up the acoustic environment quality monitoring network, make plans on the setup of national acoustic environment quality monitoring stations (sites), organize the monitoring of the national acoustic environment quality, promote automatic monitoring, and release in a unified manner the information on the national acoustic environment quality.
The department of ecology and environment of the local people's government shall work with the relevant departments to set up acoustic environment quality monitoring stations (sites) within its administrative region, organize the monitoring of acoustic environment quality within its administrative region, and release the information on acoustic environment quality to the public on a periodical basis.
The department of ecology and environment and other departments of the local people's government shall strengthen the investigation and monitoring of noise emission in key areas such as the surrounding areas of noise-sensitive buildings.

Article 24 The new construction, reconstruction or expansion projects that may cause noise pollution shall be subject to the environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law.

Article 25 The facilities for the prevention and control of noise pollution in a construction project shall be designed, built and put into production or use simultaneously with the main part of the project.
Before a construction project is put into production or use, the construction employer shall, in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, conduct the acceptance check of the supporting facilities for noise pollution prevention and control, work out the acceptance check report, and release it to the public. The construction project may not be put into production or use before its acceptance check is carried out or if it fails to pass its acceptance check.

Article 26 The construction of noise-sensitive buildings shall comply with the relevant standards and requirements for the sound insulation design of civil buildings, and those that fail to comply with the standards and requirements shall not be accepted and delivered for use. To build noise-sensitive buildings in such places as both sides of traffic trunk lines and surrounding areas of industrial enterprises, a certain distance shall be kept among them according to the applicable provisions, and measures shall be taken to reduce vibration or noise.

Article 27 The state encourages and supports the research, development, popularization and application of low noise processes and equipment and implements the rules for eliminating outdated processes and equipment that cause serious noise pollution.
The development and reform department of the State Council shall work with the relevant departments of the State Council to determine the time limit for eliminating the processes and equipment that cause serious noise pollution, and include them in the catalogue of the national comprehensive industry policies.
Producers, importers, sellers or users shall, within the prescribed time limit, cease the production, import, sale or use of any equipment listed in the catalogue set forth in the preceding paragraph. Whoever adopts any process listed in the catalogue set forth in the preceding paragraph shall cease the use thereof within the prescribed time limit.

Article 28 In an area where the target set in the plan for improving the acoustic environment quality has not been attained, or noise pollution is prominent and greatly concerned by the public, the department of ecology and environment of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall work with the department charged with the duties of supervision and administration of noise pollution prevention and control, hold interviews with the primary persons in charge of the local people's government and its relevant departments, and require them to take effective measures to make rectification in a timely manner. The information on the interviews and rectification shall be disclosed to the public.

Article 29 The department of ecology and environment and other departments charged with the duties of supervision and administration of noise pollution preven......