Text file: 827.txt
author: kazan
downvotes: 3
end consideration date: 2010-07-07
id: '827'
number comments: 34
number views: 11113
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning\nSlovenian\
  \ environmental regulations governing noise protection do not address noise from\
  \ church bells. The reasons for this solution in our legislation are as follows:\n\
  Slovenian noise protection regulations deal with noise, which is defined as \"environmental\
  \ noise, which is unwanted or harmful external noise caused by human activities,\
  \ including noise emitted by means of road, rail and air transport and by installations\
  \ in areas with industrial activity\". Noise sources that may cause such noise in\
  \ the environment include roads, railways, airports, ports, industrial plants, catering\
  \ and entertainment establishments and construction sites;\nThis way of dealing\
  \ with noise sources is in line with European legislation, i.e. Directive 2002/49/EC\
  \ of the European Parliament and of the Council on the assessment and management\
  \ of environmental noise. It does not include church bells among the noise sources\
  \ that should be subject to regulatory restrictions on their operation for the purposes\
  \ of noise generation;\nthe sound produced by the ringing of church bells is, to\
  \ the best of our knowledge, similar to the sounds produced by other musical instruments\
  \ and is consistent in frequency composition with the notes of a musical scale,\
  \ which is not generally undesirable or disturbing to humans, just as the sounds\
  \ of musical instruments are not generally undesirable or disturbing to humans.\n\
  It is true, however, that the sound of church bells, like the sound of other musical\
  \ instruments, can be harmful to human health if its sound power (loudness) exceeds\
  \ the critical values for short-term sound emission.\nA sound power level of 80\
  \ dB is considered to be the critical short-term sound emission level, i.e. a continuous\
  \ sound emission level of less than three hours. Such a high sound emission level\
  \ is usually achieved at indoor events where the sound of musical instruments is\
  \ amplified by sound amplification devices.\nMeasurements have also shown that the\
  \ sound of church bells does not normally exceed the critical value for short-term\
  \ ambient noise pollution and therefore cannot be attributed to adverse effects\
  \ on human health.\nAccording to the information available to us, the sound of church\
  \ bells generally causes a short-term noise nuisance, since the ringing usually\
  \ lasts for a few minutes, but the critical level is exceeded only exceptionally\
  \ in the vicinity of churches, and even then it is mainly due to poor spatial planning,\
  \ which has led to the inappropriate siting of residential buildings in the vicinity\
  \ of the church bell tower.\nFor these reasons, we consider that the appropriate\
  \ solution is the current environmental legislation, which does not address the\
  \ noise pollution from church bells.\nHowever, we would also like to suggest to\
  \ the proposers of the proposal that, in cases where residential buildings are too\
  \ close to church bells and there is a likelihood of exceeding the critical value\
  \ for short-term noise pollution, they should simply try to reach an agreement with\
  \ the rector of a nearby church on the volume, frequency and duration of the ringing\
  \ of church bells.   \nResponse from the Office for Religious Communities\nAfter\
  \ consulting the named proposal, the Office notes that it is a proposal to amend\
  \ the regulation, the Regulation on limit values for noise indicators, to include\
  \ church bell ringing back among the noise sources, or alternatively a proposal\
  \ to create a normative regulation prohibiting church bell ringing. The reason for\
  \ not including church bells as a noise source is said to be the legislator's (government's)\
  \ view that church bells are music.\nIt is not within the Office's competence and\
  \ ability to take a position on the (non)classification of church bells as noise\
  \ sources, since in the specific life case no one is claiming the exercise of the\
  \ human right to freedom of conscience under Article 41 of the Constitution of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia. Even if a religious community were to claim that it was\
  \ exercising its freedom of conscience by ringing bells, this would not mean that\
  \ it could not be restricted from doing so by a generally binding and religiously\
  \ neutral regulation aimed at protecting other common human values (e.g. a regulation).\
  \ The right of religious communities to carry out their mission independently and\
  \ autonomously does not exempt them from the duty to act in accordance with the\
  \ legal order of the State.\nDespite the above-mentioned lack of competence and\
  \ the impossibility of qualification, the Office must draw attention to the need\
  \ to treat religious communities in a non-discriminatory manner. The Office is therefore\
  \ opposed to a 'simple ban on church bells', and in particular to one which would\
  \ ban church bells altogether without giving reasons (without taking into account\
  \ the intensity of the ringing and/or any other adverse effects on the environment\
  \ or on people)."
response date: 2010-08-12
response due date: null
sent date: 2010-06-07
title: Church bells
upvotes: 20
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/827
