The government regulation increasing noise limits stands, as a group of senators who challenged the regulation at the Constitutional Court were unsuccessful. On Tuesday, the court partially dismissed and partially rejected the senators’ complaint.
The Senate group argued that the government’s regulation, which increases noise limits for road and rail traffic, is not a formality but a step that can have negative health and economic impacts. However, the Constitutional Court dismissed this argument, stating that the government simply softened some public health protection conditions compared to the previous legal regulation.
Justice reporter Daniela Zemanová pointed out that preventing the government from adjusting these limits would essentially block the creation of any state policy. The regulation, which came into effect last July, allows significantly higher noise levels, potentially affecting up to 80 percent of traffic structures.
The complainants also believed that the government did not consider the adverse effects of noise on the population’s health and the costs associated with health and social measures when adopting the regulation. They argued that the costs associated with the negative effects of excessive noise could be significantly more expensive than the costs of noise control measures. According to them, the government’s approach contradicted the public health protection law.
Nonetheless, the government adopted the measure to simplify and reduce the cost of building new and reconstructing existing transport infrastructure.