§ Mr. Sainsburyasked the Secretary of State for Transport what decibel level standards for different categories of vehicles are (a) enforced and (b) proposed in other EEC countries.
§ Mr. William RodgersDetailed information on all noise limits applying cannot be readily made available in view of differences of categorisation and test methods. However, EEC Directive 70/157 laid down noise limits for type approval of new motor vehicles, and most new vehicles now comply with those limits. Last year Directive 77/212 imposed more stringent limits, and the two sets of limits are compared in the table below. The new limits will apply fully for EEC type approval purposes from 1st April 1980 with the exception of vehicles in the sixth category for which the date is 1st April 1982.
EEC VEHICLE NOISE LIMITS Decibels (A) Vehicle category Under 1970 Directive Under 1971 Directive 1. Passenger vehicles with not more than 9 seats (including the driver) 82 80 2. Passenger vehicles with more than 9 seats and a gross weight of not over 3½ tonnes 84 81 3. Goods vehicles with a gross weight of not over 3½ tonnes 84 81 4. Passenger vehicles with more than 9 seats and a gross weight of over 3½ tonnes 89 82 5. Goods vehicles with a gross weight of over 3½ tonnes 89 86 6. Passenger vehicles with over 9 seats and having an engine power of 200 HP (DIN) or over 91 85 7. Goods vehicles with a gross weight of over 12 tonnes and an engine power of 200 HP (DIN) or over 91 88 The table above does not include motor cycles. Agreement has however just 796W been reached on a directive about noise from new motor cycles with a design speed of over 50 kilometres per hour.
The limits, allowing for differences in test method represent an improvement of about 3 decibels over current levels including those in the United Kingdom. They are:
EEC NOISE LIMITS FOR MOTOR CYCLES Category by engine size Decibels (A) Up to 80cc 78 Over 80cc and up to 125cc 80 Over 125cc and up to 350cc 83 Over 350cc and up to 500cc 85 Over 500cc 86 The EEC is committed, both for motor cycles in particular and vehicles generally, to the longer term aim of reducing noise limits further, if practicable, down to the level of 80 decibels.