A law to regulate noise is in an advanced stage of drafting and will be published for public consultation before the end of the year, Environment Minister Jose' Herrera told MP Godfrey Farrugia on Tuesday. 

Calls for modern legislation to regulate noise have been made for years particularly in view of disturbance caused by night clubs, road traffic and industrial equipment. 

In 2016 a Pembroke man briefly went on a hunger strike to protest noise pollution.

The EU data office in January 2018 ranked noise pollution problems in Malta as the worst within the EU.

At the time, a spokesman for the Commission for Noise Pollution, set up in 2016, had said that “a comprehensive Bill” would include proposals submitted by various entities.

In the summer of 2018, the Noise Abatement Society of Malta called on the government to implement regulations, drafted in 2012, which had established noise level guidelines for residential, industrial and entertainment establishments. They provided for fines of up to €250,000 for transgressors.

When replying to a parliamentary question, the then Minister for Home Affairs said the police had no equipment capable of measuring the decibel level of music and there was no law to regulate sound levels.

The Noise Abatement Society disputed the minister’s view, arguing that there were various pieces of legislation in place that specified maximum noise levels.