The impact of the WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines (2018) in The Netherlands

The publication of the Environmental Noise Guidelines by the World Health Organization in October 2018 triggered Dutch parliament to ask for a study (i) to provide an interpretation of the WHO advice in comparison to the current Dutch regulations for environmental noise, and (ii) to investigate how the WHO advice can be used to strengthen the Dutch noise policy. In 2019 the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management commissioned the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) to execute the study. One of the main results is that due to the mix of interests health is not the only factor in policy decisions and, hence, a great part of the population affected by noise is not in the area of attention based on the legislation. To protect the health against the negative impacts of environmental noise policy advisors and professionals should take a wider range of the population into account when taking measures or taking policy decisions to improve health conditions. The formal reaction of the government will be given before summer 2020.