Disturbance of the peace
As disturbance of the peace (also: noise disturbance ) is understood the annoying immission of sound in people. The assessment of a single emission as disturbance of the peace depends on its strength and on the subjective relationship of the disturbed person to this event.
Rest areas and disruptive effects
As a rule, disturbance of the peace is felt in places that are used for recreation or during activities that require special attention. This usually includes the living area and the work area .
Disturbance of the peace can cause stress and provoke stress reactions. Triggers of stress are known as stressors .
Sources of interference
Disturbances can arise from
- in the building: building crafts, pets
- Means of transport: road traffic noise , rail traffic noise and aircraft noise
- Leisure activities: leisure noise
- Practice of religion: church bells , muezzin calls
- Construction sites: construction site noise , vibrations from civil engineering work
- Stages
- Professional musicians in the neighborhood
- Restaurants that are allowed to be open during the night . Their visitors often generate noise (doors, conversations, cell phones, music and car noises) and other emissions such as tobacco smoke. In addition, noise can leak out when the restaurant door is opened.
Non-contestable sources of interference
- Crowing roosters in rural areas
- Croaking frogs
- Screaming from children: According to a judgment by the Oberhausen District Court (April 10, 2001; 32 C 608/00), noise from children is not regarded as a disturbance of the peace and must therefore be tolerated by neighbors.
Some sources of interference and their cause are assessed differently depending on the situation: For example, the rule that according to the Equipment and Machine Noise Protection Ordinance (32nd BImSchV) is only operated on workdays and Saturdays between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. are allowed, but not at all on Sundays and public holidays. Particularly noisy devices and machines such as leaf blowers may only be used between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. If these periods are not observed, this is regarded as a disturbance of the peace.
Interference avoidance
The room volume is important inside buildings .
Noon and night rest as well as Sunday rest inside and outside of buildings represent time requirements for noise emitters . Noise protection is achieved through:
- Emission protection / emission reduction at the polluter according to the polluter pays principle
- Rules (ordinances, laws), compliance with which is monitored (regulatory authority, police) and, if necessary, sanctioned
- Immission control : Structural noise protection, e.g. B. by double-glazed windows, noise protection wall and / or wall, immission limit values
- Personal measures, for example moving to a quiet area (residential area), earplugs , headphones with anti-noise
Noise pollution in early radio
The noise pollution caused by receiving radio programs goes back to the beginnings of broadcasting in the 1920s, when headphones were replaced by loudspeakers. As early as 1926, the in-house magazine of WERAG (forerunner of the WDR ) reported on legal problems when it comes to forbidding radio listeners to fill the neighborhood with radio programs. In the time of National Socialism , the sound through open windows was expressly supported when it came to the transmission of propaganda speeches , but otherwise not. In 1937, for example, the Lüdenscheid district court ruled against a tenant who had set his radio loudspeaker well above room volume and thus annoyed neighbors.
Legal situation
Law in Germany
- civil right
A claim for injunctive relief from § 1004 BGB i. V. m. § 906 BGB arise.
- Fine law
The following sanction standards exist for noise protection :
- Section 117 OWiG - An administrative offense is committed by anyone who makes noise without justified cause or to an extent that is impermissible or, in the circumstances, avoidable, which is likely to cause considerable nuisance to the general public or the neighborhood or to damage the health of another. This concerns behavior-related noise, for example shouting, machine noise, vehicles, music of all kinds, etc. Section 117 OWiG is subsidiary to other regulations(e.g. state law, city law, district law, municipal law).
- Sunday and holiday laws of the countries
- Immission control laws of the federal states
- Equipment and machine noise protection ordinance (32nd BImSchV)
- Sports facility noise protection ordinance (18th BImSchV)
- Traffic Noise Protection Ordinance (16th BImSchV)
- Certain municipalities have issued ordinances within the framework of local law, for example relating to noon and night rest . In the city of Munich, for example, the domestic work and music noise ordinance applies .
- Road traffic regulations ( § 30 StVO)
- Technical instructions for protection against noise
- Criminal law
- Section 325a (1) StGB ("causing noise, vibrations and non-ionizing radiation"; here: through the operation of a system)
Law in Austria
- § 1 Vienna State Security Act
- Section 81 (1)Security Police Act
Law in Switzerland
The criminal law regulation of the offense in relation to public space is left to the cantons . The tenancy law also refers in this regard to the house rules and the ZGB contains a regulation in Art. 684.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Examples of disturbance of the peace. Accessed January 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Thurn, in Werag , No. 1, 1926; Der Radio-Händler, January 5, 1938, p. 16. The omission issued by the Lüdenscheid district court in 1937 stipulated 10 Reichsmarks in the event of a violation.
- ↑ Housework and Music Noise Ordinance of August 5, 2003, City of Munich City Law, accessed on November 21, 2015
- ↑ Vienna State Security Act (PDF; 26 kB)
- ↑ St. Trechsel : Swiss Criminal Code, Brief Commentary , 1997
