The Commission communication relates to the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at Union airports within a Balanced Approach and repealing Directive 2002/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The Commission supports the position of the Council which reflects the political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on 27 January 2014. It accepts the amendments made by Council, these being related to :
· the increased visibility of the importance of health ;
· the introduction of a specific mediation process to conduct consultations ;
· the delayed phased out of 'marginally compliant aircraft" ;
· the more specific provision of noise information ;
· the deletion of a delegation to amend the definitions of aircraft and marginally compliant aircraft, and implementation issues, including a grandfather clause ;
· on the Commission right of scrutiny, the obligation for the competent authority to examine the Commission notification and to inform the Commission of its intentions.
The Commission made a statement on the revision of Directive 2002/49/EC to facilitate the agreement between Council and Parliament.
The Commission declares that it is discussing with Member States Annex II to Directive 2002/49/EC (noise calculation methods) with a view to adopting it in the coming months.
Based on work the World Health Organisation is currently undertaking regarding the methodology to assess health implications of the noise impact, the Commission intends to revise Annex III to Directive 2002/49/ EC (estimation of health impact, dose response curves).