The following terms and expressions – wherever they appear in this Executive Regulation – shall have the meanings set forth below, except where it is therein expressly otherwise:

• Law: Environmental Law.

• Executive Regulation: Executive Regulation for Noise.

• Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

• Minister: Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

• Center: National Center for Environmental Compliance.

• Person: Any public or private natural or legal person.

• Permit: A document issued by the Center to a person granting him temporary permission to exceed the standards or limits of noise level.

• Permittee: A person who is granted a permit in accordance with the provisions of this Executive Regulation.

• Inspectors: Employees designated by the Minister or the chairman of the Center’s board of directors the Center to undertake Center’s monitoring and inspections, and to apprehend, investigate, and substantiate violations to the provisions of the law and Executive Regulation.

• Activity: Any industrial, commercial, or service-related facility, project, business, or other activities that are expected to have an environmental impact.

• Noise: The unpleasant and undesirable sound that adversely affects the health of humans and living species, and environment quality, that arises from various human activities such as manufacturing, transportation, construction work, and others.

• Environmentally Sensitive Areas: Areas with environmental significance, and whose degradation has negative repercussions for the environment. They include protected areas, parks, forests, wetlands, bird habitats, mangroves, landscaped sites, watersheds, water catchment and run-off areas, beaches, waterways, aquifers or any other area(s) identified or declared as environmentally sensitive areas by the State, the Ministry, or the national environmental centers.

• Sensitive Receptors: Receptors that are likely to be severely affected by an activity or project due to their geographical proximity or sensitive nature. They include: environmental elements, living species, archeological, cultural, and religious sites, and community groups (such as endangered species, hospitals, elder care centers, schools, residential complexes, and others).

• Decibel A (dBA): The measurement unit of noise intensity as perceived by the human ear. It is the logarithmic difference between the pressure of the sound, which intensity is measured (A) and the pressure of the lowest sound (P0) that can be perceived by the human ear, which is 20 micropascals (µPa). It is measured using an audio filter (Filter-A) which measures sounds in a specific frequency range

• LAeq, T: Equivalent continuous A-weighted sound level. It is the constant sound level that, in a given situation and time period (T), conveys the same sound energy as the actual time-varying A-weighted sound.

• Low-density Residential Areas: Areas that accommodate 4 to 8 residential units per 10,000 m2 or 1,000 to 3,999 persons per km2

• Medium-density Residential Areas: Areas that accommodate 9 to 14 residential units per 10,000 m2 or 4,000 to 6,999 persons per km2

• High-density Residential Areas: Areas that accommodate 15 to 20 residential units per 10,000 m 2 or 7,000 to 9,999 persons per km2 .

• Daytime: Time period between 7.00 am and 8.00 pm.

• Night-time: Time period between 8.00 pm and 7.00 am.

• Construction Work: All drilling, building, demolishing, or repairing activities, or other directly related activities

The provisions of this Executive Regulation shall apply to all persons in residential, commercial, industrial, and environmentally sensitive areas, roadsides, and construction sites. They do not cover the noise inside buildings, loudspeakers at mosques, military activities, warning sirens, airports, railways, operational activities at ports, and national ceremonies.

The Center shall undertake tasks pertaining to noise that include:

• (1) Monitoring persons’ compliance with the standards of noise level set forth in these Executive Regulations.

• (2) Setting the controls and requirements pertaining to:

• a. Monitoring, measuring, and controlling noise levels.

• b. Modelling noise levels and displaying results on maps.

• c. Developing plans to reduce noise levels.

• (3) Periodic monitoring and assessment of noise levels across the Kingdom.

• (4) Adopting and monitoring noise level indicators.

• (5) Reviewing and analyzing data and reports pertaining to levels of the noise emitted from activities on a periodic basis.

• (6) Disseminating environmental information, data, and reports pertaining to noise, as determined by Ministry.

• (7) Undertaking necessary actions and measures when persons are about to exceed the allowed limits of noise level.

• (8) Determining and approving the controls and requirements of noise permits.

• (9) Reviewing and analyzing noise-related applications and issuing permits after collection of issuance fees.

• (10) Reviewing and examining preventive plans for activities whose environmental permit requires periodic control and noise level reduction.

• (11) Inspecting, monitoring, and reporting violations of these Executive Regulations; in addition to coordinating with Ministry of Interior, as needed, on matters pertaining to apprehending violators.

The environmental permit holder who is hereby bound to monitor noise levels shall:

• (1) Comply with the standards and requirements pertaining to monitoring noise levels, set forth by the Center.

• (2) Keep noise levels monitoring data for a period of no less than 3 years and submit it to the Center whenever requested.

(1) The Center shall be entitled to request persons to model noise levels and display outcomes on maps, and to develop and implement an action plan for reducing noise levels in the following cases:

• a. During the issuance period of an environmental permit to establish new activities in accordance with provisions of the Executive Regulations for Environmental Permits to Establish and Operate Activities.

• b. In the event of a complaint related to existing activities.

• c. Any other case specified by the Center based on the findings of inspection, or environmental audit study.

(2) The persons concerned with provisions of clause (1) of this article shall comply with the Center’s requirements pertaining to modelling and planning reducing noise levels.