The Minister of Interior, Konstantinos Petridis, made a decision to suspend the Law that was passed on July 1st by the Parliament for the leisure centers.
In a reply letter to the chairman of the Committee on Interior, Mr. Eleni Mavrou, he assures that the Ministry of Interior makes every effort to implement this legislation, noting, however, that this is not an ordinary legislation but a peculiar and technical, in many respects, legislation for the implementation of which requires the creation of important technical infrastructure, supply of specialized equipment and much more.
As the Minister explains, in order to clarify the above, it was necessary to complete the relevant study, which was handed over to the Ministry of Interior.
For the practical application of this law, according to the conclusions of the study, among others, it is considered necessary:
- the establishment of a Central Control System Management Service to which all responsibilities related to audio broadcasting licenses will be assigned,
- the employment and training of noise pollution inspectors, and
- the operation of a Central Control System that will have the necessary IT infrastructure and will define the procedures for the collection, storage and processing of volume information.
In his letter to Ms. Mavrou, the Minister of Interior noted that the above issues are not all covered by the provisions of the Law in question, which affects its practical implementation and the effectiveness in controlling its implementation.
The study also demonstrates a number of other issues, of economic, technical, legal nature, which in order to be regulated, require the amendment of the Law, so that the legislation becomes operational.
It is also pointed out that the researchers consider it imperative to pilot in a selected area, the integrated sound control system within 2018, and before the implementation of the Law, so that if any problems / shortcomings arise, they can be addressed.
Mr. Petridis, based on the above, expressed the assessment that the Law which had a validity date of 1.1.2017 could not be implemented before the completion of the study but also before the evaluation of its findings and paving the way for the necessary actions for implementation their.
Regarding the establishment of schedules in order to enable the implementation of the mentioned Law, the philosophy of which the Ministry of Interior fully agrees, a meeting will be arranged as soon as possible with all the Departments / Services involved and with the researchers.
For purposes of better coordination of executive and legislative power, the Minister of Interior assured Ms. Mavrou that she will be invited to the meeting in question. At this stage, the suggestions / proposals of the researchers are evaluated.
Consequently and given the impossibility of practical implementation of the legislation, but also to address the phenomenon of noise pollution, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, decided to suspend the Law and amend the Penal Code so that the Police have the power to take the necessary action to take action against those who violate existing legislation. These regulations give the possibility of enforcing the law regarding noise pollution, until all the above issues are addressed.