Noise as an aspect of civil law is treated in the German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB) (available in German), especially in the following articles:

§ 906 (Impacts from the neighbouring plot)
"The owner of a plot of land cannot prohibit the impacts of gases, vapours, smells, smoke, soot, heat, noises, vibrations and such coming from another plot insofar as these impacts do not or only insignificantly impair the use of the plot of land. The same applies to a significant impairment by a customary use of the other plot which cannot be prevented by economically reasonable measures. If the owner must hereafter tolerate an impact, he can demand an appropriate financial compensation from the user of the other plot if the impact impairs the customary use of the plot or its proceeds beyond reasonable measure. ..."

§ 1004 (Right to an injunction)
"If the ownership is impaired other than by removal or withholding of the possession, the owner can demand remedy of the impairment from the interferer. If there are other impairments, the owner may seek a prohibitory injunction. This right is excluded if the owner is obliged to tolerate the impairment."

Various legal rulings on the reasonableness of noise from sports facilities and traffic, which may have a similar impact like an inverse condemnation, had a major influence on the regulations on traffic noise protection (see section 3.1).

Emitters of noise can be prosecuted. The 18th amendment to the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) includes a section on "Crimes Against The Environment", with § 325, § 325a (Air Pollution and Noise) replacing § 63 (Offences) of the Federal Immission Control Act.

According to § 325a para. 1 of the Criminal Code "whoever, in the operation of a facility, especially a plant or machine, in violation of duties under administrative law, causes noise which is capable of harming the health of another outside of the area belonging to the facility, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine". This shall not apply to motor vehicles, rail vehicles, aircraft or watercraft.

In the case of noise as a consequence of individual behaviour, § 117 (Inadmissible noise) of the Administrative Offences Act (Gesetz über Ordnungswidrigkeiten, OWiG) (available in German) is to be applied. It reads as follows:

"Anyone who, without justified reason and to an inadmissible or avoidable extent, causes noise which is capable of annoying the general public or the neighbourhood substantially or of harming the health of another commits an administrative offence."

Such offences are punished with a fine.

For the selection of the administrative treatment of remedial measures it is important to make a distinction between noise caused by an installation and noise caused by individual behaviour as the ordinances of the Federal Immission Control Act are to be applied in the first case and those of the Administrative Offences Act in the second. In the context of noise from sports and leisure facilities, restaurants and amusement parks for example it is hardly possible to separate purely technical operational noise from the visitors' activities, cheers and roars (see chapter 5 and section 6.4). This why city planning must never neglect the social aspects determined by individual behaviour in connection with intended uses.