Active noise protection is based among others on regulations for the nature and operation of vehicles and craft, following almost exclusively the German Road Traffic Act (Road Traffic Act, StVG) (all available in German) with consideration of § 38 of the Federal Immission Control Act. The Road Traffic Act allows for the issuing of ordinances and general administrative regulations. § 30 (1) of the Road Traffic Regulation (Road Traffic Regulation, StVO) and § 49 of the Road Traffic Licensing Regulation (Road Traffic Licensing Regulation, StVZO) in accordance with § 38 of the Federal Immission Control Act lay down that vehicles "must be operated in such a manner that any avoidable emissions are prevented and any unavoidable emissions are kept to a minimum".

On the basis of § 6, the Road Traffic Regulation requires and allows for the prohibition of unnecessary noise when using a vehicle, the limitation of the use of acoustic signals as well as traffic restrictions which can be ordered by the road traffic authorities for the protection of the resident population from noise and exhaust gases (e.g. in health resorts or in the proximity of hospitals). In addition to this, the road traffic authorities in accordance with the municipality can give the necessary orders for the protection of the population from noise and exhaust gases or for supporting structured urban development measures (§ 45 of the Road Traffic Regulation). There are still numerous possibilities in this field.

Besides the essential planning principle in § 50 of the Federal Immission Control Act, the noise control requirements in Part IV of the Federal Immission Control Act have to be considered:

§ 38 (Nature and Operation of Vehicles and Craft) lays down that cars and vehicles "must be operated in such a manner that any avoidable emissions are prevented and any unavoidable emissions are kept to a minimum".

According to § 41 (Roads and Railways), "provision shall be made in the case of any construction or major alteration of public roads as well as of railways, magnetic levitation trains and tramways that this does not involve any harmful effects on the environment caused by traffic noise which is avoidable with the use of the best available techniques". This is not to be applied "where the costs of the protective measure would not be commensurate with the desired protection goal". Noise protection can also be realized through noise protection walls and barriers or through grinding the rail surface for example.

§ 42 regulates the compensation for sound-proofing measures at construction works (passive noise protection).

§ 43 authorizes the Federal Government to "adopt by ordinance ... any such provisions as are necessary to implement Article 41 and Article 42" in order to protect the neighbourhood from any harmful effects on the environment caused by noise, as well as the procedure to be used to measure emissions or immissions, during the construction or major alteration of public roads and railways. The corresponding Traffic Noise Ordinance (16th Federal Immission Control Ordinance) (available in German) was issued in June 1990. This ordinance replaces the meanwhile abandoned intention to regulate this matter in a traffic noise protection act of its own.

The Federal Immission Control Act regulates noise immissions in the context of the construction of roads and railways through the 16th Federal Immission Control Ordinance.

The protection covers not only the interior but also the exterior living area (like balconies, terraces), which is equally worthy of protection as it is fit for habitation.

§ 43 of the Federal Immission Control Act authorizes the Federal Government to adopt by ordinance specific technical requirements regarding the construction of roads, railways and tramways and the type and extent of any sound-proofing measures at construction works needed to protect the environment from any harmful effects caused by noise.

The necessity for noise protection measures during the construction or major alteration of federal highways of public easement also arises out of the requirements of § 17 of the Federal Highway Act (Bundesfernstraßengesetz) in the context of the plan approval procedure defined therein.

The guidelines for traffic noise protection at federal highways of public easement (VLärmSchR97) (available in German) determine limit values for acoustic treatment measures at existing A-roads.

Road planning in the context of urban land-use planning is subject to the requirements of § 1(5) of the Federal Building Code, stipulating that environmental concerns, including noise protection, have to be considered. Spaces which, on development, will require special physical provisions to counter external forces, i.e. in our context noise, shall be indicated according to § 9 para. 5 No.1 of the Federal Building Code. Such an indication comes at the end of acoustic analyses whose purpose is to bring about predominantly active noise protection.

Another act which is relevant in this context is the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungsgesetz, UVPG). One of the purposes of this act is to carry out effective preventive environmental protection based on uniform principles in the context of the below-mentioned projects. It covers the identification, description and assessment of the impacts of a project on the environment. In the context of road traffic and railway noise, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act gives the following projects that fall within the scope of the act under certain conditions:

• construction and alteration of a federal motorway or other federal highway

• construction and alteration of railway tracks with the associated operating facilities

• construction and alteration of a track route for trams, elevated urban railways, underground railways or suspension railways, in each case with the associated operating facilities