CATEGORY:LEGISLATION
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By Trevor Thwaites (Inside Grenada correspondent)


ST.GEORGE, Grenada - The newly enacted Noise Control Act will deliver stiff penalties for persons found to be transgressing the law. Persons found to be breaking the law for the first time will be fined EC$250. A second offence could see a fine not exceeding EC$250 or imprisonment for six months or possibly both. According to the Ministry of Legal Affairs, a third offence could result in a fine not exceeding EC$1000, or a Jail-term of nine months of possibly both penalties.

A fourth offence, according to the new bit of legislation, which took effect on Friday September 1, will result in a Jail- sentence of 12 months. Solicitor Keith Friday told reporters at a recent press conference in the city last week, that the act has been introduced with a concept of ‘reasonableness’. He said that at the moment, the legislation does not deal with the measurement of noise.

“For example, the police officers, who are managing the law, will have to decide on the level of noise emanating from the source and whether it is reasonable in the circumstances. So for the time being, this is the concept that is going to be used with regard to noise”, the Solicitor General pointed out. Friday said that the concept of reasonableness is not new to the laws of the country. “If the noise emanating from one’s stereo set is so unreasonable to be disturbing his neighbours then that is the concept.”

The legal official told reporters that the measurement to be sued will not be judged by the number of decibels emanating from the music or noise, but one that will be considered in line with the expectation of a reasonable person in the situation. He said that if someone is found infringing on what is considered reasonable expectation, the Police are entitled under the law to shut down the source and then take the matter to court. “It is then for the court to decide having heard the evidence whether the noise is reasonable in the circumstances”, he explained.