Immissionsschutz (Immissionen/ Emissionen)

The term immission control covers all efforts to limit immissions to a level that is acceptable to people and the environment in the long term. The main instrument of immission control in Germany is the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG).

For immission control, emissions and immissions generally include

• Air pollutants,
• Noise (sound),
• vibrations
• light,
• heat,
• radiation,

emanating from installations, traffic and other activities directly caused by man. Immissions affect people, animals, plants, the atmosphere, soil, water, and cultural or other material assets. In addition to emissions of human origin, there are also emissions from natural sources such as volcanoes, swamps, vegetation.

Complaint Procedure:

You may complain by telephone or in writing to one of the agencies listed below. Receipt of the complaint is usually acknowledged by the authority. If the authority itself is not responsible for this operation, it will inform you and forward the complaint to the competent body.

No special documents or records are required for complaints. However, in the case of concrete complaints about individual polluters, the processing of the complaint will be facilitated if you know the name of the establishment, facility, association or person(s) and if you can already provide concrete information about the times and nature of the possible harassment. The more concretely the complaint is described, the easier and faster it will be to determine the facts of the case.

AIR POLLUTANTS

Air pollutants (e.g., smoke, soot, dust, gases, vapors, odors) are primarily generated by activities in industry, agriculture, and transportation, but also in private households. They are primarily carried into the lowest layer of the atmosphere. From there, they can also reach higher layers of the atmosphere and thus more distant locations.

Air pollutants can be divided into gaseous substances, aerosols, particles and their combinations.

NOISES, NOISE, NOISE CONTROL

Noise is defined as sounds which, due to their volume and structure, can be harmful to human health and the environment, or disturbing or stressful. Whether sounds are perceived as noise depends on a person's constitution, preferences and mood.

Noise protection is an important part of environmental protection. Noise protection is understood to mean all measures that result in a reduction of existing noise immissions. These can be both technical (active at the source of the noise, passive at the point of immission) and organizational.

VIBRATIONS

In immission control, vibrations are understood as oscillations of solid bodies that can have annoying or even harmful effects on humans and can cause damage to material goods. The main sources of vibrations are industrial and commercial sources (e.g. presses, hammers, sawmills), construction sites (e.g. vibrators, blasting), but also to a considerable extent traffic.

RADIATION, LIGHT, HEAT

In the scope of immission protection, the term radiation is limited to non-ionizing radiation, such as electromagnetic fields from mobile communications or overhead electric lines, or light and heat radiation.

competent bodies in the case of AIR POLLUTION:

• Plants (industrial, commercial, private):
  Immission control authorities of the responsible district offices or independent cities
• Plants with municipal participation:
  Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation
• Road traffic:
  • Freeways: Autobahndirektion,
  • federal highways: Road construction office,
  • other roads: District offices or municipalities
• Rail transport:
  • Deutsche Bahn AG facilities:
    Deutsche Bahn AG, Bahn-Umwelt-Zentrum, Caroline-Michaelis-Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin, Tel. +49 30 297-56501, bahn-umwelt-zentrum@bahn.de
  • other railroads: regional transport companies
• Air transport:
  • civil: Thuringian State Administration Office, Ref. 520 (road and air traffic)
  • military: see aircraft noise (military)

competent authorities for NOISE, NOISE CONTROL:

• Industrial, commercial and construction noise:
  Immission control authorities of the responsible district offices or independent cities
• Noise from plants with municipal participation:
  Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation
• Road traffic noise:
  • Freeways: Autobahndirektion,
  • federal highways: Road construction office,
  • other roads: District offices or municipalities
• Rail noise
  • Facilities of Deutsche Bahn AG:
    Deutsche Bahn AG, Bahn-Umwelt-Zentrum, Caroline-Michaelis-Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin, Tel. +49 30 297-56501, bahn-umwelt-zentrum@bahn.de
  • other railroads:
    regional transport companies
  • civil:
    Thuringian State Administration Office, Ref. 520 (road and air traffic)
  • military:
    see aircraft noise (military)
• Neighborhood noise
  • within office hours: public order office
  • Out of office hours: Police
• Sports and leisure noise (private)
  • within working hours:
    Immission control authorities of the responsible district offices or independent cities
  • Out of office hours:
    Police
• Sports and recreational noise with municipal participation:
  Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation
  • out of office hours: police
• Restaurant noise
  • within working hours: public order office
  • Out of office hours: Police

Responsible authorities in the case of EMERGENCIES:

• Plants (industrial, commercial, private):
  Immission control authorities of the responsible district offices or independent cities
• Plants with municipal participation:
  Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation
• Road traffic
  • Freeways: Autobahndirektion,
  • federal highways: Road construction office,
  • other roads: District offices or municipalities
• Rail transport
  • Facilities of Deutsche Bahn AG:
  • Deutsche Bahn AG, Bahn-Umwelt-Zentrum, Caroline-Michaelis-Str. 5-11, 10115 Berlin, Tel. +49 30 297-56501, bahn-umwelt-zentrum@bahn.de
  • other railroads: regional transport companies

competent authorities for RADIATION, LIGHT, HEAT:

• Facilities (industrial, commercial, private):
  Immission control authorities of the responsible district offices or independent cities
• Plants with municipal participation:
  Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation
• Mobile communications:
  Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway, Leipzig branch office/Erfurt site, Zeppelinstrasse 16, 99096 Erfurt, Tel. 0361/7398-0