How many sensitivity levels are there?
Four, from I to IV, defined in article 43 of the Noise Abatement Ordinance. Level I is the strictest protection and level IV the most permissive, reserved for industrial zones.
DS
Noise sensitivity level (DS / ES): definition
The noise sensitivity level classifies each land-use zone according to the noise admissible there. Article 43 of the Swiss Noise Abatement Ordinance defines four, from level I (heightened protection) to level IV (industrial zones). The level assigned to your parcel drives the requirements applying to a project.
Definition and legal framework
The federal Noise Abatement Ordinance (NAO, SR 814.41) requires cantons to assign a sensitivity level to every land-use zone. Level I covers zones needing heightened protection, such as recreation or health-resort zones. Level II applies to zones where no disturbing business is admitted — typically residential zones and zones for public buildings. Level III concerns zones admitting moderately disturbing businesses, that is mixed and agricultural zones. Level IV applies to zones admitting strongly disturbing businesses, essentially industrial ones.
Each level carries exposure limits — planning values, immission limit values and alarm values — set in the annexes to the ordinance. These values differ by noise source (road traffic, railways, aviation, industry, shooting ranges) and by period, day or night. There is therefore no single threshold per level: only the combination of level, source and annex yields the applicable value.
What it changes for your parcel
The sensitivity level is binding and appears in the RDPPF cadastre. It bites mainly at permit stage: under articles 29 to 31 NAO, a building permit for noise-sensitive rooms — dwellings, offices — is granted only if the limit values are met. In exposed locations this imposes concrete measures: orienting sensitive rooms towards the quiet side, windows with reinforced acoustic insulation, barriers, glazed balconies.
These requirements cost money and shape the floor plan: a project that ignores them may have to be redrawn after filing. Level III on a parcel bordering a through road therefore changes how a dwelling is designed, whereas level II inside a quiet neighbourhood imposes nothing in particular.
How to obtain it
The level assigned to your parcel appears on the RDPPF extract under the noise theme and on the municipal land-use plan. If your parcel borders a road, a railway line or a noisy installation, ask the cantonal environment office for the noise cadastre of that source: it shows actual exposure, which the level alone does not convey.
Frequently asked questions
Which level applies to a residential zone?
In principle level II, which excludes disturbing businesses. Mixed zones generally fall under level III. The actual assignment is made by the canton and appears in the land-use plan.
Can the sensitivity level prevent building?
Rarely in absolute terms, but it can make the permit conditional on protective measures — room orientation, reinforced acoustic insulation — or require a derogation from the cantonal authority if limit values are exceeded.
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