The Lisbon City Council acknowledges that several establishments in the city are using televisions to broadcast music as a way to bypass the obligation to install sound limiters. This practice allows bars to avoid compliance with the regulations established since 2016 to control noise levels during nighttime operation.
Since 2016, establishments operating after 11 PM and offering live music have been required to install sound limiters with recording capability. The objective of this measure is to ensure compliance with authorized sound levels and reduce the impact of noise on the neighborhood, protecting residents of areas surrounding nightlife venues.
Sound limiters are devices that record sound levels and detect any exceedances of legally defined limits. However, by choosing to broadcast music through televisions instead of traditional sound equipment, establishments manage to bypass this monitoring, since the legislation does not cover this form of music reproduction in the same way.
This situation represents a challenge for municipal authorities, who see the effectiveness of the measures implemented to control noise pollution in Lisbon compromised. The Lisbon City Council now faces the problem of monitoring and regulating a practice that exploits a gap in current legislation.
