environmental protection

Measures to reduce light pollution in the territory of national parks.

This regulation was adopted in 2012 and was at the beginning applied only in the Atacama, Antofagasta and Coquimbo regions (north). In 2023, new amendments were approved, extending this regulation to the entire national territory, including new technical requirements and the incorporation of biodiversity as an object of protection.

The object of this Law is the regulation of exterior and interior lighting installations and devices, with regard to the light pollution they may produce. The purposes of this Law are: a) Maintain the natural conditions of the night hours as much as possible, for the benefit of fauna, flora and ecosystems, in general; b) Promote the energy efficiency of exterior and interior lighting through energy savings, without reducing security; c) Avoid light intrusion into the domestic environment and, in any case, minimize its inconvenience and damage; d) Prevent and correct the effects of light pollution on the vision of the sky.

The purpose of this Foral Law is to establish a regulatory, institutional and instrumental framework to specify in the Foral Community of Navarra its contribution to the commitment to sustainability and the fight against climate change, facilitating the transition towards a new socioeconomic and energy model. with a low-carbon economy, based on efficiency and renewable energies so that the rational and supportive use of natural resources is guaranteed, and adapted to climate effects. Includes provisions to reduce the use of artificial lighting.

The purpose of this regulation is to establish the technical conditions for design, execution, and maintenance that outdoor lighting installations must meet, in order to: improve energy efficiency and savings, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions; limit nighttime light glare or light pollution and reduce intrusive or disturbing light.

The amendments adopted in 2021 introduced measures to address light pollution, mainly with regard to the protection of insects, such as the prevention of light sources from becoming insect traps in the future.

Section §21 regulates lighting systems, advertising systems, and sky spotlights with a focus on protecting insect fauna and preventing light pollution in outdoor areas. Key provisions include restrictions on illuminating building facades during specific hours, requirements for insect-friendly lighting on public streets, paths, and squares, and a ban on outdoor advertising systems. Exceptions are granted for specific cases, such as advertising at events, signposts, and certain agricultural advertising systems, subject to approval from the nature conservation authority. The highest nature conservation authority is empowered to establish detailed regulations regarding the impact of outdoor lighting systems on wildlife and the permissibility of illuminated advertising systems in outdoor areas.

Section § 4 - Protection of living beings from lighting:
This section emphasizes the need to avoid light emissions to support the undisturbed alternation of activity and rest phases for diurnal and nocturnal species, in addition to provisions in the Federal Nature Conservation Act.

Section § 35 aims to protect light-sensitive species by advocating the avoidance of unnecessary artificial light, especially outdoor lighting that exceeds required levels or lacks a clear purpose. The measures include exemptions for horticultural production, regulations for designing lighting systems on public streets, and prohibitions on sky spotlights and illuminated advertising during specific hours. Municipalities have the authority to enact statutes regulating the environmental effects of light, and efforts are encouraged for insect-friendly designs in outdoor and built-up areas, with penalties for non-compliance.

Art.11a Sky spotlights and lighting systems
1 Interference with the insect fauna through artificial lighting in outdoor areas must be avoided. 2 Sky spotlights and devices with similar effects are not permitted. 3 When setting up lighting systems outdoors, the effects on the insect fauna, in particular their impairment and damage, must be checked and the objectives of species protection must be taken into account. 4 Lighting in the immediate vicinity of protected landscape components and biotopes must only be approved by the responsible authority or with their consent in exceptional cases.

The decree aims to protect the living environment by limiting outdoor advertising while allowing the use of new means. The act reduces the formats of wall advertising devices, depending on the size of the towns, up to four square meters in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants. It establishes a density rule for classic devices sealed on the ground and wall along roads open to public traffic, by limiting one advertising device per 80 meter strip on private property and another on public property. It specifies the special and derogatory rules applicable in airports and train stations, in order to take into account their specificity in terms of size and operation, in particular for larger airports. It establishes an obligation to turn off light devices: light advertisements must be turned off at night, between one a.m. and six a.m., except for airports and urban units with more than 800,000 inhabitants, for which mayors will issue the applicable rules. Illuminated signs will follow the same rules. Illuminated advertisements, particularly digital ones, are specifically regulated with regard to their surface area, their luminance, their energy consumption and their anti-glare device. Advertising on tarpaulins is specifically regulated. Construction site tarpaulins may include advertising on half of their surface. Advertising banners must respect a density rule. Local advertising regulations, municipal adaptations of national rules, can henceforth only be more restrictive than the national rule. They will be developed, revised and modified according to the rules applicable to local urban planning plans.