Exemption for the use of tools between 20:00 and 7:00: issuance

Relevant regulations on the operation of motor-driven machines, tools and garden equipment are contained in the Act on Protection against Harmful Environmental Effects by Air Pollution, Noise, Vibrations and Similar Processes (BImSchG) in conjunction with the 32nd Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (32nd BImSchV).

In principle, these regulations are aimed at both entrepreneurs and private individuals.
Thus, according to § 7 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 of the 32nd BImSchV, devices and machines in

• pure, general and special residential areas,
• small settlement areas,
• special areas for recreation,
• Spa and clinic areas as well as
• on the grounds of hospitals and nursing homes

cannot be operated outdoors all day on Sundays and public holidays and on weekdays from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Special regulations exist for:

• brushcutter,
• grass trimmers and grass edge trimmers,
• leaf blowers and leaf collectors,

which do not bear the Community eco-label (European Ecolabel) or do not comply with the stage II permissible sound power level requirements laid down in Article 12 of Directive 2000/14/EC.

These may also be used in the period between

• 7:00 am and 9:00 am,
• 13:00 and 15:00 and
• 17:00 and 20:00

are not operated.

In individual cases, the competent authority may allow exceptions to the restrictions of § 7 para. 1 of the 32nd BImSchV.

According to § 7 Abs. 2 of the 32nd BImSchV, approval is not required if the operation of the equipment and machines is necessary in individual cases to avert a danger in the event of storms or snowfall or to avert any other danger to people, the environment or property.

• Act for Protection against Harmful Environmental Effects by Air Pollution, Noise, Vibrations and Similar Processes (BImSchG)
• § 7 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 32. Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (32nd BImSchV)
• Directive 2000/14/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the noise emission in the environment by equipment for use outdoors