If you are coming to (or already in) Brazil you had better have a pair of industrial strength earplugs; or be prepared to put up with the constant assault on your senses of the noise people make here.
At times it looks like the entire country is one big competition to outdo your next-door neighbor at making as much noise as humanly possible. It would appear that there is an unwritten law that every neighborhood must have at least one inconsiderate idiot who insists on playing his/her stereo at full volume day and night, non-stop; or one that arrives home at 3:00 am every night and blows his car horn until somebody in his home wakes up and opens the garage for him (because he's either too stupid or too lazy to get out of the car and open it himself). Then too there's the cherished neighbor who is renovating his kitchen and uses power tools in the wee hours of the morning. Oh, and don't forget that nice lady in the apartment above you who starts preparing the evening meal at 4:00 am, before she leaves for work and she begins pounding that steak with the meat tenderizer hammer oblivious to the fact that the sound passes through the whole building. Or maybe she just wears high-heels day and night and all you hear below her is – clop, clop, clop.
As much as I love Brazil and the Brazilian people I've got to confess that they are just about the noisiest people on the face of the earth, worse still they don't even clue in to the fact that their noise might be bothering somebody else. The problem is that they firmly believe that it's their God-given right to make as much noise as they want (or at least until 11:00 pm [23h00]). There is a myth commonly held all over Brazil that there is a Law of Silence “Lei de Silencio” that establishes this as the time beyond which one should not make excessive noise. COMPLETELY UNTRUE!!! SUCH A LAW DOES NOT EXIST. The closest thing to it is the PSIU in the city of São Paulo and that only applies to public establishments such as bars, nightclubs and restaurants – not to residences.
What really applies in this case is the antiquated, but still in effect, Criminal Misdemeanor Law “Lei da Contravenções Penais” of 1941 and amendments thereto:
CRIMINAL MISDEMEANOR LAW
(updated to the changes produced by Law No. 9521 of 27/11/97)
DECREE LAW NO 3688 OF 3 OCTOBER 1941
Criminal Misdemeanor Law.
The President, using the powers conferred upon him by art. 180 of the Constitution, decrees:
CRIMINAL MISDEMEANOR LAW
Disruption of work or disturbing the peace
Article 42 - Disturbing someone, or the quiet work of others:
I - with shouting or uproar;
II - noisy or disruptive profession, in contravention of the law;
III - abusing musical instruments or sound signals;
IV - causing or not seeking to prevent noise produced by animals that you have in your custody:
Penalty - simple imprisonment, fifteen (15) days to three (3) months or a fine.
LEI DAS CONTRAVENÇÕES PENAIS
(atualizada até a alteração produzida pela Lei nº 9.521, de 27.11.97)
DECRETO-LEI N.° 3.688, DE 3 DE OUTUBRO DE 1941
Lei das Contravenções Penais.
O Presidente da República, usando das atribuições que lhe confere o art. 180 da Constituição, decreta:
Art. 42 - Perturbar alguém, o trabalho ou o sossego alheios:
I - com gritaria ou algazarra;
II - exercendo profissão incômoda ou ruidosa, em desacordo com as prescrições legais;
III - abusando de instrumentos sonoros ou sinais acústicos;
IV - provocando ou não procurando impedir barulho produzido por animal de que tem guarda:
Pena - prisão simples, de 15 (quinze) dias a 3 (três) meses, ou multa.
THIS LAW IS NOT TIME SPECIFIC AND CAN BE APPLIED 24 HOURS PER DAY!
(I have specifically chosen to include the Portuguese language version because I know that some overly sensitive individual will either say that I'm a liar, no such Law exists or that “Law of Silence” really does exist )
The problem, however, is that nobody – especially the police – are willing to enforce it. Unless you happen to be a personal friend of the Police Chief (delegado) you can forget about just phoning 190 and making a complaint. If you are extremely lucky maybe a patrol car might show up, but that too is unlikely. Even if the police do arrive they won't even want to hear the details once they find out that it is a noise complaint. They will not take any action whatsoever.
The only way you might get any kind of action is to actually go to the police station and insist on registering your complaint there. They will not take a B.O. (Boletim de Ocorrência) as is done with any other kind of complaint or crime. You will need to insist that they accept a TCO (Termo Circunstanciado de Ocorrência), this is like a private citizen registering the complaint. In the UK, Canada and many other Commonwealth countries it is known as a “Private Information”. Even then chances are slim to none that the situation gets resolved.
I've lived in Brazil for over ten years, in various cities. I can tell you from painful experience that NO PLACE is immune from the problem of excessive noise. The bitter truth is that some places are even worse than most others. Resort cities are probably among the very worst. You really need to have nerves of steel and endless patience here as far as the constant onslaught of noise goes.
For a nation of people so colaborative and considerate in almost every other sense Brazilians are absolutely clueless when the subject is noise, it is difficult to understand. Even trying to talk to the offender in a civil way will probably end up all wrong and could even put you at risk of being attacked, so don't do it.
Get used to the idea; there is no getting away from the noise. You will have to find your own way of coping with the problem. Brazilians (all of them) have absolute TRAUMA of silence, it is something totally unnatural to them, it makes them extremely uncomfortable and in most cases frightens them.
I find it ironic that in a city like São Paulo, that took the courageous step of banning outdoor advertising and other forms of “visual pollution” and in Rio which is considering doing likewise; that neither of these cities or any other for that matter has the courage to do anything about “noise pollution”, which clearly is much more harmful to your health.
Cheers,
William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog
You are invited to respond telling us about your own "horror story" about the problem you are having with noise. Perhaps just talking about it, getting it off your chest, will help make you feel a little bit better and thus a little more able to cope with it.
If you are reasonably fluent in Portuguese, here's what some Brazilians say about the problem:
http://jus.com.br/forum/62979/existe-le … e-sossego/
