Noise pollution is an important part of the environmental impact of ships. The noise inside the vessel (affecting crew and passengers) has been regulated since a few decades, while the impact of emissions in water on the marine fauna has been under consideration at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) only in the last few years. No specific effort seems to be in place towards a regulatory framework for external airborne noise emissions from sea going commercial ships. Only the particular cases of inland vessels and pleasure crafts are partially covered by rules. The airborne noise pollution from commercial ships, on the other hand, does affect people living near channels, in coastal areas with intense traffic or near ports, where ships enter and stay at wharf for loading/unloading processes. The actual dimension of the problem is remarked by several cases of complaints sent out by citizens living in the urban areas affected. Within the SILENV project (Ships oriented Innovative soLutions to rEduce Noise & Vibrations, funded by the E.U.) assessment criteria for the airborne noise emitted by sea-going ships have been proposed: the background information, the general criteria at the basis of the formulation, the aims as well as the verification procedure of the proposed limits are discussed in the paper.