Short answer. Yes, within limits. Article 683 of the Civil Code allows factories and shops to be maintained, subject to zoning, health, police and other laws and regulations, provided the least possible annoyance is caused to the neighborhood. Some annoyance is tolerated; needless or excessive annoyance is not.
What the law says
factories and shops may be maintained provided the least possible annoyance is caused to the neighborhood
Civil Code, Article 683 — Factories And Shops Permitted. Read the full provision →
Business near homes is not automatically unlawful
Living beside a factory or shop is not, by itself, a legal wrong the operator must answer for. The law expressly permits such businesses: factories and shops may be maintained provided the least possible annoyance is caused to the neighborhood. Commerce and industry inevitably produce some noise, movement, and activity, and the law accepts a degree of that as the ordinary price of a working community. So a neighbor cannot demand that a lawful business fall silent simply because its presence is noticeable. The question the law asks is not whether there is any annoyance, but whether the operator is keeping it to the least possible.
The duty to cause the least possible annoyance
The permission comes tied to an obligation. The operator must cause the least possible annoyance to the neighborhood, which means taking reasonable measures to minimize the disturbance his operation creates. An operator who could readily reduce noise, fumes, odor, or other disturbance but does not, and instead lets it spill onto neighbors carelessly, is not within the shelter the article gives. The standard is one of reasonable restraint fitted to the nature of the business. It rewards the operator who manages his impact and withdraws its protection from one who inflicts more disturbance than his activity truly requires.
Zoning and other regulations still govern
This permission does not float free of other rules. The article opens by making it subject to zoning, health, police and other laws and regulations. So even a business that keeps annoyance low must still sit where zoning allows it and comply with health, safety, and local ordinances. A factory operating in an area zoned against it, or in breach of environmental or health requirements, cannot rely on this provision to justify its presence. The article tolerates ordinary annoyance from a properly located, properly regulated business; it does not license one that flouts the regulatory framework around it.
When annoyance crosses the line
There is a point at which disturbance stops being tolerable annoyance and becomes something the law treats as a nuisance a neighbor can act against. Persistent, excessive, or hazardous effects, well beyond what the business reasonably needs to operate, fall outside the article's protection. If you are the affected neighbor, it helps to document the disturbance, when it happens and how it affects your use of your home, and to check the applicable zoning and local rules. If you run the business, the safest position is to locate lawfully and actively keep your impact to the least possible, which is exactly what the article asks.