Time to raise awareness of Europe-wide emergency number

3.18.33pm GMT Wed 13th Feb 2008

Speaking on the first European day to mark the European emergency number 112 (therefore: 11 February), Diana Wallis MEP, who campaigns to raise awareness of the number, said:

"The written declaration I piloted through the European Parliament achieved historic support amongst fellow MEPs. The Commission has understood this and has included 112 in several recent initiatives, but Member States are still not showing the necessary enthusiasm to take this issue forward.

"The European emergency number was introduced across the EU over 15 years ago, so it is about time national authorities and European institutions start raising awareness of it, and evaluating how appropriately 112 calls are handled in the Member States.

"With people becoming increasingly mobile throughout the EU, this is clearly an issue which affects us all."

Notes::

In September 2007 the European Parliament adopted a Written Declaration calling for improved implementation of the European Emergency Number, 112. The Written Declaration (number 44 of 2007) achieved the highest ever number of signatures in the history of the Parliament, gathering cross-party support from over 500 MEPs.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/065-10135-246-09-36-911-20070906IPR10134-03-09-2007-2007-true/default_en.htm

112, the single European emergency call number, appeared in 1991 in the context of the single market and free movement of persons, with the aim of providing an additional, common means for accessing emergency services all over the Union. However, despite having been introduced in all Member States except for Bulgaria (for which an infringement procedure is pending), differences still persist in the implementation of 112. Whereas in some countries the emergency services are able to locate 112 callers and provide support in several languages, these facilities are not always certain.

It is estimated that only 20% of British citizens know about the European emergency number, far below the European average (only 40% of Europeans know the number). This is particularly critical due to the high number of outbound tourists from the United Kingdom, which reached 16.2 million in 2003. 13 million of these tourists are facing serious danger when travelling abroad as they are not aware that the number 112 could save their lives in case of an emergency.

Council Decision from 1991 establishing 112: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31991D0396:EN:HTML

Commission page on 112 (Civil Protection Unit): http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/prote/112/112_en.htm

Diana Wallis is a Vice President of the European Parliament, and a member of the advisory board of the European Emergency Number Association.

The current review of the Article 26 of the Universal Service Directive features 112 quite prominently, although the legislative process has only just started.