Work in Parliament European emergency number 112: Non implementation of European Parliament resolution of 5 July 2011 and article 26 of Directive 2009/136/EC

Questions to the Commission and the Council | 23-05-2013

Graça Carvalho signed an oral question to the Commission. This question deals with the unsatisfactory implementation of EU legislation on the European Emergency Call Number 112:

The European Parliament adopted on 5 July 2011 a "Resolution on universal service and the 112 emergency number". This resolution emphasised the need for greater efforts in implementing and promoting 112, the EU-wide emergency number and called the Commission to take several precise measures on the basis of Directive 2009/136/EC.

Achievements in the implementation of Directive 2009/136/EC by the Commission have been insufficient thus far. For example, no accuracy or reliability criteria for caller location have been defined as requested by article 26.5 of Directive 2009/136/EC. In addition, despite the very low and stagnating awareness of 112 (only 27% of Europeans are aware of 112), no noteworthy efforts were made to address the issue of deficient information to our citizens. 112 also remains inaccessible to a majority of people with disabilities, although accessibility was requested in Directive 2009/136/EC, the Resolution of 5 July 2011 and the Written Declaration on the need for accessible 112 emergency services.

On the basis of the request of the European Parliament as expressed in its Resolution mentioned above, when does the Commission provide the European Parliament with a detailed action plan (including resources and timetable)?

In particular, attention should be paid to:

  • impactful information being provided to citizens about 112 and support measures to Member States for advertising and awareness-raising campaigns (art. 26.6),
  • the development of mandatory accuracy and reliability criteria for caller location information provided to the emergency services (art. 26.5 and 26.7),
  • the setting of meaningful reliability and quality requirements as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the whole 112 service chain (Resolution of 5 July 2011),
  • the accessibility of 112 for people with disabilities using Next Generation 112 technologies (art. 26.4 and Resolution of 5 July 2011),
  • the implementation of a "reverse 112" system for alerting citizens about impending major incidents (Resolution of 5 July 2011).
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