The single European emergency number

What is 112?

112 is the single European emergency number to dial free of chargein case of an emergency across the European Union (EU). Any citizenin the EU should be able to reach emergency services when dialling112, either from their fixed or from their mobile phone.

Why is the Commission advocating 112?

European citizens are increasingly travelling to other countries,for business or pleasure. There was a need for a single numberacross the EU that citizens would be able to remember even underthe pressure of an emergency situation. Instead of having toremember different numbers in different countries, citizens nowneed only one, wherever they go in the EU. 112 is one of theconcrete achievements of the European Single Market.

How does 112 work?

People calling 112  whether from a fixed line or a mobile phone are connected to an operator. Depending on the nationalorganisation of emergency services, the operator will either dealwith the request directly or transfer it to one of the emergencyservices (such as ambulance, fire brigade, police).

In which situations can people use 112?

People can call 112 in an emergency requiring in particular anambulance, fire brigade or the police. 112 should not be used fornon-emergencies; such as to ask for information on telephonenumbers or addresses, road conditions or weather reports.

Does 112 replace national emergency numbers?

No. The intention is that 112 should operate alongside existingnational emergency numbers. This is the case in most Member States.There are exceptions: Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden use 112as their only emergency number.

When was 112 created?

The European single emergency number 112 was introduced by theEuropean Commission as early as 1991. Since 2003, EU Telecoms ruleshave set out specific obligations for Member States, which theCommission is monitoring and enforcing with infringementproceedings where necessary. In particular, Member States shouldensure that fixed and mobile phone users can call 112 to reachemergency services free of charge and that caller locationinformation is made available to emergency services so that theycan find accident victims quickly.

What is the European Commission's role in making 112 available?

The European Commission follows the implementation of 112 in MemberStates in particular through the "Communication Committee", a bodythat unites the representatives of Member State authoritiesresponsible for electronic communications. The European Commissionalso promotes 112 and takes legal actions against countries thatfail to comply with EU rules.

The Commission has also set up an "Expert Group on EmergencyAccess" of national officials representing emergency responsecentres, civil protection and telecom authorities. This group seekspractical solutions to problems experienced by the emergencyservices at local, regional or national levels and deals withissues related to the application of new technologies forcommunication with emergency services.

And the role of the Member States?

Member States are responsible for the organisation of the emergencyservices and their response to 112 calls. The EU legislationrequires Member States to ensure that any citizen in the EU shouldbe able to reach emergency services free of charge when dialling112, either from their fixed or from their mobile phones

In addition, 112 calls must be appropriately answered and handled.In practice, this means that the quality of response to emergencycalls should be the same, irrespective of whether 112 or a nationalemergency number is used.

Member States must also ensure that emergency services are able toestablish the location of the person calling 112. The ability tolocate the caller in case of an emergency may be of greatsignificance in a situation where the person is unable to state hisor her location, which can happen particularly when calling frommobile phones or while travelling abroad.

Finally, EU countries must inform citizens (nationals and visitors)of the existence of 112 as the European emergency numbers and underwhich circumstances they should use it.

How is 112 working across the EU?

112 is available from both fixed and mobile telephones in all butone Member State, Bulgaria, which is still in the process of makingit available nation-wide. In April 2008, Bulgaria was sent a formalwarning by the European Commission in this regard (IP/08/519).

Even though 112 has been operational for a number of years already,its existence needs to be better promoted among citizens. TheEurobarometer survey published by the European Commission on 11February 2008 (IP/08/198) showed that only 22% of Europeans areaware that they can call this number for all emergency servicesacross the EU. Even in countries where people generally know 112 asa national emergency number, few are aware that it is the numberthat can also be used in other EU countries. The Commission istherefore encouraging Member States to step up their awarenessraising efforts. The survey also showed that two out of threerespondents believes that people are not adequately informed about112.

What is "caller location"?

To help emergency services find accident victims of emergencies,who may not be able to speak or do not know where they are exactly,the EU law requires Member States to ensure that telephoneoperators, both fixed and mobile, make available to emergencyservices information as to the location of the caller to 112.Availability of caller location information can greatly increasethe speed and efficiency of emergency services' response to anaccident. In the case of a fixed 112 call, the emergency servicesshould normally receive the address where the telephone concernedis registered. As far as mobile 112 calls are concerned, thenormally available caller location just points to the mobilenetwork cell (antenna), from which the 112 call originates.Accordingly, the accuracy of this information depends on thecoverage area of the network cell, which is generally smaller indensely populated urban areas than in rural areas.

In 2003 the Commission recommended that caller location informationshould be 'pushed' to emergency services automatically with every112 call rather than 'pulled'  specifically requested by emergencyservices  for individual calls (IP/03/1122). Caller locationinformation for 112 calls is currently pushed in 6 Member Statesfor fixed calls (Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal,Romania and Sweden), and in 5 for mobile calls (Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal). In countries where callerlocation information is only provided when 'pulled' by emergencyservices, Member States reported on the time needed to providecaller location when requested, which varied from nearinstantaneous to delays ranging from several minutes to four hoursin some countries.

Caller location of 112 mobile calls is not yet available at all inseveral countries. Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland,Romania and Slovakia are currently subject to EU infringementproceedings on this matter (IP/07/1530, IP/07/1785, IP/08/519).

Can 112 emergency centres handle calls in EU languages that are notthe national or official language in the country you visit?

112 operators are increasingly able to answer calls in otherEuropean Union languages. According to the information provided byMember States to the European Commission, this is currentlypossible in 17 countries: 112 emergency call centres can normallyhandle English-language calls in 16 countries (Austria, Bulgaria,the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France,Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia,Spain, and Sweden). At least a part of national emergency centrescan handle calls in German in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain. Calls inFrench can be handled in Bulgaria, Greece and Spain. Moreover, 7countries informed the Commission that their 112 call centres, inparticular those located in border areas, can answer in thelanguage of a bordering Member State (Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia,Spain, Lithuania, Hungary, and Slovenia). In addition, severalcountries have special arrangements allowing call centres to answerin other foreign languages by forwarding calls to other callcentres with competent multilingual staff on duty (the CzechRepublic, Greece, Slovenia and Spain) or by using interpretationservices (Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and theUK).

How long does it take to get connected to the emergency callhandler?

Several Member States (the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia,Malta, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) have taken measures toensure that 112 calls are delivered to emergency call centresexpeditiously. In particular, 112 is given priority routing overordinary calls on the telephone networks and there are back-upmeasures in case of network failure or overload.

Apart from the general requirement of efficiency, there is nospecific rule at EU level on how quickly a 112 call should beanswered by a call handler after the telephone connection with the112 centre is established (i.e. after the ring tone is heard).While average times to answer 112 calls have been reported by anumber of Member States, the Commission has highlightedparticularly efficient performances in the Czech Republic, Spainand the United Kingdom who provided data on the percentage of 112calls answered within 20 seconds (100%, 97% and 98.1%respectively), and of the Netherlands and Finland that providedinformation on calls answered within 10 seconds (90% and 71%respectively)

What happens when mobile users have no home network coverage?

There may be situations where a mobile user is not able to use themobile network to which he or she has subscribed, because of lackof coverage or technical problems, but it could still be possibleto call emergency services by using another available mobilenetwork. 21 Member States have reported that mobile subscribers cancall 112 in such a situation Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.

Also, "pay as you go" customers can usually still call 112 evenwhen they have no credit left in their phone account.

What still needs to be improved?

Although EU Member States have made substantial progress inintroducing 112 and making it work, improvements are still neededin the following areas:

information to citizens: although awareness of 112 has grown in theEU over the past few years, there is still room for improvement. Arecent EU survey found that a large majority of EU citizens arestill unaware that the European emergency number 112 can be usedacross the EU in case of emergency: only 22% of EU citizens couldspontaneously identify 112 as the number to call for emergencyservices in the EU.
6 Member States (Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romaniaand Slovakia) remain subject to infringement proceedings fornon-availability of caller location in the case of mobile 112calls. Still rather few Member States use the push methodrecommended by the Commission to immediately deliver callerlocation to emergency services.
integrated emergency call centres, coordinating various emergencyservices (ambulance, fire brigade, police), are not yetcommonplace, even though they have proved their efficiency;
the foreign language capabilities of 112 emergency operators shouldbe further improved;
hoax and false calls account for up to 90% of 112 calls in someMember States These calls may overload emergency services andhamper their ability to provide a fast response to genuineemergency calls. While a number of Member States are takingtechnical and legal measures to reduce the numbers of hoax andfalse calls, there is also a clearly a need to educated the publicabout the proper use of 112 and the harm caused by hoax/false calls
automatic emergency calls: from 2010 onwards, many cars will beable to alert the emergency services automatically or manually inthe event of a crash. However, many Member States still need toupgrade their emergency rescue infrastructure (Public ServiceAnswering Points or PSAPs) to enable them to receive and processthe cars emergency messages (eCalls) which contain accuratelocation information (IP/05/1137).
What is done to facilitate access to 112 by disabled people?

Not everyone can easily call 112 in an emergency. In particular,people with hearing or speech impairments or people with seriousinjuries may find it difficult to call and explain what hashappened. To facilitate access by disabled users, a number of EUMember States have already introduced facilities such aspossibility to send fax or SMS or use video or text relaytelephones for contacting emergency services through 112 However,such facilities are not yet available everywhere. According to thisFebruary's Eurobarometer survey (IP/08/198), 9 out of 10 EUcitizens agree that access to emergency services for disabled usersshould be improved.

The European Commission wants to make 112 more easily accessible bypeople with disabilities. The Commission has therefore tackled thisissue in the reform of the EUs Telecoms rules that it proposedlast November (IP/07/1677).

The European Commission is today launching a dedicated website on112. For more information, see:
http://ec.europa.eu/112



Published on: 2008-06-03