Background of 112
Legislation
The European emergency number 112 was established by a Council Decision of 29 July 1991. All the Member States were requested to introduce the European emergency number 112.
The main legislation concerning the 112 is the Universal Service Directive which has been adopted in March 2002. The Directive further detailed requirements concerning 112:
- Free of charge: Member States must ensure that users of fixed and mobile telephones, including payphones, are able to call 112 free of charge.
- No discrimination: 112 calls must be appropriately answered and handled, irrespective of whether 112 or other national emergency numbers are dialled. Some Member States (Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands) have introduced 112 as their main emergency number, while in most Member States 112 operates alongside national emergency numbers.
- Caller location: Member States must also ensure that emergency services are able to establish the location of the person calling 112. The ability to locate the caller in case of an emergency may be of great significance in a situation where the person is unable to state his or her location, which can happen particularly when calling from mobile phones or while travelling abroad.
- Raising awareness: all EU countries must inform citizens (nationals and visitors) of the existence of 112 and in which circumstances they should call it.
Ongoing Telecoms Reform. As part of the broader reform of the EU telecommunications rules, the Commission has recently proposed Telecom Reform. Focus is particularly set on improving access to the 112 for people with disabilities.
Figures
Every year the European Commission conducts a Eurobarometer survey detailing the perception of the 112 by European citizens:
- The general public is still very unfamiliar with 112 as the European emergency number. Only one out of four respondents (26%) could spontaneously identify 112 as the number to call for emergency services anywhere in the EU. A larger proportion of citizens (50%) said they would call 112 for emergencies within their own country.
- Knowledge of 112, as the number to call in an emergency situation anywhere in the EU, still greatly varied according to the respondent's country (from 6% in Greece to 63% in Luxembourg). The proportion of respondents who mentioned 112 for emergencies within their own country ranged from 4% in Greece to 96% in the Netherlands.
- Being aware of the existence of 112 as an emergency number to call in one's own country still does not necessarily mean that respondents knew that this was the European emergency number.
Implementation of the European emergency number 112
The Communication Committee of the European Commission (DG INFSO/B2) publishes a yearly report on the Implementation of the European emergency number 112. The objective of this document is to gather as complete data as possible on the functioning of 112 in the Member States, as one of the follow-up measures to the Written Declaration of the European Parliament on 112, adopted on 6 September 2007.
COCOM09-11 - Implementation of the European emergency number 112 - Summary (2009) (88KB)
