112 vertragingen: Europese Commissie dwingt landen tot actie (en)

The European Commission has referred Poland and Latvia to the European Court of Justice and has opened an infringement proceeding against Romania to ensure that the single European emergency call number 112 works properly also in these countries.

"European citizens, whether travelling as tourists or for professional reasons in other EU countries, must be able to rely on the ability of emergency services to locate them when they make an emergency call, said EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding. Caller location information is already available in most EU Member States and we urgently need to ensure that it works well in all Member States. Our action today shows the importance the Commission attaches to the proper functioning of 112.

The EU Telecoms rules require Member States to ensure that it is possible to call the emergency services free of charge by using the single European emergency number 112. They also have to ensure that telecoms operators provide emergency authorities with the caller location information for calls to 112 from fixed and mobile phones.

Today, the Commission is referring Poland and Latvia to the European Court of Justice since they have failed to ensure the availability of caller location information to emergency services for mobile calls to 112. The preparations to ensure the provision of caller location information are under way in both Member States but the implementation of the necessary systems is still not complete.

Furthermore, the Commission is opening an infringement proceeding against Romania by sending it a letter of formal notice on the same issue.

Last month, the Commission already opened a case against Bulgaria for the non-availability of 112 (see IP/07/1530 ).

Improved emergency access through '112' is a key feature of the proposed reform of the EU Telecoms Rules (see IP/07/1677 ).

A detailed overview of the state of infringement proceedings is available on the DG Information Society and Media's implementation and enforcement website

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/implementation_enforcement/infringement/