Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - The 2nd eSafety Communication - Bringing eCall to Citizens
Date: 2005-09-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU initiative, first aid, information society, information technology, intelligent transport system, remote sensing, road safety, road transport, telecommunications, transport accident

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 14.9.2005 
COM(2005) 431 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

The 2nd eSafety Communication 
BRINGING ECALL TO CITIZENS 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

The 2nd eSafety Communication 
BRINGING ECALL TO CITIZENS 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

In  the  Communication  i2010  –  A  European  Information  Society  for  Growth  and 
Employment  the  Commission  presents  its  strategy  for  the  information  society  up  to  2010. 
The i2010 initiative recognizes the importance of the transport sector, accounting for 10% of 
Europe’s  GDP  and  employment,  and  the  significance  of  the  sector  for  ICT  research  and 
development. Indeed safe and efficient transport and mobility services are essential for the 
achieving the Lisbon goals of growth and jobs.  

To help to make progress towards these goals, the Commission will use all its instruments -
regulatory tools in the area of telecommunications, research funds, and political initiatives. To 
this end, the Commission will launch a Flagship Initiative “The Intelligent Car” as part of 
the i2010 strategy1.  

The present Communication, dealing with the urgent and practical actions needed to roll-out 
eCall,  the  pan-European  in-vehicle  emergency  call,  is  the  first  building  block  of  the 
Intelligent Car2 initiative.  

Increasing  road  safety  is  a  human  and  economic  necessity.  In  2004,  the  number  of  road 
fatalities  in  the  25  Member  States  of  the  European  Union  was  43.000.  Without  urgent 
measures, the ambitious target of reducing this to 25.000 road deaths by the year 20103 will 
not  be  met.  The  carnage  on  European  roads  will  continue,  creating  immeasurable  human 
suffering.  The  costs  to  our  health  care  system  will  remain  huge,  and  our  economies  will  be 
burdened by loss of productivity and large-scale material damage. 

Technologies  that  can  save  lives  and  reduce  the  severity  of  injuries  exist  today.  In  the  first 
eSafety Communication4 the Commission proposed actions to develop and deploy Intelligent 
Vehicle  Safety  Systems  that  are  based  on  advanced  Information  and  Communication 
Technologies  (ICT).  These  systems  can  prevent  accidents  from  happening,  mitigate  their 
consequences and aid in rescue if accidents do take place.  

Since the adoption of the first eSafety Communication, considerable progress has been made, 
and  many  eSafety  technologies,  systems  and  services  are  ready  for  deployment.  One  such 
system is the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call, eCall. 

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4 

Communication  from  the  Commission:  i2010  –  A  European  Information  Society  for  growth  and 
employment, COM(2005) 229 Final, 1.6.2005 
In the context of the i2010 Communication, “Car” includes cars, trucks, buses and motorbikes 
European  Road  Safety  Action  Programme :  Halving  the  number  of  road  accident  victims  in  the 
European Union by 2010 : A shared responsibility, COM 2003(311) final 2.6.2003 
Information  and  Communications  Technologies  for  Safe  and  Intelligent  Vehicles,  COM(2003)  542 
Final, 15.9.2003 

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In  case  of  an  accident,  the  eCall  device  in  the  car  will  transmit  an  emergency  call  that 
automatically goes to the nearest emergency service. eCall can be triggered manually, but in 
case of a severe accident the car will send it automatically. The life-saving feature of eCall is 
the  accurate  information  it  provides  on  the  location  of  the  accident  site:  the  emergency 
services are notified immediately, and they know exactly where to go. This results in a drastic 
reduction in the rescue time. 

The  large-scale  roll-out  of  eCall  is  a  priority  goal  of  the  eSafety  initiative.  Since  2002,  the 
stakeholders  have  worked  together  and  developed  an  implementation  plan  for  eCall. 
However, without urgent actions from the side of the Member States the deployment of 
eCall could be substantially delayed. 

2. 

TOWARDS THE PAN-EUROPEAN IN-VEHICLE EMERGENCY CALL (ECALL) SERVICE 

A  key  recommendation  of  the  first  eSafety  Communication  was  the  establishment  of  a 
harmonised,  pan-European  in-vehicle  emergency  call  (eCall)  service  that  builds  on  the 
single European emergency number 112.  

There are over 1.7 million accidents that require medical help in Europe per year, and many 
more that need other types of assistance. After the accident the people in the car may be in 
shock, not know their location, be unable to communicate it or unable to use a mobile phone. 
In all these cases eCall helps: it can drastically cut the emergency response times, save lives 
and reduce the severity of injuries. When implemented, the socio-economic benefits of eCall 
will be huge. 

Significant  progress  towards  the  full-scale  roll-out  of  eCall  has  been  achieved.  The  eCall 
Driving Group that was established to foresee the implementation has set 2009 as a target 
year for full roll-out.  

However, the setting-up of a full emergency chain for eCall needs the co-operation of many 
authorities. This co-operation has been slow to materialize and in many Member States it is 
completely  absent.  The  need  to  modernize  the  emergency  services  is  recognized,  but  is  not 
carried out as a result of lack of funding or organisational complexities.  

The  Commission  strongly  urges  the  national  and  regional  governments  to  act  and  to 
invest in the necessary emergency care infrastructure for eCall, with the view to launch 
the full pan-European service in 2009.  

2.1 

eCall: How does it work? 

The in-vehicle eCall is an emergency call generated either manually by the vehicle occupants 
or automatically via activation of in-vehicle sensors after an accident. When activated, the in-
vehicle  eCall  device  will  establish  an  emergency  call  carrying  both  voice  and  data 
directly  to  the  nearest  emergency  services  (normally  the  nearest  112  Public  Safety 
Answering  Point,  PSAP),  see  Figure  1.  The  voice  call  enables  the  vehicle  occupants  to 
communicate with the trained eCall operator. At the same time, a minimum set of data will 
be sent to the eCall operator receiving the voice call.  

The  minimum  set  of  data  contains  information  about  the  incident  including  time,  precise 
location,  vehicle  identification,  eCall  status  (as  a  minimum,  indication  if  eCall  has  been 
manually or automatically triggered) and information about a possible service provider. 

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2.2 

Why do we need eCall ?  

According  to  the  results  of  an  analysis  conducted  by  the  E-MERGE5  project  funded  by  the 
European Commission, an eCall system that relays the accurate location of the accident to the 
PSAP and the emergency services will allow a reduction of response time to the accident 
of  about  50%  in  rural  areas  and  up  to  40%  in  urban  areas.  When  medical  care  for 
severely  injured  people  is  available  at  an  earlier  time  after  the  accident,  the  death  rate  and 
severity of trauma resulting from the injuries can be significantly reduced. This is known as 
the Golden Hour Principle of accident medicine.  

Figure 1: 

eCall operating principle 

Cost-benefit estimations for eCall carried within the E-MERGE project and the SEiSS study6 
indicate that in EU-25 up to 2.500 lives can be saved per year, with up to 15 % reduction 
in  the  severity  of  injuries.  These  estimates  were  based  on  the  CARE  accident  data  base7 
from 2002.  

Road  accidents  also  lead  to  congestion  and  possibly  secondary  accidents.  As  a  result  of 
shorter  rescue  time,  eCall  can  reduce  congestion.  The  above-mentioned  studies  indicate 
that this reduction may be up to 20%. Additionally, other road users can be more quickly 
informed about the accident. 

Considering the total impact of eCall estimated by the SEiSS study, the annual accident cost 
savings are estimated to be up to 22 billion € and the annual congestion cost savings up to 4 
billion  €,  which  brings  the  total  annual  benefits  up  to  26  billion  €.  Compared  to  these 
benefits, the investments needed are relatively small, 150 € per vehicle and up to 50,000 € to 
upgrade a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)8. On the basis of this initial investment per 

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See http://www.gstforum.org/en/subprojects/rescue/ 
Exploratory Study on the potential socio-economic impact of the introduction of Intelligent Safety 
Systems in Road Vehicles, see 
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/esafety/call_4/index_en.htm. 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm 
Estimates of the SEiSS study: Based on volume production of the in-vehicle unit and upgrade of PSAPs 
that already are able to process location information of E112 calls. 

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PSAP, and adding the costs for training their staff and to ensure adequate language support, it 
brings  the  annual  total  costs  up  to  4,550  million  €  in  EU  25,  including  the  in-vehicle 
systems.  To  calculate  this  amount,  the  number  of  necessary  PSAPs  in  EU  25  has  been 
estimated in average to be one PSAP per every 31,000 inhabitants, with 60 staff members per 
PSAP.  

The above-mentioned figures indicate a substantial benefit-cost ratio for eCall. Even with 
a  lower  estimated  success  rate  and  higher  costs  the  benefit-cost  ratio  stays  positive, 
confirming the soundness of the investment into the eCall service. 

2.3 

Why does eCall use 112? 

The aim of the eCall project is to implement a pan-European emergency service that can 
be used by all vehicles in Europe, regardless of their make, country of registration and their 
location. Europeans travel abroad in their cars more and more frequently, and therefore a pan-
European interoperable service is a prerequisite for eCall. 

The  single European  emergency  number 112 was introduced to offer this type of service 
for emergency calls by a Council Decision in 19919. Calls to this number are routed to the 
nearest  Public  Safety  Answering  Point  (PSAP)  in  the  different  European  countries.  Calls 
can be made from any phone without charge, and they normally receive priority routing. 

More  and  more  of  the  180  million  calls  to  the  emergency  services  per  year  originate  from 
mobile phones (currently 60-70%). For about 15% of these calls, the location cannot be 
accurately determined, leading to a significant delay in dispatching help and even inability 
to send it.  

The  Universal  Service  Directive  adopted  in  200210  stipulates  the  obligation  that  the  public 
network  operators  make  the  caller  location  of  all  calls  to  the  extent  technically  feasible 
available to the emergency services11. The 112 calls with location information are known as 
E112 calls. 

Implementation  of  the  location  capability  for  processing  the  E112  calls  in  the  PSAPs  also 
benefits  eCall.  After  this  investment,  the  cost  of  upgrading  the  PSAPs  up  to  eCall  level  is 
considered  to  be  relatively  small.  Using  112  enables  building  of  an  eCall  service  that  is 
truly pan-European, based on approved Directives, with a relatively small investment.  

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Council  Decision  of  29  July  1991on  the  introduction  of  a  single  European  emergency  call  number 
(91/396/EEC), Published in the Official Journal L 217, 6.8.1991, p. 31 
Directive  2002/22/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  7  March  2002  on  universal 
service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service 
Directive); published in OJ L 108, 24.4.2002 
For  all  calls  to  the  112  number,  the  network  operator  either  sends  the  location  information  (push)  or 
makes it available on request (pull). This function that is now being implemented in about 50% of the 
Member  States  is  called  the  enhanced  112  or  E112.  The  location  information  is  in  most  cases  the 
location of the wireless cell (so called Cell-ID) 

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The  Directive  on  Privacy  and  Electronics  Communications12  contains  provisions  for 
safeguarding  the  personal  data  and  protecting  the  privacy  in  electronic  communications. 
However, in the case of a real emergency, it is considered that need for assistance overrides 
the need for privacy. The directive therefore allows the processing of location information and 
other personal data for organisations dealing with emergency calls.  

2.4 

Road Map for a full-scale roll-out by 2009  

The  eCall  Driving  Group  was  established  to  produce  a  framework  architecture  and  a 
business model for eCall, and to define the roles for both the public and private stakeholders. 
These  include  the  Member  States,  the  Commission,  telecom  operators,  PSAP  operators, 
vehicle manufacturers, equipment suppliers, motorway operators, automobile clubs, insurance 
industry and service providers.  
The Driving Group produced a Memorandum of Understanding13 on implementing eCall. 
The aim of the MoU is to ensure that eCall will work in any EU Member State. The MoU 
binds the stakeholders in implementing the eCall together on the basis of common approved 
architecture  and  interface  specifications,  including  the  Minimum  Set  of  Data  (MSD).  The 
MoU was signed by the European Commission, ACEA on behalf of the automotive industry 
and the multi-sector partnership ERTICO on behalf of its partners in August 2004. The MoU 
has now over 50 signatures. 

The eSafety partners have agreed on a Road Map for eCall roll-out, presented in Figure 
2. The main milestones are the following: 

a) Agreeing on eCall roll-out plan, business model and standards by the end of 2005 

b) Full specification of the in-vehicle eCall system and start of development by mid-2006 

c) Full-scale field tests with early adopters in 2007 

d)  Introduction  of  eCall  as  standard  equipment  in  all  vehicles  entering  the  market  after 

September 2009 

To  enable  eCall  technology  to  work,  the  emergency  services  in the  EU  Member  States  will 
need to equip or upgrade their PSAPs to process eCall location reports at the latest by the end 
of 2007. 

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Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the 
processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector 
Memorandum  of  Understanding 
In-Vehicle  eCall, 
for  Realisation  of 
www.eScope.info 

Interoperable 

see 

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Figure 2: Road Map for eCall roll-out 

3. 

ACTIONS FOR BRINGING ECALL TO THE CITIZENS BY 2009 

With  the  commitment  of  the  industry  and  public  sector  stakeholders,  eCall  can  become  a 
reality.  Industry  is  ready  to  equip  all  new  vehicles  with  the  eCall  devices  starting  from 
models entering the market after September 2009. However, without the full commitment of 
the Member States there will be no investment from the automotive industry. All stakeholders 
must  act  together  to  promote  eCall  at  national  and  international  fora,  most  notably  the 
eSafety Forum. 

3.1 

Actions for the Member States 

1.  The Member States should sign the eCall MoU  

The Member States should immediately sign the eCall Memorandum of Understanding at an 
appropriate level, and commit to the implementation of the pan-European eCall. The MoU 
has  now  over  50  stakeholders’  signatures,  but  only  two  Member  States  (Finland  and 
Sweden)  and  Switzerland  have  signed.  Lack  of  signatures,  especially  from  the  Member 
States  threatens  to  delay  the  eCall  implementation  and  weakens  the  commitment  of 
industry.  

2.  The Member States should promote 112 and E112 

The single European emergency number 112 is in use in 24 Member States14. It is, however, 
used  in  parallel  with  national  numbers,  and  only  in  Denmark  and  Netherlands  is  it  the 
single  number.  The  majority  of  Member  States  have  also  been  slow  in  encouraging  their 
public wireless network operators to provide location information (E112). As eCall is based 
on 112 and E112, the Member States should promote the use of 112 and take steps for 
accelerating the introduction of location information in their public wireless networks. 

14 

Infringement procedure against Poland was started in March 2005. 

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3.  The  Member  States  should  upgrade  their  PSAPs  to  handle  location-enhanced  E112 

calls and eCalls 

The  Member  States  should  undertake  to  ensure,  at  the  latest  by  the  end  of  2007,  that 
adequate  schemes  are  put  in  place  to  upgrade  the  infrastructure  in  the  Public  Service 
Answering  Points  (PSAPs)  for  the  processing  of  location  and  other  information  of  eCalls 
originating  from  vehicles.  In  order  to  comply  also  with  the  E112  regulation,  the  Member 
States should upgrade their PSAPs first to handle the location information of E112 calls, and 
then  do  the  incremental  upgrade  that  enables  the  handling  of  eCalls,  following  standards 
being developed by ETSI. 

4.  The  Member  States  should  provide  adequate  location-enhanced  emergency  services 

and language support. 

The Member States should ensure that their PSAPs are capable of adequately handling the 
eCalls originating from vehicles, that  the personnel are trained to do so,  and that  language 
support is provided. They should also upgrade their whole emergency service chain (PSAPs, 
dispatching,  emergency  vehicles,  and  hospital  emergency  rooms)  with  adequate  ICT  based 
tools that will ensure fast and reliable response to vehicle accidents and take full benefit of 
the information provided by the in-vehicle eCalls. A service concept for the full emergency 
chain is being developed by the project RESCUE15. 

3.2 

Promoting eCall at National and International Fora 

The Commission strongly recommends that the Member States set up national platforms for 
promoting  eCall.  They  should  have  participation  from  relevant  ministries  (transport, 
telecommunications  and  interior)  including  the  authorities  responsible  for  emergency 
services,  as  well  as  private  industry  and  service  providers.  The  Commission  will  launch  a 
promotion campaign of 112, E112 and eCall, and will organise Conferences for best practice 
exchanges, in support of the national activities. 

The Commission will propose to the Civil Protection Committee the creation of a sub-group 
dealing with Emergency Communications, 112, E112 and eCall. The Member States should 
support the work of this sub-group to solve the remaining issues related to the investments in 
the interoperable pan-European E112 and eCall service in their respective countries. 

All  eSafety  stakeholders  should  support  the  work  of  the  eCall  Driving  Group  and  use  this 
forum for solving the remaining issues related to the roll-out of pan-European eCall by 2009. 
This  includes  agreeing  on  the  specifications  of  the  in-vehicle  system,  agreeing  on  the  eCall 
business model, and organising the field tests. 

The  eSafety  Forum  is  an  important  European  platform  to  continue  the  dialogue  on 
accelerating  the  development,  deployment  and  use  of  intelligent  vehicle  safety  systems  in 
Europe.  The  Commission  will  organise  regular  High-Level  and  Plenary  meetings  of  the 
Forum. These will allow all stakeholders to monitor the progress of the eCall roll-out and to 
take further actions if needed.  

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RESCUE 
projects/rescue_rsq/ 

is  a  part  of 

the  Integrated  Project  GST,  see  http://www.gstforum.org/en/7_sub-

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eCall  has  to  operate  in  all  GSM  and  3G  networks  in  Europe.  Standardisation  of  the  eCall 
transaction and data transfer protocols between the in-vehicle eCall terminal and the PSAPs is 
therefore crucial. The Commission has asked ETSI to accelerate the standardisation of eCall 
and to work with CEN as necessary. ETSI should produce draft standards for eCall by the 
end of 2005. 

4. 

BUILDING A SAFER FUTURE WITH ESAFETY AND OTHER COMMISSION ACTIONS 

The eSafety initiative is part of the Commission comprehensive strategy for improving road 
safety  and  transport  efficiency  in  Europe,  at  the  same  time  maintaining  and  improving  the 
competitiveness of the industries involved, most notably the automotive sector. 

In Road Safety, the eSafety initiative is recognized world-wide. The eCall is a priority item 
under  eSafety,  which  has  reached  maturity.  Under  the  eSafety  Forum,  eleven  Working 
Groups have been established and results, not only eCall, are emerging. The Commission is 
also active on the regulatory side and in promoting road safety in joint initiatives. 

As a result of the eSafety initiative and Community supported research programmes, Active 
Safety and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems like ESP, ACC, lane departure warning and 
collision  mitigation  are  ready  for  a  wider  market  introduction.  The  Commission  will 
strengthen the efforts to promote the voluntary implementation of these systems. 

4.1 

eSafety 

Human Machine Interaction (HMI) is a priority topic in eSafety. The HMI Working Group 
was  established  in  2003  to  analyse  the  situation  in  the  implementation  of  the  so  called 
European  Statement  of  Principles16  for  Human-Machine  Interaction.  This  analysis  was 
done on the basis of the Member State’s reports. The group focused on problem areas in HMI, 
such as the introduction of nomadic devices and the rapidly increasing complexity of new in-
vehicle  systems.  The  Working  Group  published  its  Final  Report  in  February  2005.  On  the 
basis  of  this  report  the  Commission  intends  to  provide  a  Recommendation  on  HMI  with  a 
renewed European Statement of Principles (ESoP). 

The  Real-Time  Traffic  and  Travel  Information  (RTTI)  is  another  priority.  The  RTTI 
Working Group of the eSafety Forum aims to identify and remove the obstacles for Europe-
wide  implementation  of  RTTI  services,  such  as  limited  availability  of  traffic  information 
content,  difficulties  in  defining  the  roles  of  the  public  and  private  sectors,  availability  of 
broadcast  capacity  and  difficulties  with  business  models.  The  work  takes  into  account  the 
Commission  Recommendation  on  TTI  services  in  Europe17.  The  target  set  by  the  RTTI 
Working  Group  is  that  all  countries  within  the  European  Union  agree  to  extend  the 
installation of the chain of information needed for Real-Time Traffic Information Services in 
order to cover 80% of the EU population with standardized services by 2010. The group will 
publish its Final Report by the end of 2005.  

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17 

Commission Recommendation of 21 December 1999 on safe and efficient in-vehicle information and 
communication systems: A European statement of principles on human machine interface OJ L 19 of 
25.1.2000 
Commission Recommendation, OJ L 199, 24.7.2001, p. 20 

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The  eSafety  Forum  User  Outreach  Working  Group  is  investigating  actions  for 
communicating to users the benefits of eSafety systems in order to increase user awareness. 
This is essential to increase user demand for such systems and to improve the business case. 
The group has analyzed best practices and “lessons learned” from earlier campaigns and user 
outreach  actions,  as  well  as  the  penetration  patterns  of  some  earlier  systems.  The  group 
proposes  to  create  a  “communications  platform”  of  all  stakeholders  and  the  creation  of  an 
eSafety  label.  This  proposal  was  included  in  its  first  interim  report  in  May  2005  and  is 
currently under discussion in the other eSafety groups, including the group on Implementation 
Road Maps.  

4.2 

Other Commission actions 

The  Commission  established  a  High-Level  Group  in  2005  for  a  competitive  EU  Car 
Industry. This group, called CARS 21, brings together the European Commission, leaders of 
the automotive industry, the European Parliament, Trade Unions NGOs and Users, and will 
develop  an  integrated  strategy  for  sustainable  development  of  the  industry,  define  the  best 
possible regulatory approaches and set the necessary conditions for innovation.  

The Commission will also produce in 2005 a Mid-Term Review of the Road Safety Action 
Programme. This review will evaluate the overall progress towards the objective to reduce 
the number of fatalities on European roads by half by 2010. 

5. 

CONCLUSIONS  

Technologies  and  systems  that  can  save  lives  and  reduce  the  severity  of  injuries  caused  by 
road accidents exist today. The eSafety initiative is bringing such systems that are based on 
the  use  of  advanced  ICTs  within  the  reach  of  road  users.  eCall  is  the  first:  when  fully 
deployed,  it  could  save  up  to  2500  lives  per  year  and  will  have  substantial  socio-economic 
benefits. It directly improves the quality of life of all our 454 million citizens. 

Our challenge is to ensure the large-scale deployment of eCall in Europe. The technology is 
ready and the industry is committed. Member States must now commit to it and to invest in 
the necessary infrastructure in their emergency services.  

Upgrading of the emergency services comes with a cost, but the estimated benefit-cost ratio is 
good.  Once  the  investment  is  done,  there  will  be  also  additional  benefits.  The  Commission 
urges the Member States to act immediately on the recommendations of this Communication. 
The  Commission  will  follow  the  progress  closely  and  in  case  the  eCall  roll-out  fails  to 
progress according to the presented Road Map it will consider further measures. 

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