REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the effectiveness of the implementation of the single European emergency number '112'
Date: 2022-12-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: data collection, emergency aid, mobile communication, mobile phone

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 16.12.2022  COM(2022) 724 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the effectiveness of the implementation of the single European emergency number '112'   
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  report  reviews  the  effectiveness  of  the  implementation  of  the  single  European 
emergency  number  ‘112’  in  line  with  Article  109(4)  of  the  European  Electronic 
Communications Code1 (EECC). The report is based on the responses of Member States and 
Norway, to the questionnaire2  submitted to  the Communications Committee (COCOM)3  on 
the  implementation  of  emergency  communications  and  the  European  emergency  number 
‘112’.  This  data-gathering  was  the  fifteenth  such  exercise  conducted  by  the  Commission 
services since 2007. 

Under Article 109(4) EECC the Commission is required to submit by 21 December 2020, and 
every  two  years  thereafter,  a  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council  on  the 
effectiveness  of  the  implementation  of  the  single  European  emergency  number  ‘112’.  The 
first such report was published on 21 December 20204. 

The  data  gathering  relied  on  specific  questions  that  serve  to  assess  the  level  of 
implementation of EU law requirements and the improvement of the national Public Safety 
Answering  Point  (PSAP)  systems.  The  reporting  period  for  the  quantitative  data5  (e.g. 
number  of  emergency  calls  to  ‘112’)  is  1  January  2021  to  31  December  2021.  When 
assessing  the  availability  of  a  system  (e.g.  deployment  of  a  caller  location  solution, 
application, etc.) the latest information available is reflected in this report. Member States and 
COCOM  observers  from  Candidate  and  EEA  Countries  were  invited  on  4  April  to  submit 
their responses by 31 May 2022. 

Member States were called on to develop their measuring tools for monitoring a number of 
indicators  in  order  to  provide  accurate  data  on  the  functioning  of  their  emergency 
communications  systems.  Throughout  the  report,  where  Member  States  are  not  mentioned 
with  regard  to  a  qualitative  or  quantitative  assessment,  it  means  that  relevant  data  was  not 
provided to the Commission services. 

2.  CALLS TO ‘112’ 

In 2021 calls to the single European emergency number ‘112’ increased by 3% to 153 million 
compared to 2019. Meanwhile, the total number of emergency calls, including to the national 
emergency  numbers,  where  these  are  still  in  use,  remained  steady  at  270  million.  Calls  to 
‘112’ represented 56% of all emergency calls in 2021. 

1Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament  and of the  Council of 11 December 2018 establishing 
the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36). 
2COCOM22-01 
3Communications Committee established on the basis of Article 118 EECC. 
4https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/2020-report-effectiveness-implementation-european-emergency-
number-112 
5The  quantitative  data  is  gathered  every  second  year,  and  concerns  only  the  year  immediately  preceding  the 
report, in order to ease the administrative burden on reporting authorities. 

1 

 
 
                                                           
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IE MT LU CY SI NO LV SK EE AT DK HR BE CZ LT FI EL SE NL BG HU PT FR RO DE PL ES IT

Figure 1. Number of calls to ‘112’ 

‘112’ is the single emergency number in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Malta, the Netherlands, 
Portugal, Romania and Sweden. However, only 23% of calls to ‘112’ in the EU are placed in 
these  countries.  The  large  majority  of  calls  to  ‘112’  are  placed  in  Member  States  where 
national  numbers  are  still  in  use.  In  these  Member  States,  the  use  of  the  single  European 
emergency number varies largely, from 5% in Ireland to 97% in Bulgaria. 

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I E

F R A T C Z B E N O S I H R E S

S K L V D E P L

I T

L U H U B G S E D K E E

F I

L T M T N L P T R O

Figure 2. Percentage of calls to ‘112’ 

The number of calls to ‘112’ depends on the level of end-users’ awareness on the availability 
of the ‘112’ number but also on the co-existence of national ‘legacy’ numbers.  

In countries where each emergency service has its own PSAP it should be assured that ‘112’ 
calls  are  effectively  transferred  and  handled  by  the  most  appropriate  emergency  service  in 
line with Article 109(3) and previously Article 26 of the Universal Service Directive6. State 
of the art implementation of national PSAP systems ensures an interconnected and redundant 
handling of both ‘112’ calls and calls to the national numbers while providing for access to 
all concerned emergency services. Such systems should implement a routing function adapted 
to  the  migration  to  packet-switched  communications  that  ensures  that  all  emergency 
communications  –  calls,  text-based,  video,  including  those  originated  from  network 
independent  electronic  communication  service  providers  –  are  handled  by  the  most 
appropriate PSAP.  

6Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the universal service 
and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive), OJ 
L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 51–77. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
 
Calls  from  mobile  phones  largely  outweighed  the  number  of  calls  from  fixed  phones.  On 
average,  78%  of  the  calls  in  2021  were  placed  from  mobile  phones.  However,  the  use  of 
mobile  phones  for  emergency  communication  purposes  varies  significantly  across  Member 
States, from 42% in Luxembourg and 63% in Germany to 96% in Cyprus and 99% in Czech 
Republic. 

The growing penetration of mobile phones, in particular smartphones, shows the importance 
of ensuring access to emergency services  while on the move, in particular in the context of 
migration to Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) and Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi). It 
also  indicates  that  the  growing  amount  of  data  and  features  derived  from  both  the  network 
and the end-user’s handset could make emergency communications more effective (e.g. caller 
location,  text  and  video  for  end-users  with  disabilities,  vertical  location  (z-axis)  and  other 
contextual data). 

The  ratio  of  false  calls7  to  the  total  number  of  emergency  calls  still  varies  considerably 
among the Member States8, reaching 76% in Malta. Some Member States do not allow calls 
from SIM-less phones in order to decrease the risk of false calls that may potentially burden 
the PSAP system. However, access to emergency services from SIM-less phones is mandated 
in the majority of Member States (20)9. 

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LT

CY

DE

SK

CZ

HR

FI

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BG HU

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PT MT

Figure 3. False calls to emergency numbers (%) 

Under  Article  109  EECC,  Member  States  may  mandate  other  means  of  emergency 
communications  than calls  to  ‘112’. Currently Member States are deploying SMS and app-
based communications as an alternative means of access available for all end-users. 

16  Member  States  mandated  SMS-based  emergency  communications  for  all  end-users10.  In 
11  Member  States11  the  emergency  SMS  is  sent  to  ‘112’.  The  number  of  emergency 
communications  through  SMS  varies  significantly  depending  on  the  level  of  promotion  of 

7False calls are calls that are not followed up with intervention or assistance from the PSAP or the emergency 
services.  Calls  that  report  an  emergency  event  that  have  already  triggered  intervention  or  assistance  from  the 
part of the PSAP, therefore not triggering separate intervention or assistance will not be considered false calls. 
819 Member States provided information on false calls. 
9AT, CY, CZ, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, SE, SK. 
10SMS  communication  is  deployed  in  some  Member  States  exclusively  for  end-users  with  disabilities,  as 
indicated in section 8. 
11EE, EL, FI, HR, IE, IS, LT, LU, LV, SI, SK. 

3 

 
 
 
                                                           
this type of emergency communication, from a few to tens of thousands. 13 Member States12 
confirm that the provision of emergency SMS is ensured free of charge. 

In  addition  to  the  possibility  to  access  emergency  services  by  calling  ‘112’,  18  Member 
States13 deployed national or regional applications available to all end-users14, which enable 
emergency communications. These means of access, depending on their design, enable end-
users  to  share  additional  information  with  the  PSAP,  provide  handset-derived  location 
information  or  ensure  a  text-based  communication  with  the  PSAP.  Belgium,  Cyprus, 
Germany and Poland confirmed that the data traffic generated by the emergency application 
is zero-rated. 

eCalls  originated  in  cars  capable  of  placing  a  ‘112’  emergency  call  should  be  adequately 
routed to the most appropriate PSAP in case of an accident. A total of 421,000 eCalls were 
reported by 27 Member States and Norway. 

160000

140000

120000

100000

80000

60000

40000

20000

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MT BG LV CY EE LU FI LT SI SK IE HU HR PT EL AT NO BE DK CZ SE RO NL PL DE ES FR IT

Figure 3. Number of eCalls placed in the EU 

3.  ANSWERING TIME15 

25 Member States reported 10 seconds or less for the average answering time needed to get in 
contact with the emergency services. 

20

15

10

5

0

NL FI EL HU MT CZ LT RO SI BG PT ES EE HR IE LU LV SK IT DK AT DE PL CY FR BE SE

Figure 4. Average answer times to emergency calls (seconds) 

12AT, BE, CY, EE, EL, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, SI, SK. 
13AT (regional), BE, CY, CZ, DK, FI, IT, LU, LV, MT, PL, RO, SE, SK. 
14Application-based  communication  is  deployed  is  some  Member  States  exclusively  for  end-users  with 
disabilities, as indicated in section 8. 
15The time between the moment the emergency call is presented to the 1st level PSAP switch and the moment 
the call is being answered by a PSAP human operator. 

4 

 
 
 
                                                           
4.  CALL ABANDON RATE 

27 respondents reported16 on the calls that are presented to the PSAP switches but terminate 
prior to an answer by a human operator. Call abandons may be caused by network problems, 
call  congestion,  technical  faults,  handling  capacity,  caller  disconnect  (possibly  dialling  by 
mistake), etc. While involuntary calls and caller disconnect are not under the control of the 
PSAP  system  operators,  the  lack  of  handling  capacity  is  pointing  towards  the  failure  to 
adequately answer and handle calls to ‘112’ in the national PSAP system. 

40

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EL RO FI BE FR NL ES LT HU IE CY SI SK DE DK HR NO EE SE BG PT LU LV IT MT PL CZ

Figure 5. Percentage of abandoned calls to emergency numbers 

While  end-user  behaviour  and  network  issues  do  influence  both  answer  times  and  call 
abandon rates, the organisation and capabilities of the national PSAP system is decisive in the 
effectiveness  of  handling  the  emergency  calls  and  emergency  communications  through 
alternative  means  of  access.  In  order  to  leverage  the  technological  developments,  all-IP 
networks  of  interconnected  PSAPs  are  being  deployed  in  several  EU  Member  States  to 
ensure  resource  efficiency  and,  most  importantly,  that  all  emergency  calls  are  effectively 
handled. 

5.  AVAILABILITY OF CALLER LOCATION 

Article  109  EECC  makes  mandatory  the  availability  of  both,  network-based  and  the  more 
accurate handset-derived17 location information, to the most appropriate PSAP. 

In  most  of  the  reporting  Member  States18,  the  lack  of  availability  of  network-based  caller 
location  information  occurs  in  less  than  3%  of  the  calls.  Higher  rates  of  failure  to  provide 
caller location were reported for the Netherlands (3%), Estonia (4%), Portugal (5%), Ireland 
5.5%, Italy (9.4%), Spain (12.3%), Croatia (13.8%) and Latvia (21%). 

14 Member States and Norway19, in particular where the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) 
solution20  is  deployed,  reported  on  the  availability  of  handset-derived  caller  location.  Even 

16Austria did not report this data 
17While  the  accuracy  of  network-based  location  may  vary  from  50  m  to  40,000  m,  handset-derived  location 
provides a much more accurate location up to 5 m. 
1818 Member States have provided relevant data: CZ, BG, DK, EE, ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, 
PT, RO, SE and SI. 
19Handset derived caller location is not available in the following proportions: PT (1%), HR (2%), HU (2.9%), 
SI (5%), SE (20%), DK (23.7%), NO (30%),  RO (33.9%), LT (38%), MT (40.4%), EE (46%), IE (48%), CZ 
(50%), BG (68.2%), IT (94.2%) 

5 

 
 
 
                                                           
where  the  national  PSAP  system  is  upgraded  to  receive  AML,  still  a  significant  number  of 
calls do not benefit from this very accurate location. In addition to locating the end-user that 
places a call to ‘112’, Member States could also enable AML for the SMS type of emergency 
communications. 

Roaming end-users, visiting other Member States, might potentially be in a more vulnerable 
situation in  case of emergency as they may not  be able to  describe their location precisely. 
While AML is  deployed in  22  Member States,  Iceland and  Norway, only  6 Member States 
confirmed that handset-derived location is available for roaming end-users21. 

The  high  penetration  of  smartphones  carries 
the  benefit  of  making  emergency 
communications  more  effective  through  the  availability  of  accurate  caller  location 
information. The Roaming Regulation22 requires that access to emergency services is enabled 
by  wholesale  level  transparency  between  roaming  partners,  by  exchanging  technical  and 
regulatory  information  to  ensure  the  provision  of  emergency  communications  and  caller 
location to roaming customers.  

6. 

 CALLER LOCATION ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY 

Article 109(6) EECC requires Member States to lay down accuracy and reliability criteria for 
the caller location information. 18 Member States23 and Norway reported the caller location 
criteria  laid  down  in  national  legislation.  In  addition,  the  Delegated  Regulation  2019/32024 
aims at supporting the policy objectives laid down in the EECC by mandating manufacturers 
of  smartphones  to  ensure  as  of  17  March  2022  that  data  from  Global  Navigation  Satellite 
Systems  (GNSS),  at  least  from  EU’s  Galileo,  and  data  from  Wi-Fi,  are  made  available  in 
emergency  communications.  This  allows  to  locate  the  smartphone,  and  hence  the  person 
carrying it, with an adequate and effective accuracy. 

Network-based location 
In all Member States, as well as in Norway, the location of the caller from fixed networks is 
given by the installation address or street/mailing/billing address of the calling party.  

All Member States reported that for calls from mobile networks the location is given by the 
Cell/sector ID providing a high reliability of the data transmitted to the PSAP operator. The 
reported accuracy ranges from 500m to 40km, depending on the density of the network, i.e. 
urban or rural area. More accurate mobile network-based location solutions used are Timing 
advance, Round trip time or Sector ID. These positioning methods substantially improve the 
accuracy of network-based location up to 50m in some cases. 

Handset-derived location solutions 

20https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/112-112-day-locating-emergency-calls-aml-technology-rise 
21EL, FI, LU, RO and partially in BE and SE 
22Article 3(6) of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on 
roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union 
23BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, ES, HU, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK 
24Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/320  of  12  December  2018  supplementing  of  Directive 
2014/53/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  with  regard  to  the  application  of  the  essential 
requirements  referred  to  in  Article  3(3)(g)  of  that  Directive  in  order  to  ensure  caller  location  in  emergency 
communications from mobile devices, OJ L 55, 25.2.2019, p. 1–3. 

6 

 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                     
In  terms  of  handset-derived  location  solutions,  Member  States  reported  two  types  of 
implementations, described below. 

a) Advanced Mobile Location (AML) solution 

AML can improve accuracy levels by up to 4000 times, providing accuracy to under 100 m25. 
The solution does not ignore the Cell-ID location information provided by the network, but 
rather  supplements  it  with  either  GNSS  or  Wi-Fi  location  information  derived  from  the 
handset. 22 Member States26, Iceland and Norway reported the deployment of AML on their 
territory. 

b) Location information derived from the handset through an emergency application 

Emergency applications deployed at a national or regional level enable the delivery of more 
accurate caller location information, based on GNSS or Wi-Fi capability of the smartphone, 
than that provided through network-based solutions. 

However,  these  applications  require  prior  action  by  the  citizen  –  as  opposed  to  AML  –  as 
they  need  to  be  downloaded.  The  transmission  of  location  data  is  possible  only  when  data 
connection is active. 

Under  the  Delegated  Regulation  adopted  by  21  December  2022,  the  Commission  proposes 
measures  that  set  out  parameters  that  need  to  be  taken  into  account  by  the  competent 
regulatory authorities when setting the criteria for accuracy and reliability of caller location 
information. 

7.  AVERAGE  TIME  NEEDED  FOR  RECEIVING  THE  CALLER  LOCATION  BY  THE  112 

OPERATOR  

Due to the implementation of the "push" system or the automatic "pull" system all Member 
States  reported  near  instant  times  (up  to  10  seconds)  for  the  provision  on  network-based 
caller location. 

Due  to  its  inherent  architecture,  handset-derived  location  technologies  rely  on  the  speed  of 
the handsets to derive relevant location parameters from GNSS or Wi-Fi signals. On the basis 
of the reports from 15 Member States, it was confirmed that the provision of handset-derived 
location could range from near instant to up to 26 seconds. 

Under  Article  109(6)  EECC  Member  States  have  the  responsibility  to  ensure  that  caller 
location information, both network-based and handset-derived, is made available to the most 
appropriate PSAP without delay. Under the Delegated Regulation adopted by 21  December 
2022,  the  Commission  proposes  measures  that  ensure  effective  routing  of  contextual  data, 
including caller location information. 

25https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/112-112-day-locating-emergency-calls-aml-technology-rise 
26BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PT, RO, SE, SI 

7 

 
 
                                                           
8.  ACCESS TO EMERGENCY SERVICES WHILE EU ROAMING 

All  Member  States  reported  the  availability  of  access  to  ‘112’  and  network-based  caller 
location information in case of roaming calls. 

11  Member  States27  provided  information  on  the  number  of  calls  placed  by  roaming  end-
users to ‘112’. These Member States account for one third of emergency calls to ‘112’. On 
the basis of  such data it  may  be  extrapolated that 1,06% of all  calls to  ‘112’ are placed by 
roaming  end-users,  approximately  1.5  million  calls  to  ‘112’  in  the  EU.  It  is  estimated,  that 
800,000 calls were placed by roaming end-users to national emergency numbers, where these 
are  in  use.  Therefore,  a  consolidated  estimation  indicates  a  total  of  2.3  million  emergency 
calls placed by roaming end-users in the reporting period. 

Available data confirms that roaming end-users do not benefit from free of charge handset-
derived  location,  as  explained  in  section  4.  Only  6  Member  States  confirmed  that  handset-
derived  location  is  available  for  roaming  end-users.  The  Roaming  Regulation28  will  ensure 
that a BEREC database on the means of access to emergency services informs operators and 
national  regulatory  authorities  and,  where  applicable,  other  competent  authorities,  on  the 
means of access to emergency services that are mandated in each Member State and that are 
technically feasible to be used by roaming customers. 

9.  ACCESS TO EMERGENCY SERVICES FOR END-USERS WITH DISABILITIES 

Pursuant  to  Article 109(5)  EECC, Member States  are obliged  to  ensure that  end-users with 
disabilities  benefit  from  access  to  emergency  services  equivalent  to  that  enjoyed  by  other 
end-users.  The  implemented  accessibility  solutions  should  replicate  (be  equivalent  to)  two-
way  voice  communication  ensured  in  the  case  of  a  call  to  ‘112’,  including  in  roaming.  By 
virtue of equivalence, Member States should also ensure that caller location is available to the 
most appropriate PSAP to enable emergency services to intervene effectively.  

To comply with this obligation, Member States have deployed a broad range of accessibility 
solutions  dedicated 
total 
conversation29,  SMS,  emergency  applications,  web  services,  relay  services,  access  from 
special devices, email or fax. 

to  end-users  with  disabilities, 

including  real 

time 

text, 

The  technology  that  is  most  deployed  is  SMS,  which  ensures  a  two-way,  text-based 
interaction  between  the  person  alerting  the  emergency  services  and  the  PSAP.  SMS  is 
available for end-users with disabilities in 22 Member States30 and Norway. 

Emergency applications are deployed in 19 Member States31. Depending on the design, they 
may  rely  on  initiating  emergency  calls  or  SMS  communications,  but  may  also  serve  as  a 
platform  to  provide  real  time  text  and  total  conversation  communications.  In  addition, 

27LU, HR, MT, SI, SE, CY, EE, CZ, RO, IT, BG. 
28Article  16  of  Regulation  (EU)  2022/612 of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  6  April  2022  on 
roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union 
29As  defined  in  Article  2  EECC:  (35)  ‘total  conversation  service’  means  a  multimedia  real  time  conversation 
service  that  provides  bidirectional  symmetric  real  time  transfer  of  motion  video,  real  time  text  and  voice 
between users in two or more locations. 
30AT, BE, CY, CZ, DK, EE, EL, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK. 
31AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FR, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, SK. 

8 

 
 
                                                           
applications  may  provide  accurate  handset-derived 
positioning data (5-100m). 

location  based  on  GNSS/Wi-Fi 

Relay  services  for  end-users  with  disabilities  may  also  relay  a  communication  to  access 
emergency services. However, currently user location is in most cases not available for this 
means of access in Member States. 

While fax and e-mail remain available as a means of access to emergency services in  some 
Member States, they can hardly be considered equivalent. They do not ensure the swift two-
way communication that is required in case of emergency, in contrast with the effectiveness 
of  a  ‘112’  call.  Furthermore,  an  e-mail  does  not  allow  the  provision  of  automatic  user 
location to the PSAP. 

Article  109(5)  EECC  requires  measures  for  end-users  with  disabilities  to  be  in  accordance 
with  Union  law  harmonising  accessibility  requirements  for  products  and  services32,  seek  to 
ensure interoperability across Member States, and, where feasible, avoid pre-registration for 
accessing  emergency  services  by  alternative  means  of  emergency  communications. 
Furthermore,  the  European  Accessibility  Act  (EAA)  requires  that,  in  addition  to  voice, 
emergency  communications  is  available  by  real  time  text  or,  where  video  is  available, 
synchronised  as  total  conversation33.  While  the  relevant  provisions  should  already  be  in 
place34, the national PSAP systems will have to comply with these requirements35 by 28 June 
2025 or by derogation by 28 June 2027.  

In addition, in line with Article 109(7) EECC, Member States shall ensure that end-users are 
adequately  informed  about  the  existence  and  the  use  of  the  single  European  emergency 
number  ‘112’,  as  well  as  its  accessibility  features,  including  through  initiatives  specifically 
targeting persons travelling between Member States and end-users with disabilities.  

Article  109(5)  of  the  EECC  requires  availability  of  access  to  emergency  services,  where 
feasible  without  pre-registration.  In  case  of  national  emergency  applications  serving  end-
users with disabilities, this would mean that the home application could be used in the visited 
EU Member State to access emergency services36. 

The Roaming Regulation37 will ensure that roaming providers inform the roaming customers 
on  alternative  means  of  access  to  emergency  services  through  emergency  communications 
mandated  in  the  visited  Member  State.  In  practice,  end-users  will  receive  an  automatic 
message with a link to access, free of charge, a dedicated webpage accessible to persons with 
disabilities, which provides such information. 

Legacy PSAP systems are not yet able to handle and process emergency communications that 
are truly accessible for end-users with disabilities. The deployment of state of the art real time 

32The  European  Accessibility  Act  (EAA),  Directive  (EU)  2019/882  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  17  April  2019 on  the  accessibility  requirements  for  products  and  services  (OJ  L  151,  7.6.2019,  p. 
70). 
33EAA Article 4(1) and Annex I, Section IV, point (a). 
34Member States were required to transpose the EAA by 28 June 2022. 
35EAA Article 4(8) and Annex I, Section V. 
36https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/103400_103499/103478/01.01.01_60/ts_103478v010101p.pdf 
37Article  15  of  Regulation  (EU)  2022/612 of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  6  April  2022  on 
roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union 

9 

 
 
                                                           
text and total conversation necessitates the upgrade of the PSAP system to an all-IP network 
of  interconnected  PSAPs  that  could  adequately  route  and  process  IP-based  emergency 
communications. 

Under the Delegated Regulation adopted by 21 December 2022, the Commission proposes to 
establish functional equivalence requirements for emergency communications to be used by 
end-users with disabilities for accessing emergency services. 

An  overview  of  the  alternative  means  of  access  for  end-users  with  disabilities  currently 
deployed in the EU is presented in the Annex.  

10.  CONCLUSIONS 

For more than 30 years38, citizens of the Union have relied on access to emergency services 
using the single European Emergency number ‘112’. They should continue to be able to do so 
in  the  digital  world.  Citizens  should  benefit  from  comprehensive  and  timely  delivery  of 
contextual  information  necessary  for  addressing  an  emergency  situation.  The  high  level  of 
connectivity that is targeted by Europe’s digital transformation, as reflected in the Decision of 
the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  […  to  be  updated]  establishing  the  Digital 
Decade  Policy  Programme  2030,  is  bringing  about  a  technological  migration  to  all-IP 
technologies of electronic communication services used by citizens, in particular for persons 
with  disabilities.  The  migration  from  circuit-switched  to  packet-switched  technologies  in 
electronic  communication  networks  triggers  the  deployment  of  voice  services  through  IP 
Multimedia  Subsystem  based  fixed  and  mobile  managed  VoIP  technologies  such  as  Voice 
over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE), Voice over New Radio (VoNR in 5G) and Voice over 
Wi-Fi (VoWiFi). Packet-switched technologies also enable text and video-based services like 
real time text and total conversation services. Those IP-based communication services cannot 
be supported by the legacy circuit-switched networks, such as 2G and 3G networks that are in 
the  process  of  being  decommissioned.  Therefore,  there  is  a  need  to  migrate  emergency 
communications to packet-switched technologies as well. This report shows that handling of 
emergency communications, availability of accurate caller location information,  availability 
of  equivalent  means  of  access  for  end-users  with  disabilities  and  access  for  roaming  end-
users play an important role in the effectiveness and speed of the relief action that is deployed 
by emergency services. The potential of the digital technologies could be fully realised only 
if  both  the  emergency  communication  services  and  the  national  PSAP  systems  are  able  to 
leverage the technological developments. 

Moving  to  all-IP  communications  will  also  allow  to  leverage  the  potential  of  using 
applications,  enabling  end-users 
text  and  video 
communications  and  provide  PSAPs  with  relevant  contextual  information.  While  some 
national or regional applications of this type already exist, these are not interoperable with the 
visited country/region PSAPs in roaming conditions.  In the future, the cooperation between 
Member States and the Commission – as proposed under the Delegated Regulation adopted 
by  21  December  2022  –  could  allow  for  the  interoperability  of  emergency  applications 

to  use  various  means  of  voice, 

3891/396/EEC:  Council  Decision  of  29  July  1991  on  the  introduction  of  a  single  European  emergency  call 
number, OJ L 217, 6.8.1991. 

10 

 
 
                                                           
leading  to  their  EU-wide  availability  similar  to  the  EU  Digital  COVID  Certificate  that  was 
deployed by establishing an EU gateway for the interconnection of national systems39. 

Main findings: 

  The  share  of  emergency  calls  to  the  single  European  emergency  number  ‘112’ 
represented 56% of all emergency calls: out of a total of 270 million calls placed in 
the EU, 153 million were ‘112’ calls. It is estimated that 2.3 million emergency calls 
were placed by roaming end-users, out of which 1.5 million were ‘112’ calls. 

  The  implementation  of  handset-derived  caller  location  continued  to  improve  in  the 
EU. As of September 2022, 22 Member States, Iceland and Norway ensure that their 
PSAP  system  is  AML  enabled.  However,  only  6  Member  States  confirmed  that 
handset-derived  location  is  available  for  roaming  end-users.  Due  to  limits  of 
jurisdiction and lack of monitoring capacity, the visited Member States cannot ensure 
that the transmission of caller location is free of charge for the end-user. The reviewed 
Roaming Regulation40 aims to ensure that all roaming end-users benefit from accurate 
caller location, free of charge. 

  End-users  with  disabilities  do  not  benefit  from  fully  equivalent  means  of  access  to 
emergency services, especially when roaming. When these end-users are not able to 
place a call to ‘112’, they have to rely on nationally fragmented solutions. This state 
of  affairs  is  in  contrast  with  the  availability  of  the  harmonised  single  European 
emergency number ‘112’ for other end-users and represents a significant void in the 
accessibility  of  emergency  services.  The  reviewed  Roaming  Regulation  ensures  that 
all  roaming  end-users,  including  end-users  with  disabilities  are  informed  on  the 
alternative means of access to emergency services in the visited Member State. 

Future actions and milestones: 

  Member  States  have  to  transpose  and  implement  the  necessary  measures  to  comply 
with  the  requirements  of  the  EECC  and  in  particular  Article  109  on  emergency 
communications and the single European emergency number. All end-users, including 
end-users with disabilities, no matter where in the European Union, should be able to 
effectively request and receive help from emergency services. 

 

In  order  to  ensure  effective  access  to  emergency  services  through  emergency 
communications  to  the  single  European  emergency  number  ‘112’  the  Commission 
proposed  a  Delegated  Regulation  by  21  December  2022  pursuant  to  the  mandate 
given  in  Article  109(8)  EECC.  The  Delegated  Regulation  aims  to  improve  the 
effectiveness of emergency communications by imposing the following measures: 

39  https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/eu-gateway-eu-digital-covid-

certificate 

40Article 3(6) of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on 
roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union 

11 

 
 
                                                           
o  It  sets  out  parameters  that  need  to  be  taken  into  account  by  the  competent 
regulatory authorities when setting the criteria for accuracy and  reliability of 
caller location information; 

o  It 

establishes 

emergency 
communications  to  be  used  by  end-users  with  disabilities  for  accessing 
emergency services; 

requirements 

equivalence 

functional 

for 

o  It sets out the requirements with regard to effective routing; 

o  To  ensure  that  seamless  access  across  the  EU  is  technically  feasible,  the 
Regulation  calls  on  Member  States  to  cooperate  with  the  Commission  to 
identify common interoperability requirements, which would enable routing of 
the  mobile-application-based  emergency  communications 
the  most 
appropriate PSAP when roaming; 

to 

o  To ensure the access to emergency services by emergency communications to 
the most appropriate PSAP in the context of the technological migration to all-
IP networks,  the Regulation  requires Member States to  draft and send  to  the 
Commission a roadmap for upgrading the national PSAP system to be able to 
receive,  answer  and  process  emergency  communications  through  packet-
switched technology; 

o  It  requires  Member  States  to  report  and  provide  updated  information  to  the 

Commission on the obligations established in the Regulation. 

12 

 
 
 
 
ANNEX  –  ALTERNATIVE  MEANS  OF  ACCESS  TO  EMERGENCY  SERVICES  IN  EU  MEMBER 
STATES AND EEA COUNTRIES 

Feature available 

Feature not available 

Means of access 

Inter 
active 

User 
location 

No 
registration 

Free 

Roaming 
access 

Free 
roaming 

Number of 
access 

AT 

SMS to long number 

Fax to long number 

email 

Application  

BE 

SMS to short number 

Application (112.be)  

Fax to 112 or 101 

BG 

Application (112 Bulgaria) 

Web based service 

CY 

SMS to 112  

RTT (over 112 Cyprus application) 

CZ 

SMS to 112 

Application (zachranka) 

Web based emergency access 

General accessibility relay service  

Specialised emergency relay service  

Specialised devices from fixed 
locations 

Specialised mobile devices 

Email 

Fax to long number 

Other 

DE 

Fax to 112 

Application 

General relay service 

Specialised relay service 

DK 

SMS to long number 

General accessibility relay service  

Emergency application 

173 

241 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

11 

697 

15 

255 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

0 

0 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

4.597*  

N/A 

650 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Means of access 

Inter 
active 

User 
location 

No 
registration 

Free 

Roaming 
access 

Free 
roaming 

Number of 
access 

EE 

EL 

SMS to 112 

SMS to 112 

Email 

Fax to short number 

ES 

regional SMS to long numbers 

Specialised emergency relay service 
(video call)  

Regional specialised emergency 
relay services (call to freephone + 
SMS/chat) 

Regional specialised emergency 
relay service (call to 112 + SMS/chat) 

Regional specialised devices from 
fixed location 

Application  

FI 

FR 

SMS to 112 

SMS to 114 

Fax to 114 

Email 

Application 

Web based emergency access 

RTT as network service 
(www.info.urgence114.fr) 

RTT as application service 
(www.info.urgence114.fr) 

Specialised emergency relay service 

Specialised devices from fixed 
locations (114) 

HR 

SMS to 112 

Fax to 112 

HU 

SMS to 112 

Application (112-SOS)  

IE 

SMS to 112 

Specialised emergency relay service 

General accessibility relay service 

IT 

Application (Flag Mii) 

Application (Where ARE U) 

Specialised emergency relay service 

891 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

451 

200 

350 

2.000 

N/A 

200 

4.520 

13.000 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

14 

0 

20.523 

1.279 

0 

0 

N/A 

N/A 

350 

14 

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Means of access 

Inter 
active 

User 
location 

No 
registration 

Free 

Roaming 
access 

Free 
roaming 

Number of 
access 

LT 

SMS to 112 

Application (112 app) 

LU 

SMS to 112 and 113 

Applications ( GouvAlert, Echo 112) 

Specialised fixed devices  

email 

Fax to 112 

LV 

SMS to 112 

Emergency application 

MT 

SMS to long number 

112.mt application 

112.mt web service 

RTT over network (long number) 

RTT over application 

Report through 112.mt 

NL 

RTT over application (112NL) 

Web based emergency access 

SMS to 112 

Specialised emergency relay service 

General accessibility relay service 

PL 

PT 

Application (Alarm 112) 

SMS to long number 

Emergency application 

RO 

SMS to 113 

SE 

SMS to 112 

specialised fixed devices 

General relay service 

SI 

SMS to 112 

Web based emergency access 

SK 

SMS to 112 

Application (155.sk) 

NO 

SMS 112 

*since 28.09.2021 

36.630 

157 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

5.965 

N/A 

6 

228 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

N/A 

1.475 

N/A 

38 

51 

112 

0 

792 

36.739 

N/A 

N/A 

31 

N/A 

15