CELEX: 51990PC0426
Language: en
Date: 1990-10-05
Title: AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON THE INTRODUCTION OF A STANDARD EUROPE-WIDE EMERGENCY CALL NUMBER

No C 275/A                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                      1. 11. 90
                                                             II
                                                     (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
              Amended proposal for a Council Decision on the introduction of a standard Europe-wide
                                                  emergency call number
                                              COM(90) 426 final — SYN 223
              (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to Article 149 (3) of the EEC Treaty on 5 October 1990)
                                                       (90/C 275/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           (6) Whereas the introduction of new technologies into
                                                                        the public telephone networks and the coordinated
                                                                        introduction of advanced telecommunications infra-
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                   structures present a unique opportunity for the
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a                      implementation      of    a standard        Europe-wide
thereof,                                                                emergency call number, in parallel to the existing
                                                                        national emergency call numbers as appropriate;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   (7) Whereas the Commission has called the attention of
                                                                        the Council to this problem (');
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                   (8) Whereas the Council at its meeting of 30 June 1988
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                        has recognized that the objective of a standard
Social Committee,                                                       Europe-wide emergency call number is important
                                                                        for Europe's citizens;
 (1) Whereas the telephone is the most important means
     for the notification of emergencies of all kinds and          (9) Whereas the Council in its resolution of
     for calling emergency services responsible for public              13 February 1989 on the new developments in
     safety;                                                            Community cooperation on civil protection has
                                                                        stressed     the    desirability   of     a     standard
                                                                        Community-wide single additional             emergency
 (2) Whereas at present for this purpose different                      telephone number which will in particular enable
     telephone numbers are utilized in the Member                       citizens in an emergency or disaster to call the
     States;                                                            relevant national emergency services ( 2 );
 (3) Whereas the effect of such differences is to create         (10) Whereas the European Parliament has emphasized
     problems in contacting the responsible services for                repeatedly the importance of the introduction of
     citizens facing emergency situations in other                      such a number, in particular in its resolutions of
     Member States;                                                     12 December 1988 on telecommunications (3) ( 4 );
 (4) Whereas the substantial increase in both private and        (11) Whereas the European Conference of Post and
     business travel within the Community has created a                 Telecommunications (CEPT) has recommended in
     demand for the introduction of a standard
     Europe-wide emergency call number;                          (l) Commission communication concerning coordination and
                                                                      preparatory work in the telecommunications field towards
                                                                      the introduction of a standard Europe-wide emergency call
 (5) Whereas      the    introduction  of     a   standard            number by 1992 (COM(88) 312).
     Europe-wide emergency call number would                     O OJ No C 44, 23. 2. 1989. p. 3.
     therefore promote the establishment and functioning         (») OJ No C 12r 16. 1. 1989, p. 66.
     of the internal market;                                     (4) OJ No C 12, 16. 1. 1989, p. 67.
 ---pagebreak---  1. 11.90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 275/5
     its recommendation T/SF1 of 1976 the use of the
     number 112 as the standard Europe-wide emergency            2.     The standard Europe-wide emergency call number
     services call number;                                       shall be introduced in parallel with any other existing
                                                                 national emergency call numbers, where this seems
(12) Whereas this recommendation has             only  been      appropriate.
     followed by very few Member States;
                                                                                            Article 2
(13) Whereas the number 112 remains the most suitable
     number for most telecommunications adminis-                 The standard Europe-wide emergency call number shall
     trations;                                                   be introduced by 31 December 1992 at the latest, except
                                                                 where Article 3 applies.
(14) Whereas for all Member States it will be possible to
     devise a plan to make the number 112 available;
                                                                                            Article 3
(15) Whereas most Member States could introduce the
     number 112 by 1992, whereas, however, for a                  1.    Where particular technical, financial, or organiz-
     limited number of Member States this would pose a           ational difficulties in a Member State make the full intro-
     burden since they would need to make unplanned              duction of the standard Europe-wide emergency call
     changes or to advance plans already made;                   number by the date foreseen in Article 2 impossible or
                                                                 would entail undue cost, the Member State shall inform
                                                                 the Commission of these difficulties.
(16) Whereas, therefore, flexibility is needed in the time
     schedule for introduction in these Member States;
                                                                 2.     In this case, the Member State concerned shall
(17) Whereas the introduction of number 112 will be              communicate to the Commission, with adequate expla-
     possible by 1995, even in the Member States where           nations and justification, a new date for the full
     difficulties exist;                                         introduction of the standard Europe-wide emergency
                                                                 call number which however must not be later than
(18) Whereas, in addition to the technical, financial,           31 December 1995.
     operational and commercial implications of intro-
     ducing the chosen number within public telecommu-                                      Article 4
     nications networks, Member States must make the
     necessary organizational arrangements best suited to        Member States shall take the necessary measures, in
     the national organization of the emergency systems,         order to ensure that calls to the standard Europe-wide
     in order to ensure that calls to this number are            emergency call number are adequately answered and
     adequately answered and handled; whereas the                handled, in a manner best suited to the national
     standard Europe-wide emergency call number                  organization of emergency systems and within the tech-
     should therefore be used in parallel with other             nological possibilities of the networks, and in a manner
     existing national arrangements, where appropriate;          suited to take account of linguistic problems where they
                                                                 arise.
(19) Whereas      Member States should work towards
     increasing   the language capabilities of the operator
     answering    calls to number 112, in order to optimize                                 Article 5
     the use of  the number;
                                                                 1.     Member States shall bring into force the provisions
(20) Whereas the provision of emergency call numbers is          necessary to comply with this Decision by . . . at the
     provided for in all Member States by law, regu-             latest. They shall forthwith inform the Commission
     lation, or administrative action and continuing             thereof.
     divergent developments in this area must be
     avoided,                                                    2.     Member States shall ensure that the texts of the
                                                                 provisions of national law which they adopt in the field
                                                                 governed by this Decision are communicated to the
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:                                       Commission.
                            Article 1                            3.     The provisions brought into force by virtue of the
                                                                 first paragraph shall refer explicitly to this Decision.
1.    Member States shall ensure, that number 112 is
introduced in public telephone networks, as well as in
future integrated services digital networks and public                                      Article 6
mobile services, as the standard Europe-wide emergency
call number.                                                     This Decision is addressed to the Member States.