Press Release

Brussels, 24-09-2008

The European Parliament adopted the legislative reports on the "Telecom Package" at first-reading and provided major improvements on the European emergency number 112 to the proposals released by the European Commission on 13 November 2007.

In this report, Members States are requested to condone more efforts for informing and educating the public on the use of 112 and to ensure that the 112 is accessible from the entire EU territory independently of the device used. Member States will also have to ensure that caller-location is implemented and that emergency services are accessible to people with disabilities. The Members of the European Parliament also supported the right for emergency services to block calls to the 112 in case of repeated misuse by the user. Although this was not included in the final reports, the Parliament also intends to make sure that citizens are appropriately warned in case of disaster and will therefore engage discussion with the Commission on this matter.

"This is the first time that the European Parliament takes such a strong position to support a 112 that effectively saves lives in the EU", commented Olivier Paul-Morandini, president and founder of EENA, the European Emergency Number Association. "We hope that the Member States will welcome the Parliament's proposals and also work towards improving the real service provided in case of emergency", he added.

ABOUT EENA: EENA, the European Emergency Number Association, was set up in 1999 as a non-profit association registered in Belgium to serve as a neutral discussion platform for emergency services, industry and informed citizens with the aim of getting efficient, interoperable and harmonised emergency telecommunications in accordance with citizens' requirements. EENA has been advocating to authorities the issues related to the 112 as more and more EU citizens travel for business or leisure. EENA is also promoting the establishment of a general, pan-European, multilingual, accessible, simplified and efficient system for alerting citizens about imminent or developing emergencies. The EENA Advisory Board is composed of more than 30 major political, association, and industry leaders. More information at www.eena.org

Press Contact:
Gary Machado, Secretary of EENA's Advisory Board
+32 (0)2 534 97 89, gm@eena.org

Olivier Paul-Morandini, President and Founder
info@eena.org