Lithuania

The single pan-European emergency number 112 is operational in Lithuania, but it is not the only emergency number in use. The police handles the calls made to 112 and 02, and numbers exist for fire (01) and  ambulance services (03). There are 60 PSAPs at level 1 organised regionally and locally and 120 PSAPs at level 2 organised regionally, locally and privately. 

As the system overview illustrates below, Lithuania is currently incapable of receiving or handling E112 calls and there are currently no plans for 112 implementation.

The single European Emergency Call Number 112 is fully implemented and operational in Lithuania. Presently it is not the only emergency number. There are some other numbers in different communications networks for different emergency services (See the table: .pdf (53 KB)). It’s determined, that in the future 112 will be the only emergency number in Lithuania.In Vilnius City (population 650 000), emergency calls to number 112 are handled by a little while ago established Emergency Response Centre (ERC). Calls to other emergency numbers in that area are handled by ERC as well.

In the rest of the country emergency calls to number 112 are handled by the local police stations. It’s planed, that by the end of 2008 ERC will take over the management of 112 calls as well as calls to other numbers from the respective emergency services. Thus emergency call management (call taking & dispatch) will be fully centralized. It’s expected there will operate 4 regional ERCs, as both primary and secondary PSAPs, through whole country.

ERC uses state-of-the-art technology, designed and dedicated to assist the operator to make the right decision (questioning hints, digital maps, computer aided dispatch, processing of location data, etc.).

By the moment, ERC is able to receive the location data of those calling 112 from landline networks. Hopefully by the middle of next year ERC will receive and process the location data of mobile phone users. To achieve that, the intensive collaborations with mobile networks operators are underway.

On 18 October 2005, the director of ERC signed eCall Memorandum of Understanding on behalf Lithuania at the High-Level Meeting in Brussels.

Next steps for appropriate actions of the preparation for the implementation of eCall will be made in the short run.

The full correspondence slip (eCall questionnaire) can be downloaded here:

 .doc (0 KB)

For more information regarding other safety-related initiatives in Lithuania, please click here.