eSafety National Observers discuss progress on eCall

Creation date: 07 December 2006

On 2 and 3 November, eSafety National Observers met with European Commission and eSafety Support experts in Stockholm and Helsinki to discuss eSafety priorities. Progress towards the pan-European implementation of eCall was on top of the agenda.

The reports from the Observers  show that the European Emergency Number 112 is globally known at European level, and in many countries, emergency centre operators can answer calls in other languages than the national language. However, the implementation of e112 and eCall remains very fragmented.

There are wide variations from country to country in the way the emergency centres are structured and every Member State faces different difficulties in how to manage this structure in relation to eCall implementation. Very few national mobile network operators transmit the caller location of a call placed from a mobile phone to the emergency centres, but in most Member States there are plans to upgrade the 112/E112 infrastructure.

Different activities have been carried out at national level in the period 2004-2006 to accelerate the deployment of eCall, with some countries organising eCall tests and demonstrations. However, no real campaigns on eCall at national level were reported, even if eCall is relatively widely discussed in technical magazines and on TV in some countries.

Different bottlenecks were identified for the implementation of eCall: investments in the emergency centre infrastructure, incomplete standardisation, the difficult organisational structure of the emergency centres and the lack of information and a legal framework all contribute to delaying the full-scale roll-out of eCall.

An effort is consequently needed to commit the remaining Member States to sign the eCall Memorandum of Understanding, agree on an eCall standard, organise more pilot trials to test user acceptance and emergency centre organisational models, and plan awareness campaigns.

The Commission reported on the standardisation process currently ongoing within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and on the standardisation of the minimum set of data ongoing in the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), renewing its commitment in pushing this forward.

The presentation of the eCall report and the details of the discussion can be found here.