eCall deployment - Publication by the European Commission of the Delegated Regulation No 305/2013

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We are getting closer to the deployment of the pan-European eCall. On 3 April 2013, the European Commission has published the Delegated Regulation No 305/2013 supplementing the Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the harmonised provision for an interoperable EU-wide eCall.

This Regulation establishes the specifications for the upgrading of the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) infrastructure required for the proper receipt and handling of eCalls, in order to ensure the compatibility, interoperability and continuity of the harmonised EU-wide eCall service.

It shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply to infrastructures deployed from the date of entry into force of this Regulation. It shall apply from 23 April 2014 to infrastructures already deployed at the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

Note to editors:
For further information, please visit: heero-pilot.eu

For further information, please contact:
Andy Rooke, HeERO Project Coordinator

+32 (0)2 400 07 80

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Background information

About HeERO:

HeERO addresses the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call service "eCall" which is based on 112, the common European Emergency number. Since January 2011, the nine European countries forming the HeERO consortium (Croatia, The Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden) have carried out a three-year programme leading to the piloting and deployment of eCall.

The second phase of HeERO - HeERO 2 - started on 1st January 2013 and will last for 2 years. 6 new countries (namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey) have joined the 9 pilot countries of HeERO 1. Furthermore, the project will welcome new associate partners, both commercial and public, who feel that they will be able to benefit from the expertise of HeERO 1 and 2 (associate status does not provide access to EU funding).

The HeERO consortium is currently testing and validating, in real-condition pilots, the common European eCall standards defined and approved by the European Standardisation Organisations.  

The project is partially funded by the European Union under the ICT PSP programme.

About eCall:

eCall is an electronic road safety system which automatically calls the emergency services in case of a serious accident, even if the driver and passengers are unconscious. As soon as the eCall sensors register a severe impact on the car during an accident, it automatically dials 112 emergency and calls to the nearest emergency centre. The call transmits the exact geographic location of the accident scene and other data. eCalls can also be made manually by car occupants, thus enabling them to provide the call centre with additional details of the accident.

Getting immediate information about an accident and pinpointing the exact location of the crash site cut emergency services' response time by 50% in rural and 40% in urban areas. Thanks to this gain in time, eCall is expected to save several hundred lives in the European Union each year, and to mitigate the severity of tens of thousands of injuries. Road accidents cost the EU around €160 billion/ year, but if all cars were equipped with the eCall system, up to €20 billion could be saved annually. eCall will work all over the European Union, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The Russian Federation is developing a similar accident notification system called ERA GLONASS. It is based on the eCall standards. Both sides, the EU and Russia, are working together in order to make eCall and ERA GLONASS interoperable so that eCall will also work in Russia and ERA GLONASS in the EU.

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