Although telecoms rules require Member States to make their citizens aware of the 112 number, there is still a large number of EU citizens who still do not know this number which could save their lives. For that reason, on the European 112 Day, the European Commission recalls the need to increase Member States efforts to increase public awareness of the existence of this EU-wide service.

European citizens still lack to properly know about how the single emergency number 112 works. This is one of the key findings put forward by a recent Eurobarometer survey which shows that only  over a quarter of EU citizens questioned could spontaneously identify 112 as the number to call the police, fire brigade or ambulance services from anywhere in the EU.

This same survey shows that citizens from the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovakia are the ones whose population can identify such number in the a majority of cases as the emergency number. On the contrary, in Greece, Italy, and the UK, less than 10% of citizens were aware of that fact.

Little progress on common emergency number 112 awareness among EU citizens

Since the common European emergency number 112 was made operational by the end of 2008, there have been few improvements on citizens' awareness, as the progress in the share of people who knew about the number and how it works has been minimal these years, showing values of 22% in 2008 and only 26% in 2011. Improving this awareness, as it was highlighted by European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, on the celebration of the European 112 Day which was fixed on 11 February, must be one of the priorities for Member States.

Taking into account such negative data and, despite most EU countries report that they have taken some action to promote 112, the European Commission is assessing whether Member States are adequately fulfilling their obligation to inform citizens. There are, however some countries where citizens are much more aware of 112 such Austria, Finland and The Netherlands, which reported increases in their awareness rate.

Some of the deficiencies on the information provided to European citizens are especially related to the information they receive when travelling between Member States. The obligation to send an sms informing about 112 number while roaming in another EU country or to display information in airports, train stations and international bus terminals are not always fulfilled.

One more example are the actions started by the Commission due to the lack of availability of caller location information, which have been closed in most cases following corrective measures, but are still pending in the case of Italy. Legal action was also launched and subsequently closed against Poland and Bulgaria concerning the availability of 112, and against Italy concerning the appropriate handling of 112 calls by emergency services. Currently the Commission is further studying the situation in several Member States where it seems that information on caller location is not provided for all fixed subscribers and/or users of mobile phone services while roaming.