The 112 Newsletter, Issue 26

EENA is delighted to announce the creation of the 112 Foundation. The 112 Foundation was created to save lives by promoting the knowledge and appropriate use of the European emergency number 112. The 112 Foundation was established by the EENA - the European Emergency Number Association - in cooperation with its Advisory Board.  Its main objective is to offer free materials for information campaigns to all citizens and organisations willing to inform and educate on the 112. "When every second counts, knowing how and when it's appropriate to call 112 is essential. The education efforts of the 112 Foundation will enhance the knowledge of our people and save lives", said Mike Amarosa, TruePosition's Senior VP Public Affairs, President of the Board of Directors of the 112 Foundation.

The new 112 Foundation's website was launched in the framework of the European 112 Day (11/2/2009) and is now available at www.112foundation.eu

Please feel free to use the material available such as the new European 112 logo, the stickers, the online games and the eCards. Do not hesitate to invite your family and friends to visit the website!

For further information, please contact Jérôme Paris at jp@112foundation.eu

The 112 Awards Ceremony was successfully organised on the 10th of February 2009 in Palais d'Egmont, Brussels, on the eve of the European 112 Day (11/2). The event was held under the patronage of the Belgian Secretary of Foreign Affairs Mr Olivier Chastel and the Czech EU Presidency. The 112 Awards Ceremony was attended by several political personalities, representatives of EU Institutions, emergency services and solution providers. 11 Awards were handed to individuals and organisations that contributed to the improvement of the knowledge and/or functioning of the 112.

EENA is delighted to announce that the EU Institutions signed on the 11th of February 2009 a Tripartite Declaration establishing the European 112 Day. Promotional actions will now be organised every year on the same day to educate citizens on the 112. For several years, EENA advocated the creation of the European 112 Day every year on 11/2 so that every stakeholder can organise educational campaigns.

Several events were organised on that date:

During the European 112 Day, the 112 Foundation presented the 112 Anthem performed by Nara Noian and a children's choir in English and French within the European Parliament in the framework of the European 112 Day Citizens' event. We now invite everyone to contribute to the writing of the lyrics of the 112 Anthem in all the EU languages.

A Roundtable on the 112 was organised in Sofia, Bulgaria on the 6th of March. This roundtable on the 112 was the third one co-organised by the EENA and had the following objectives:

The EENA Advisory Board's Legal Committee has proposed an amendment to the European Parliament concerning the EU Roaming Regulation. While an SMS detailing voice call and SMS charges is sent to every citizen travelling from one EU country to another, the proposed amendment requests the provision of information on the possibility to access emergency services by dialling the 112 everywhere in the EU. This is already done in Bulgaria where one mobile operator sends such SMSs to foreigners arriving in Bulgaria.

More information: Gary Machado, gm@eena.org  

Following a successful year 2008, EENA is delighted to announce the structure and objectives of EENA Advisory Board for 2009.

The EENA Advisory Board was established to gather the main emergency communications stakeholders including politicians, professional users' associations, international organisations and associations as well as solution providers. The EENA Advisory Board has created the following three 3 Committees:

 View here the 2009 objectives (81KB)

 View here the 2008 achievements (88KB)

The EENA is now coordinating a taskforce on the European emergency number 112 within the European Standardisation Committee - CEN Workshop 44 on Emergency Services Management (ESM). This group intends to develop a CWA (CEN Workshop Agreement) to assist emergency services managers in improving organizations, procedures, communications, equipment, PPE, and training. The EENA Advisory Board has proposed a position paper that was discussed during the kick-off meeting and that provided clear directions for the development of an agenda in line with the objectives of its 112 Excellence Centre Committee. The deliverables are expected to be ready in December 2009.

More information: Gary Machado, gm@eena.org  

We invite you to look at the EENA Buyers' Guide which contains solution by:

To advertise in the EENA Buyers' Guide, please contact Gary Machado at gm@eena.org