Brussels, 11 April 2012

The European Emergency Number Association (EENA) released today the first public version of the Next Generation 112 Long Term Definition standard ("NG112 LTD"). To ensure global interoperability, EENA has re-used existing standards as much as possible. In particular, the work from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)(1) has been adapted to European Public Safety Answering Points. The NG112 LTD document defines a long-term architecture for European Emergency Services and remains voluntarily close to NENA i3 standard(2).

"This is undoubtedly a key milestone reached. Europe was lacking such a reference document and hence we are proud to be able release the NG112 LTD today", commented Hannes Tschofenig, who has been drafting Next Generation emergency services standards since 2004 and chairing the EENA NG112 Technical Committee since 2009.

The document provides the necessary elements to design a modern and efficient emergency calls management process, where citizens can reach 112 with voice, text, videos and pictures and where data can be shared to facilitate the intervention of first responders. As in NENA i3, the core concept is the deployment of Emergency Services IP Networks (ESInets) to foster interoperability between emergency agencies, improve redundancy and benefit from the availability of larger pools of resources.

According to Cristina Lumbreras, EENA Technical Director, "this is a crucial document for the future of our emergency services and for the safety of European citizens. We are grateful to our NG112 Committee members and to our friends at NENA".

The document will be updated during the next months and years to include new standards and specifications as well as to cope with rapidly changing technologies. Additional documents preparing the transition from E112 to NG112 will also be published.

"European Projects, such as REACH112(3), have demonstrated the value of trialling new modes of emergency calling. We now wish that the European authorities will support the testing of a complete end-to-end Next Generation 112 service in Europe", concluded Gary Machado, EENA Executive Director.

The NG112 LTD standard will be presented next week in Riga (18-20 April)during the EENA EU Emergency Services Workshop 2012(4) that will be attended by emergency services and vendors' representatives from all over Europe.

 NG112 Long Term Definition standard (3900KB)

(1) NENA, National Emergency Number Association - www.nena.org
(2) NENA Functional and Interface Standards for Next Generation 9-1-1 Version 1.0 (i3) - http://www.nena.org/?page=FuncIntrface_NG911
(3) REACH112 Project - www.reach112.eu
(4) EU Emergency Services Workshop 2012 - http://www.eena.org/view/en/112events/Workshops/2012.html

Ana Romero-Vicente: ar@eena.org; +32 (0) 487 387 754

 Press Release in .pdf format (162KB)

EENA, the European Emergency Number Association, is a Brussels-based NGO set up in 1999 dedicated to promoting high-quality emergency services reached by the number 112 throughout the EU. EENA serves as a discussion platform for emergency services, public authorities, decision makers, associations and solution providers in view of improving emergency response in accordance with citizens' requirements. EENA is also promoting the establishment of an efficient system for alerting citizens about imminent or developing emergencies.

The EENA memberships include 630 emergency services representatives from 43 European countries, 50 solution providers, 9 international associations/organisations as well as 26 Members of the European Parliament.

More information at www.eena.org