Brussels, 17/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission today made a final call to 14 EU member states to make the Europe-wide 116 000 hotline for missing children operational as soon as possible. The hotline provides a single number for missing children and their parents to call for help anywhere in the EU. In a report adopted on Wednesday 17 November, the Commission takes stock of the situation in the member states, proposes common minimum quality requirements for the service throughout the EU and gives member states a last chance to make the hotline operational before considering legislative measures. In 2007, the EU already put in place rules to ensure that the 116 000 number is reserved everywhere in the EU for hotlines to report missing children and offer guidance and support to their families. With the adoption of new EU telecoms rules in November 2009, EU member states are obliged to make every effort to ensure that the 116 000 hotline is activated by 25 May 2011. Today, the 116 000 hotline is fully implemented in only 12 member states (the first country to make the number operational was Portugal in 2007) and still has to be made fully operational in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden. It is currently only partially operational in the
United Kingdom. (I.L./transl.fl)