Brussels, 01/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - MEPs at the European Parliament's transport committee have decided to keep the October 2017 deadline for setting up the eCall infrastructure responsible for receiving automatic emergency calls in the event of road accidents through the 112 hotline number.
On Tuesday 1 April, the committee approved by 23 votes in favour, 7 against, and 2 abstentions, the agreement obtained between the institutions at the trilogue on the subject of introducing the eCall system. Member states will therefore be expected to do all they can to ensure that an infrastructure for receiving calls is in place in the EU and interoperable between the different national systems. Nonetheless, the agreement also stipulates that the infrastructure for installing the mechanism in vehicles should be ready six months before it is compulsory for manufacturers. Negotiations are still ongoing regarding this date and may not be concluded under the current European Parliament. In its first reading position, the Parliament is counting on October 2015 (which already supposes that the infrastructure will be ready in April 2015) but this timetable appears to be increasingly untenable. (MD)