Brussels, 21/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 21 August, the European Commission adopted a communication on the strategy for the implementation of the in-car emergency communication technology (eCall), pleading once again for this system to be installed in cars on a voluntary basis, as initially planned for the end of 2009 (see EUROPE 9327). The document predicts that by 2014, all new cars produced in Europe will have to be equipped with an emergency call system (with the first to be on the road by 2010) and warns that unless significant progress is made by the end of the year, the Commission could take "regulatory measures" to make this technology operational as soon as possible. According to the Commission, installing the eCall system in all new cars built in Europe could halve emergency response times and bring down the number of deaths due to road traffic accidents by 2500 a year. Six Member States are individually mentioned, as they refuse to sign the protocol agreement on the eCall system: France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia and Malta.
"The time has come for Member States and industry to move from talk to action", said Commissioner Vivianne Reding (information society and media), stressing that all of the basic standards required to deploy eCall are in place. The regulatory measures discussed by the communication for 2010 would be: a recommendation to operators on the transmission of eCall calls; a proposed regulation on the introduction of systems to new vehicles (on the basis of the framework directive 2007 on approval for motor vehicles) and a possible binding measure on including the system within infrastructures. At this stage, the system is not operational in any Member State. Only 15 of them (Finland, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Cyprus, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Estonia and Slovakia) and three non-EU countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland) have signed a memorandum of understanding on the deployment of the system. Others are in the process of doing so (Poland, Bulgaria, Belgium, Romania, Hungary and Luxembourg). According to the Commission, road accidents cost the economy more than 160 billion euros and kill nearly 40,000 a year. By rolling out the eCall system, which in the event of a serious accident automatically dials the emergency number 112 and allows the emergency services to locate the vehicle automatically, 26 billion euros a year could be saved. The system would cost less than 100 euros per vehicle. (A.By./trans.fl)