Emergency Services

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Emergency Services The status of the regulatory
framework within Europe5th Emergency Services
WorkshopOct. 21, 2008

• EICTA Contribution

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About EICTA

• EICTA, founded in 1999, is the voice of the
  European digital technology industry, which
  includes large and small companies in the
  Information and Communications Technology and
  Consumer Electronics Industry sectors.  It is
  composed of 61 major multinational companies and
  40 national associations from 28 European
  countries. In all, EICTA represents more than
  10,000 companies all over Europe with more than 2
  million employees and over EUR 1,000 billion in
  revenues.
• Company Members
• Adobe, Agilent,
  Alcatel-Lucent, AMD, Apple, Bang Olufsen, Bose,
  Brother, Canon, Cisco, Corning, Dell, EADS,
  Elcoteq, Epson, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP,
  IBM, Infineon, Ingram Micro, Intel, JVC, Kenwood,
  Kodak, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, LG Electronics,
  Loewe, Micronas, Microsoft, Motorola, NEC, Nokia,
  Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, NXP, Océ, Oki,
  Oracle, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Qualcomm,
  Research In Motion, Samsung, Sanyo, SAP, Sharp,
  Siemens, Sony, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics,
  Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Thales,
  Thomson, Toshiba, UMC, Xerox
• National Trade Associations
• Austria FEEI Belarus
  INFOPARK Belgium AGORIA Bulgaria BAIT
  Cyprus CITEA Czech Republic ASE, SPIS
  Denmark DI ITEK, IT-Branchen Estonia ITL
  Finland FFTI France ALLIANCE TICS, SIMAVELEC
  Germany BITKOM, ZVEI Greece SEPE Hungary
  IVSZ Ireland ICT Ireland Italy ANIE,
  AITech-ASSINFORM Malta ITTS Netherlands
  ICTOffice, FIAR Norway ABELIA, IKT Norge
  Poland KIGEiT, PIIT Romania APDETIC Slovakia
  ITAS Slovenia GZS Spain AETIC, ASIMELEC
  Sweden ITTelekomföretagen Switzerland SWICO,
  SWISSMEM Turkey ECID, TESID, TÜBISAD Ukraine
  IT Ukraine United Kingdom INTELLECT

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Discussions and consultations over the last years
have shown that...

• Many people believe that VoIP services will soon
  be the standard voice connection and therefore be
  interconnected with the PSTN emergency calling
  just like from the PSTN including the
  transmission of exact location data could become
  the norm
• On the other hand, many VoIP services can be used
  nomadically, which makes it difficult to
  distribute the adequate location information to
  the emergency call centers
• Challenges
• Have adequate technical standards that grant VoIP
  services access to emergency services
• Have a stable regulatory framework in place that
  allows for predicting whether access to emergency
  services has to be granted when operating a
  specific voice service or not.

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Todays provisions at EU level

• Today, legal provisions related to emergency
  service can be found in the Universal Service
  Directive.
• Especially Articles 2, 6, 7, 23 and 26 of the
  Universal Service Directive deal with emergency
  services and the single European emergency call
  number 112.

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Todays provisions its all about PATS

• PATS publicly available telephony service
• means a service available to the public for
  originating and receiving national and
  international calls and access to emergency
  services through a number or numbers in a
  national or international telephone numbering
  plan, and in addition may, where relevant,
  include one or more of the following services
  the provision of operator assistance, directory
  enquiry services, directories, provision of
  public pay phones, provision of service under
  special terms, provision of special facilities
  for customers with disabilities or with special
  social needs and/or the provision of
  non-geographic services Art 2 c USO Directive

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Technology neutrality is a principle in the
current regulatory review

• This means that IP based services are not
  excluded from the scope
• VoIP services may be PATS
• Current circular definition has led to different
  interpretation by Member States
• Subsequently, emergency call and intercept
  obligations may concern VoIP

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Aspects of the current obligation

• Access to emergency services also needs to be
  granted from
• public pay telephones using the single European
  emergency call number 112 and other national
  emergency numbers,
• free of charge and without having to use any
  means of payment.
• Network integrity
• Member States shall ensure that undertakings
  providing publicly available telephone services
  at fixed locations take all reasonable steps to
  ensure uninterrupted access to emergency
  services.

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Review of EUs regulatory framework

• The PATS definition has been seen as problematic
  (circular definition).
• The European Commission has worked out proposals
  how to change this definition in the so-called
  review of the European Regulatory Framework for
  Telecommunications.
• In the European Parliament, a number of
  amendments 6, 20, (45), 48, 52, 62, 69, 75, 82,
  87-91, 98 and 144 deal with the emergency service
  related provisions and have been adopted during
  the EPs vote in Sept 2008.http//www.europarl.eu
  ropa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?typeTAlanguageENrefere
  nceP6-TA-2008-0452

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Review of PATS definition Commission

• Commission proposal Art 2 (c) USO Directive
• publicly available telephone service means a
  service available to the public for originating
  and receiving, directly or indirectly via carrier
  selection or pre-selection or resale, national
  and/or international calls through a number or
  numbers in a national or international telephone
  numbering plan

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Review of PATS definition Parliament

• (c) publicly available telephone service means
  a service available to the public for originating
  and/or receiving, directly or indirectly,
  national and/or international calls and other
  means of communication specifically intended for
  disabled users using text relay or total
  conversation services through a number or numbers
  in a national or international telephone
  numbering plan

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EICTA position on the definition of PATS

• EICTA has concerns that the Commissions proposed
  re-definition of PATS may also impose obligations
  on too broad a category of services.
• While EICTA strongly supports greater technology
  neutrality in the framework and welcomes the
  Commissions efforts to clarify the definition of
  PATS by treating access to emergency services
  outside of the definition, the Commissions
  proposed amendments to the PATS definition would
  benefit from a number of further clarifications.

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Location information - Commission

• Commission changes in Article 26 paragraph 5
• Member States shall ensure that caller location
  information is made available free of charge to
  authorities handling emergencies for all calls to
  the single European emergency call number 112.
  Member States shall require that caller location
  information is automatically provided as soon as
  the emergency call reaches the authority dealing
  with the emergency.

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Location Information - Parliament

• EP voted on changes in Article 26 paragraph 5
  Amendment 90
• Member States shall ensure that caller location
  information is made available free of charge and
  as soon as the emergency call reaches the
  authority handling the emergency. This shall also
  apply to all calls to the single European
  emergency call number 112.

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Location Information EICTA position

• EICTA notes that any caller location obligations
  must be appropriate, taking into account
  technical feasibility, and be aimed at providing
  location data to emergency authorities without
  mandating the technical means by which this
  objective should be achieved. At the same time
  national authorities must ensure that emergency
  service operators are able to adequately process
  the location data.

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Commission proposal on contract disclosure of
emergency calling features

• Art 20 (4) Text porposed by Commission
• Member States shall ensure that where contracts
  are concluded between subscribers and
  undertakings providing electronic communications
  services that allow voice communication,
  subscribers are clearly informed whether or not
  access to emergency services is provided.
  Providers of electronic communications services
  shall ensure that customers are clearly informed
  of the lack of access to emergency services in
  advance of the conclusion of a contract and
  regularly thereafter.
• EP proposes to delete that paragraph.

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EICTA position on contract disclosure of
emergency calling features

• EICTA has concerns about (a) the scope of the
  disclosure requirements in contracts with
  end-users pertaining to whether or not access to
  emergency services is provided, and (b) as to how
  these should be implemented. It is important to
  have proper disclosure about the ability to make
  emergency calls, but we question whether it is
  reasonable and not overly burdensome to impose
  this obligation on all electronic communication
  services that allow voice communication.
• In addition, further clarification is needed on
  how the disclosures should be made. The proposal
  requires that customers are clearly informed of
  the lack of access to emergency services in
  advance of the conclusion of a contract and
  regularly thereafter (article 20(4) Universal
  Service Directive). EICTA is concerned that this
  requirement is likely to lead to divergent
  requirements across Member States and in addition
  leaves providers with substantial uncertainties
  about compliance.

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Other new/changed proposals I

• EP wants changes in Article 23 USD
•  Member States shall take all necessary measures
  to ensure the fullest possible availability of
  publicly available telephone services in the
  event of catastrophic network breakdown or in
  cases of force majeure. Member States shall
  ensure that undertakings providing publicly
  available telephone services take all necessary
  measures to ensure uninterrupted access to
  emergency services from any place within the
  territory of the EU. 
• EICTA was against this amendment as it does not
  recognise the technical limitations faced by some
  service providers (particularly those that are
  independent of any particular network) in
  ensuring the availability of service and
  uninterrupted access to emergency services.
  Therefore, EICTA would like to see the wording
  to the extent feasible included in the text.

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Other new/changed proposals II

• EP wants changes in Article 26 paragraph 2
• Member States, in cooperation with national
  regulatory authorities, emergency services and
  providers, shall ensure that undertakings
  providing an electronic communications service
  for originating national and/or international
  calls through a number or numbers in a national
  or international telephone numbering plan provide
  reliable access to emergency services. Amendment
  87
• EICTA was against AM 87, as it does not recognise
  technical limitations for providing access to
  emergency services.

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Other new/changed proposals III

• EP wants changes in Article 26 paragraph 3
• Member States shall ensure that the emergency
  services are able to appropriately respond to and
  handle all calls to the single European emergency
  call number "112" in a manner best suited to the
  national organisation of emergency systems. Such
  calls shall be answered and handled at least as
  expeditiously and effectively as calls to
  national emergency number or numbers, where these
  continue in use. Amendment 88

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Other new/changed proposals IV

• EP wants changes in Article 26 paragraph 4
• Member States shall ensure that disabled
  end-users have access to emergency services
  equivalent to that enjoyed by other end-users.
  The measures taken to ensure that disabled
  end-users are able to access emergency services
  while travelling in other Member States shall
  include ensuring compliance with relevant
  standards or specifications published in
  accordance with the provisions of Article 17 of
  Directive 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive).
  Amendment 89

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Latest developments in EU member states

• Germany
• From Jan. 2009 onward, providers of technically
  new forms of public telephony services (incl
  VoIP) need to provide access to emergency services

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EICTA considerations on emergency service
standardization for IP based services

• It is important for manufacturing industry and
  users that standards enable compatibility of
  services through out the world.
• EICTA very much supports your activities to make
  it happen
• European electronic communications regulatory
  framework will require that IP based
  telecommunications service users have access to
  emergency services regardless where they are.
• It is important the standards applied in Europe
  support the compatibility of services globally

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Thank you very much!

• Margit Brandl margit.brandl_at_nsn.com
• Chair EICTA Market Regulation Group