Norway signs up to eCall
Norway is the first non-EU country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, to take the Commission's eCall initiative into reality during the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in Luxemburg on 8 June. The move gives a significant boost to the project, which aims to significantly reduce the time needed for emergency services to respond to road accidents. Part of the scheme's success relies upon prospective partners to commit to a new emergency number - 112. The concept was adopted by the European Parliament in April. Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media said: 'This is an important step towards the implementation of the Pan-European eCall service. As the European Parliament stressed in its recently approved report, it is important that all Member States sign the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] as soon as possible, in order to demonstrate a clear commitment to the implementation of eCall to other stakeholders. 'I would like to encourage all the Member States to join Norway and the other European countries that already signed the eCall MoU. eCall is for the benefit of the European citizens,' she added. The i2010 initiative launched in June 2005, with the aim of boosting innovative information and communication technologies (ICT) projects in Europe, which should in turn drive Europe's economy. The scheme also aims to bridge the 'digital divide' between Member States. 'We firmly believe that the system will save lives and reduce the social burden by improving the notification of road accidents and speeding up emergency service response. Norway supports the ambition of introducing the system by 2009, and will actively contribute to the development and agreement of implementation plans conforming to the principles of a Pan-European eCall service,' said Norwegian State Secretary, Steinulf Tungesvik. Commissioner Reding will shortly issue the first annual report for the information society.