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What is it

The Single European Emergency number “112” is a single freephone number already in use in various European countries that has revolutionised the management of emergency calls.

The service has been active in Emilia-Romagna since 3 December 2024 in the area code districts of the Metropolitan City of Bologna, Cento (Ferrara) and Alto Reno Terme (Bologna).
In the next few months the Single European Emergency Number will gradually be extended to the entire region with full coverage by 1 April 2025.

From this date, all emergency phone calls will be directed to the Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAP) which will activate the emergency medical services (118), fire service (115), public safety (112, 113) and coastguard (1530) operations centres.

The fact that the number 112 (One-One-Two) is commonly associated with the Carabinieri in Italy is purely coincidental.

The number can be dialled from landlines and mobile phones even if you have no SIM, your phone is blocked or you don’t have any credit.

The telephone numbers 118, 113, 115 and 1530 will in any case remain active.

The Single European Emergency number will be launched in the various provinces of Emilia-Romagna between 3 December 2024 and 1^ April 2025

Advantages of the single number
Localisation of caller

In most cases the location of the caller is identified automatically within a few seconds, whether they are calling from a mobile phone or app - thanks to Advanced Mobile Location technology - or from a landline - thanks to the identification of the caller number

Central management

Effective coordination of emergency assistance thanks to the possibility of alerting different services - emergency medical services, fire service, police etc. - at the same time

Multilingual assistance

Thanks to an interpreting service in 20 different languages, foreign users are assisted with their calls to the operations centres

Accessibility

Deaf users can request assistance by sending messages or making silent calls using the "Where are U” app

Filtering of inappropriate calls

Thanks to the filtering of inappropriate non-emergency calls (around 40%), the PSAP reduce the amount of inbound traffic at the operations centres of each emergency service

E-Call for cars produced after 2018

The Single European Emergency Number is integrated with eCall, a system that automatically contacts the emergency services in the event of a serious road accident

How does it work

When dialling any emergency number (112, 113, 115, 118) or using the “Where are U” app, members of the public will be put through to the operator of the Public-Safety Answering Point (PSAP) of the Single European Emergency Number 112 service who will launch a multilingual interpreting teleconference if necessary and identify the caller’s location within a few seconds.

The request for assistance, together with an electronic file containing all the information collected from the caller, is then transferred to the operations centres of the various services: emergency medical services, public safety, fire service, port authority. Depending on the type of emergency, one or more of the emergency services may be alerted, increasing the speed and efficacy of the response.

Telephone traffic and all data relating to the events will be recorded.

A European number

The Single European Emergency Number 112 is a mandatory number for all member states of the European Union that enables citizens to report emergency situations by dialling a single number, 112, for all emergency services.

The Single European Emergency Number was introduced in compliance with Decision 91/396/EEC of the Council of the European Communities of 29 July 1991 and Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and European Council of 7 March 2002, also known as the “Universal Service Directive”.

In Italy the European Directive was implemented with Legislative Decree no. 259 of 1 August 2003 (“Electronic communications code”), which allocates supervisory and coordination powers to the Ministry of the Interior, which has defined a centralised technical and organisational model. The implementation of the 112 service is delegated to the Regions, which are responsible for both putting all infrastructure and technology components in place and hiring and managing the human resources employed in the first-level call centres, known as Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAP), according to methods defined by specific memorandums of understanding between the Ministry of the Interior and the Regions.

This new service has been introduced, according to different timeframes, right across Italy, and in Emilia-Romagna involved the close and productive collaboration of all of the institutions involved: The Region, the Prefecture of Bologna, regional Prefectures and Police Headquarters, regional and provincial branches of the Carabinieri, the Fire Service, the Traffic Police and the Port Authority, and the 118 Service.