All new car models sold in the EU are to be equipped with eCall technology from the 31st of March 2018 under draft EU rules endorsed by Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee MEPs this week.

This technology uses the 112 emergency number to call rescue services automatically, enabling them to reach crash scenes faster and thus save lives and reduce the severity of injuries.

The vote confirms a deal struck in December with the Council of Ministers, which formally approved it on the 2nd of March.

“I warmly welcome the EU member states’ agreement on type-approval requirements for fitting eCall devices in new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. Now it is up to the European Parliament as a whole to vote to ensure that the 112-based eCall service is deployed across Europe, so that EU citizens get its safety benefits. The outcome of today’s committee vote paves the way for it to do so,” said rapporteur Olga Sehnalová.

These rules set out obligations for car manufacturers. Separate rules, which entered into to force at the end of June 2014, require EU member states to ensure that they have the infrastructure needed to handle all eCalls in place throughout the EU by the 1st of October 2017.

The rules will be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole, and thus become final, at the second plenary session in April (Strasbourg).

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