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Harmonised short national numbers

On grounds of Article 10(4) of Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework-directive), the European Commission adopted the Commission Decision 2007/116/EC on reserving the national numbering range beginning with ‘116’ for harmonised numbers for harmonised services of social value, amended and completed by the Commission Decision 2007/698/EC and  Commission Decision 2009/884/EC

 

Following the entry into force of this decision, ANCOM:
  • elaborated ANRCTI President’s Decision no.321/2008 on the allocation and use of national short numbers for European harmonised services. The decision, which also applies to national numbers in the 116(xyz) range, was published in the Romanian Official Journal no.328/25.04.2008 and entered into force on 28 April 2008;
  • published, on its website, the 116(xyz) numbers opened for allocation, specifying the conditions for the service to be provided by means of these numbers, as regulated in the annex to the Commission Decision 2007/116/CE, amended by Decisions 2007/698/EC and 2009/884/EC.

As a Member State, Romania has the obligation to ensure only the availability for allocation of the numbers defined in this act, not the actual implementation of these numbers. Therefore, if no provider of publicly available electronic communications services in Romania were interested in the allocation of these numbers, ANCOM could not impose a certain provider to supply services by means of these numbers. Nevertheless, ANCOM took all the steps with a view to promoting the use of these numbers.

So far, there have been defined 5 short numbers for harmonised services of social value:
  • 116000 – for the service ”Hotline for missing children”, available permanently. This service:
    • takes calls reporting missing children and passes them on to the Police;
    • offers guidance to and supports the persons responsible for the missing child;
    • supports the investigation.
  • 116111 – for the service ”Child helpline”, specifying the availability limits, when it is not permanently available. This service:
    • helps children in need of care and protection and links them to various organisations and resources;
    • provides children with an opportunity to express their concerns, talk about issues directly affecting them and contact someone in an emergency situation.
  • 116123 – for the service ”emotional support helpline”, specifying the availability limits, when it is not permanently available. This service:
    • enables the caller to benefit from a genuine human relationship based on non-judgemental listening;
    • offers emotional support to callers suffering from loneliness, in a state of psychological crisis, or contemplating suicide.
  • 116006 – for the service “helpline for victims of crime”. This service:
    • enables the victims of crimes to get emotional support in such circumstances, to be informed about their rights and about ways to claim their rights, as well as to be to be referred to the relevant organisations which may grant them support.
    • provides information about:local police and criminal justice proceedings and possibilities of compensation and insurance matters.
    • provides support in finding other sources of help relevant to the victims of crime.
  •  116117 – for the service “Non-emergency medical on-call service”. This service:
    • directs callers to the medical assistance appropriate to their needs, which are urgent but non-life-threatening, especially, but not exclusively, outside normal office hours, over the weekend and on public holidays.
    • it connects the caller to a skilled and supported call-handler, or connects the caller directly to a qualified medical practitioner or clinician.

In Romania, the Authority allotted to S.C. Romtelecom S.A., in 2008, the first two national numbers for harmonised services of social value, namely:

  • 116000 – for the service ”Hotline for missing children”, provided by the non-governmental organisation FOCUS – ROMANIA;
  • 116111 – for the service ”Child helpline”, provided by the non-governmental organisation ASOCIATIA TELEFONUL COPILULUI.

Later on, in February 2012, ANCOM allotted to S.C. TRANS TEL SERVICES S.R.L. the third national number for harmonised services of social value:

  • 116123 – for the service “emotional support helpline”. The number is assigned to the General Directorate of Social Assistance of Bucharest Municipality, which is to provide the service of social value by means of the Centre for the prevention of child and adolescent attempted suicide within the Clinical Psychiatric Hospital Prof. Dr. Alexandru Obregia.

Upon the expiry - on 22 October 2015 - of the right to use the 116000 number, the Authority reopened for allocation this number, and thus it was reallocated in January 2016 to Telekom Romania Communications S.A. in collaboration with Asociatia Telefonul Copilului

The numbers 1160065 and 116117 are still open for allocation.

Calls to these numbers are toll-free and access to them must not be bound by prior registration. Advertisements, entertainment, marketing and sales, as well as the use of these numbers for future commercial purposes are prohibited during calls to these numbers.
As regards the accessibility of these services, ANCOM encourages the providers of electronic communications networks and services to conclude access and interconnection contracts so as to ensure their end-users’ access to these numbers, irrespective of the service used or of the origination network of the call. To the extent that the availability of these services is found limited and the end-users may not benefit from the implementation of these telephone numbers at the European level, ANCOM will take the necessary steps so that the end-users obtain maximum benefits from the provision of services of social value.
The principle ”same number = same service” throughout the European Union ensures easy access to a certain social service, which is always available by dialling the same national number, irrespective of the location where the call has been originated. Thus, the citizens of the European Union know that one number enables access to the same service in each of the Member States.
During a call to one of these numbers, advertising, entertainment, marketing or sale activities are prohibited.
Number 116112 will not be available for allocation, in order to avoid confusion with the unique emergency number ”112”. Decision 2007/116/EC also provides that not all the possible values of xyz are usable.
For the beginning, among the numbers in the 116(xyz) range, combinations within 116000 – 116199 have been considered. A decision regarding the opening of other combinations for allocation is to be taken based on the analysis of the results of launching this category of services, respectively of identifying other services that may be included within this category.
All calls to 116xyz numbers are originated, routed and terminated at a national level.