1. ETSI EMTEL (Special Committee on Emergency Communications)
Producing and maintaining Standards for Emergency Communications
Presented by Chantal Rihet ETSI Fixed Competence Center
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

2. EMTEL is for all of you
In case of disaster or emergency, it will allow you:
to communicate in a quick, reliable and efficient way with fire services, health care services and police
to be localised by these services
to be informed and protected
EMTEL is about public safety services:
Getting priority access to telecommunication services
Working for effective cooperation by means of telecommunication
EMTEL is about telecommunications and broadcasting services:
Providing uninterrupted services in critical situations
Being quickly restored after emergency or disaster events
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

3. What are Emergency Telecommunications?
The need for emergency telecommunications includes many scenarios ranging from:
a minor road traffic accident, for example
to a major incident like a passenger train crash, a terrorist incident, a natural disaster (e.g. an Earthquake, a Tsunami)
Emergency telecommunications cover all communications services, including voice and non-voice, data, location
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

4. History of SC EMTEL
EMTEL was previously OCG EMTEL: ETSI Board created an ad hoc group for coordination of Emergency Telecommunication activities in 2002
Then the group became Special Committee (SC) EMTEL:
It has been created and approved by Board#50 in February 2005
SC EMTEL may produce TSs and TRs (Other deliverable types maybe created, subject to prior authorization by the Board, on a case-by-case basis)
Emergency Telecommunications is a Strategic Activity in the 2006 ETSI Business Plan, part of SA A.1 “Secretariat support to the six major Strategic Topics”
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

5. The main responsibilities of SC EMTEL (1)
Act as a key coordinator in getting requirements on Emergency Communications, outside ETSI (i.e. from different stakeholders) and inside ETSI (i.e. ETSI Bodies)
Solicit and capture the requirements from the stakeholders
including National Authorities responsible for provisioning emergency communications, End Users, the European Commission, Communication Service Providers, network operators, manufacturers and other interested parties
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

6. The main responsibilities of SC EMTEL (2)
Provide requirements on issues of network security, network integrity, network behavior in emergency situations, and emergency telecommunications needs in networks
Co-ordinate the ETSI positions on EMTEL related issues
Be the Interface for emergency communications issues
between ETSI
and CEC/EFTA, NATO, ITU groups, the CEPT ERO and relevant CEN and CENELEC committees
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

7. User requirements and scenario
The requirements are collected to ensure:
Communication of citizens with authorities
Communication from authorities to citizens
Communication between authorities
Communication amongst citizens
Generally agreed categories to be considered in the provision of emergency communications for practically all types of scenario
Including communications resilience and network preparedness
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

8. Fixed or mobile technology?
Communications for ‘Citizen to Authority’, ‘Authority to Citizen’ and ‘Citizen to Citizen’: voice and data service from both wireless and wireline access
Public broadcast services (often used also): in support of ‘Authority to Citizen’ communications
Both fixed and mobile technologies: for ‘Authority to Authority’ communications utilized by public safety organizations in Europe already
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

9. Private or public network?
Telecommunication technologies used for emergency telecommunications are often no different than those used for routine public safety telecommunications
A combination of both private and public networks are often used
Sharing of networks with non-public safety users is common
A combination of both proprietary and ETSI telecommunication technologies are often used
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

10. EMTEL published Deliverables
SR : Requirements for communication of citizens with authorities in case of distress (emergency call handling) Published in December 2003
SR : Collection of European Regulatory principles Published in April 2004
TS : Requirements for communication between authorities/organizations during emergencies Published in December 2005
TR : Analysis of the Short Message Service (SMS) and Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) for Emergency Messaging applications Published in February 2006
TR : Requirements for communication from authorities to citizens during emergencies Published in March 2006
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

11. EMTEL published Deliverables in revision
Revision of SR : Requirements for communication of citizens with authorities in case of distress (emergency call handling) SR was reopened in April 2006 to be revised to include requirements for VoIP and Sip based Emergency and location services, capturing these requirements in a technology neutral way will also be considered
Revision of TR : Requirements for communication from authorities to citizens during emergencies TR was reopened in April 2006 to be revised to include parameterisation of the alerting requirements
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

12. EMTEL on going Drafts
TR : Requirements for communication between citizens during emergencies
TR : Requirements for Emergency Communications Network resiliency and Preparedness
TR : Emergency calls and VoIP: standardisation activities and possible short and long term solutions
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

13. EMTEL matters in other ETSI Bodies (1)
Many standards related to EMTEL topics (more than 700) are developed by other ETSI Bodies e.g. 3GPP, TC TISPAN, EP MESA, TC TETRA,TC ERM
You can find the main standards on the EMTEL Status Report page (ETSI Portal):
And for more details have a look at the ETSI Work Programme, advanced search, by selecting the project code EMTEL:
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

14. EMTEL matters in other ETSI Bodies (2)
EMTEL exchanges regular liaisons with other ETSI TBs who are involved in Emergency Communications
And ETSI TBs liaise with EMTEL:
AT document on Study on Emergency Communications; Aspects related to fixed line terminals – Published (TR )
MESA document on Services and Applications, Statement of Requirements (TS ) - Published
3GPP SA is working on a document on Transferring of emergency call data (TR ); eCall topic coordinated by MSG
ERM RM is working on an ETSI System Reference Document on Broadband Disaster Relief (BB-DR): scope on broadband incident communication (DTR/ERM-RM-047) – Should be published in June 2006
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

15. Co-operation with external Bodies
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed end of 2005 between ETSI and NENA (National Emergency Number Association in US) involving mainly EMTEL and TISPAN
Regular liaisons are exchanged with TIA, ITU-T, NATO
ANSI/ISO International Workshop on Standardization for Emergency Preparedness (April 2006): the EMTEL Rapporteur of TR (Requirements for Emergency Communications Network resiliency and Preparedness) made a presentation
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

16. Cooperation with EU Projects
EMTEL is involved in EU Projects
eCall project: project required by the European Commission to ETSI to establish a harmonised pan-European in-vehicle automatic emergency call (to be sent to the nearest emergency call centre, PSAP)
In co-ordination with TC MSG (Mobile Standards Group), TC ERM TG37 (Intelligent Transport Systems) and TC TISPAN (Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks)
TR produced by 3GPP SA
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

17. Who can be involved in EMTEL?
All ETSI members (users & technologists)
users from different areas such as: medical services, fire services, users’ side, national governments;
technology: manufacturers, operators (normal ETSI members)
Non Members can participate subject to the agreement of the SC EMTEL Chairman (in the respect of the ETSI Directives)
The next meeting will be held from 30th August to 1st September 2006 in Stockholm You can register at:
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006

18. Thank you for your attention!
Co-located MESA/EMTEL Meeting in Autumn 2006
For more details you can:
Visit our ETSI EMTEL Portal:
Browse the ETSI EMTEL Web site:
Don’t hesitate to contact me at:
ETSI Seminar - 22/24 May 2006