Ministério da Administração Interna (Ministry of Internal Administration)
Decree-Law
In Portugal, the present telecommunications network places an emergency service at its citizens disposal through which they can request assistance whenever it is needed by dialling number 115 of the national telephone network.
The progress in public telephone network technologies and the coordinated introduction of telecommunications infrastructure in Europe have made it necessary to create an emergency telephone number common to all the member states.
By decision of 29th July 1991 of the Council of Ministers of the European Communities, a single emergency telephone number for the entire Community was created : 112. The fact that this number exists for medical, police and fire emergencies does not prevent it from coexisting with other telephone numbers which already have or will be created in order to provide other emergency, advisory or support services.
The decision by the Council of Ministers of the European Communities requires that the necessary adjustments to the existing national emergency network be made and that a campaign to divulge the new number be launched.
The purpose of this legal diploma is to guarantee better access to requests for assistance by improving the emergencies answering service available to all national and foreign citizens and by introducing the new emergency number 112 which exists in all the Community member states.
The required consultations with the independent governments of the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira were duly made.
Under the terms of Article 201, paragraph a), subparagraph 1 of the Constitution, the Government hereby decrees the following:
Article One
1. The telephone number 112 is hereby created and shall be the national emergency telephone number.
2. The emergency telephone number to which the preceding paragraph refers may be used by the public free of charge from the national terrestrial network or from cellular telephones, and shall have preferential access to the various emergency services, taking into account the particularities of each such service and covering the entire national territory.
Article Two
1. The provisions of this legal diploma shall apply to all the emergency systems available in Portugal, in particular to those which are coordinated by the Emergency Services, the National Civil Defense Service, the National Fire Brigade and the National Medical Emergency Institute.
Article Three
1. The communications network for the emergency number shall be based at emergency telephone exchanges in charge of answering emergency calls where the emergency systems through the appropriate channels shall be activated.
2. These networks may be equipped with special structures placed at the disposal of the entities which provide the assistance and of the general public.
3. The operation of the emergency telephone exchanges shall be entrusted to the Emergency Services, in observance of the provisions set forth in an order to be issued by the Minister of the Interior, which shall set forth the provisions governing the processing and appropriate follow-up of all the emergency calls received.
Article Four
The Minister of the Interior shall be responsible for divulging the telephone number 112 as well as for the restructuring and management of the emergency telephone exchanges.
Article Five
The Equipment, Planning and Land Use Planning Ministry shall, through the Portuguese Communications Institute, be responsible for the necessary coordination with the public telecommunications operators and for adjustments to the basic telecommunications and cellular telephone networks so that all calls made to telephone number 112 are answered by an emergency telephone exchange.
Article Six
1. A joint ministerial order of the Finance, Interior and Health Ministers shall establish the division of the operating costs for the telephone number 112.
2. Prior to the date on which the order to which the preceding paragraph refers is published, the system currently in force to finance the existing telephone number 115 and the newly created number 112 shall remain in force.
Article Seven
The telephone number 115 shall be kept operational together with the number 112 until the former is cancelled by order of the Minister of the Interior.
Article Eight
Decree-Law no. 299/89 of 4th September is hereby revoked.
Reviewed and approved by the Council of Ministers on 30th January 1997 - António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino - Mário Fernandes de Campos Pinto - Artur Aurélio Teixeira Rodrigues Consolado - António Luciano Pacheco de Sousa Franco - Alberto Bernardes Costa - Joäo Cardona Gomes Cravinho - Maria de Belém Roseira Martins Coelho Henriques de Pina. Enacted on 14th March 1997. To be published. The President of the Republic - Jorge Sampaio. Countersigned on 19th March 1997. The Prime Minister - António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres.
