Case C‑417/18
AW and Others
v
Lietuvos valstybė, represented by the Lietuvos Respublikos ryšių reguliavimo tarnyba, the Bendrasis pagalbos centras and the Lietuvos Respublikos vidaus reikalų ministerija
(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Vilniaus apygardos administracinis teismas)
Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 5 September 2019
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 2002/22/EC — Universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services — Article 26(5) — Single European emergency call number — Making available caller location information)
1. Approximation of laws — Telecommunications sector — Universal service and users’ rights — Directive 2002/22 — Obligation for the undertakings concerned to make caller location information available free of charge to the authority handling emergency calls made to 112 — Scope — Call made from a mobile telephone not fitted with a SIM card — Included
(Directive 2002/22 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Art. 26(5))
(see paras 22-24, operative part 1)
2. Approximation of laws — Telecommunications sector — Universal service and users’ rights — Directive 2002/22 — Laying down the criteria relating to the accuracy and reliability of the information on the location of the caller to the single European emergency call number 112 — Discretion of the Member States — Limits — Obligation to ensure that the location of the caller is established with sufficient accuracy and reliability to enable the emergency services to intervene — Assessment by the national court
(Directive 2002/22 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Art. 26(5))
(see paras 29-34, operative part 2)
3. EU law — Rights conferred on individuals — Breach by a Member State — Obligation to make good damage caused to individuals — Conditions — Domestic law considering the existence of an indirect causal link between a breach of national law and the damage sustained to be sufficient for the purpose of rendering the State liable — Whether such an indirect causal link between a breach of EU law attributable to the Member State and the damage suffered by individuals is sufficient to render that Member State liable
(see paras 38-41, operative part 3)
Résumé
Telecommunications undertakings must transmit, free of charge, to the authority handling emergency calls made to 112, information enabling the caller to be located
In the judgment AW and Others (Calls to 112) (C‑417/18), delivered on 5 September 2019, the Court held that Member States have an obligation to ensure that telecommunications undertakings make caller location information available, free of charge, to the authority handling emergency calls made to 112, subject to technical feasibility, including in those cases where the call is made from a mobile telephone which is not fitted with a SIM card. In addition, that information must be sufficiently reliable and accurate to enable the emergency services to intervene. Finally, the Court specified the conditions for rendering the State liable in the event of a breach of EU law.
A girl aged 17 had been kidnapped in a suburb of Panevėžys (Lithuania), then raped and burnt alive in the boot of a car. Finding herself trapped in that car boot, she had called the Lithuanian emergency call answering centre, using a mobile telephone, on the single European emergency call number ‘112’ 10 times in order to seek help. However, the equipment in the emergency call answering centre did not show the number of the mobile telephone used, which prevented the employees of that answering centre from locating her. It has not been possible to determine whether the mobile telephone used by the victim was fitted with a SIM card or why her number was not visible at the emergency call answering centre.
Relatives of the victim brought an action seeking compensation from the Lithuanian State for the non-material damage which they had sustained. They allege that the Republic of Lithuania failed properly to ensure the practical implementation of Article 26(5) of Directive 2002/22, (1) which requires the Member States to ensure that the undertakings concerned make available, free of charge, to the authority handling emergency calls, caller location information as soon as the call reaches that authority.
The Regional Administrative Court, Vilnius (Lithuania), hearing the case, submitted a request to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling regarding the scope of the obligation to transmit information on the location of a person calling 112.
First, the Court stated that the obligation laid down in Article 26(5) of Directive 2002/22 applies to the Member States, subject to technical feasibility, including in the case where the call is made from a mobile telephone which is not fitted with a SIM card.
Next, the Court pointed out that the last sentence of Article 26(5) of Directive 2002/22 confers on the Member States some latitude when defining the criteria relating to the accuracy and reliability of information on the location of the caller to 112. However, the criteria which they define must ensure, within the limits of technical feasibility, that the caller’s position is located in as reliable and accurate a manner as is necessary to enable the emergency services usefully to come to the caller’s assistance. Since such an assessment is eminently technical and intimately linked to the specific characteristics of the national mobile telecommunications network, it is for the national court to carry out that assessment.
Lastly, as regards the conditions that must be satisfied in order for State liability for damage caused by a breach of EU law to be incurred, the Court noted that, admittedly, those conditions include that relating to the existence of a direct causal link between the breach of EU law and the damage sustained by those individuals. However, it is within the context of the national law on liability that the State must make reparation for the consequences of the loss and damage caused, provided that the conditions for reparation of loss and damage laid down by national law are not less favourable than those relating to similar domestic claims. It follows that, where, in accordance with the domestic law of a Member State, the existence of an indirect causal link between the unlawful act committed by the national authorities and the damage sustained by an individual is regarded as sufficient to render the State liable, such an indirect causal link between a breach of EU law attributable to that Member State and the damage sustained by an individual must also, in accordance with the principle of equivalence, be regarded as sufficient for the purposes of rendering that Member State liable for that breach of EU law.