1) the legal status of the Emergency Response Centre under the Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the “Centre”), the legal basis and principles of its activities, the tasks, functions, structure and funding of the Centre, control of its activities, the general framework for cooperation with state or municipal institutions, agencies or undertakings and other legal or natural persons as well as other specificities of its activities;

2) the powers, rights, duties and liability of interior service officers of the Centre (hereinafter referred to as the “officers”).

1. “Single emergency call number 112” (hereinafter referred to as the “number 112”) means a single telephone number determined in the National Telephone Numbering Plan used for reporting any offence, ongoing, planned or committed, any risk to life or limb, health or safety, the environment, material, non-material or other values and, where necessary, for calling the appropriate emergency service.

2. “Place of the emergency” means a place where the circumstances specified in paragraph 1 of this Article have arisen or might arise and/or where emergency assistance must be provided.

3. “Emergency assistance” means immediate action taken by the emergency service within the scope of its competence in response to emergency report. Advice, explanations or instructions given on the phone by a Centre officer who has accepted an emergency call shall also be considered as emergency assistance.

4. “Request for emergency assistance” means any request for emergency assistance received at the Centre through the number 112. A request to provide information or emergency assistance shall not be considered a request for emergency assistance where it is evident that the circumstances reported are not related those specified in paragraph 1 of this Article.

5. “Emergency call” means a connection established with the Centre through the number 112 by means of a publicly available telephone service allowing two-way communication in real time.

6. “Emergency services” means the police, fire and rescue brigades and emergency medical service. Other public and private legal persons may also be considered emergency services where they are summoned to respond to emergency reports subject to the procedure and conditions set out in the laws and other legal acts. 

7. “Emergency report” means a report about the circumstances specified in paragraph 1 of this Article and the need for action at the place of the emergency which is prepared by a Centre officer who has accepted the emergency call and which is addressed to emergency services and, where necessary, supplemented with the data from the information system of the Centre or with other data.

8. “Response to a request for emergency assistance” means action taken by the Centre, including the acceptance of requests for emergency assistance, their assessment, determination of the need for emergency assistance, provision of emergency assistance by telephone, preparation of emergency reports and their transmission to emergency services as well as any further provision of information to such services.

9. Other terms used in Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 8, subparagraph 4 of paragraph 1 of Article 15 and subparagraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Article 16 shall be interpreted within the meaning of the Law on Electronic Communications of the Republic of Lithuania.

1. The Centre shall be a statutory body of the interior.

2. The Centre shall act in conformity with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania, the present Law, the Statute of the Interior Service as well as other laws and legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.

1) the principle of permanent availability of services which means that emergency calls are accepted and handled by the Centre 24 hours a day, including days of rest and holidays;

2) the principle of rapidity which means that the Centre ensures immediate and appropriate response to requests for emergency assistance;

3) the principle of professionalism which means that the assigned tasks and functions are performed by Centre officers who have been specially trained to handle emergency calls and who possess appropriate qualifications.

1. The Centre shall, without violating individual and public interests protected by the law and in accordance with the procedure established in the laws and other legal acts, inform state and municipal institutions, agencies or undertakings as well as the public about its activities.

2. The Centre may not provide or publish information defined as a state, business, professional, commercial (industrial) or bank secret, except for cases specified by the law. Information received during service shall not be published where it might violate human dignity, honour or safety, the legitimate interests of natural and legal persons or where it might impede the prevention of criminal acts or other violations of the law, their disclosure, or where it might promote crime.

1. Emergency services shall provide the Centre with data on the available capacity and facility resources used for responding to emergency reports, the territorial limits of the areas serviced and other data necessary to ensure adequate response to requests for emergency assistance.

2. All providers of public communications networks and/or providers of publicly available electronic communications services shall, in accordance with the procedure and conditions set out in the legal acts regulating electronic communications activities, provide the Centre with caller location information (including traffic data) without the consent of the subscriber or the actual user of electronic communications services.

3. Other state or municipal institutions, agencies or undertakings shall provide the Centre on request with the data necessary to ensure adequate response to requests for emergency assistance. The Centre shall justify such requests.

4. Other public and private legal and natural persons shall provide the Centre, on request and subject to contracts, with the available data necessary to ensure adequate response to requests for emergency assistance.

1. The main task of the Centre is to ensure answering emergency calls and responding to requests for emergency assistance.

2. The Centre may be assigned with other tasks provided for by the laws.

1) answer emergency calls;

2) accept and rapidly assess requests for emergency assistance and determine the need for such assistance;

3) provide emergency assistance by telephone within the scope of its competence;

4) transmit emergency reports to appropriate emergency services;

5) provide emergency assistance by telephone until the arrival of emergency services;

6) notify, where necessary, other interested legal and/or natural persons of the circumstances specified in paragraph 1 of Article 2 which have arisen or may arise;

7) ensure proper operation of the information system of the Centre and protection of processed data;

8) submit, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government or an institution authorised by it, information about the areas serviced by the regional divisions of the Centre to the providers of public communications networks and/or providers of publicly available electronic communications services;

9) introduce technical and software solutions enabling to reduce the time of response to requests for emergency assistance;

10) subject to the procedure and conditions set out in the laws and where necessary for the performance of the prescribed tasks, process personal and other data by automatic and non-automatic means;

11) implement measures intended to reduce the number of false requests for emergency assistance;

12) participate, within the scope of its competence, in the management of emergencies;

13) provide, subject to the procedure and conditions set out in the laws and other legal acts, information in the possession of the Centre to emergency services and other state and municipal institutions, agencies or undertakings;

14) perform other functions set forth by the law.

1. Where possible, the Centre shall provide emergency assistance by telephone without transmitting an emergency report to emergency services.

2. Where it is determined that emergency assistance must be provided by emergency services, the Centre shall transmit an emergency report to appropriate emergency services according to the algorithms (information schemes) supplied by such services and shall provide, where necessary, emergency assistance by telephone until the arrival of the said services at the place of the emergency.

3. After having received the emergency report, emergency services must, in accordance with the procedure established by the legal acts regulating their activities, respond to the said report and provide emergency assistance at the place of the emergency within the scope of their competence.

4. The Centre shall supply emergency services with the available information about any change of situation at the place of the emergency as well as any other information which would help the said services to provide emergency assistance efficiently or utilise their capacity and facility resources used for responding to emergency reports in a more rational way.

5. Emergency services shall inform the Centre about the results of provided emergency assistance.

6. The Centre shall not be liable for any damage to property or non-pecuniary damage (losses) suffered by emergency services when responding to inaccurate emergency reports where such reports were prepared on the basis of false or misleading requests for emergency assistance.

1. The Centre shall be headed by a director. The director shall be appointed and dismissed by the Minister of the Interior.

2. The director of the Centre shall:

3. The Minister of the Interior shall, on the proposal from the director of the Centre, appoint and dismiss the deputies of the director.

1. The personnel of the Centre shall be composed of officers, other public servants and employees working under employment contracts.

2. Service relations between officers shall be governed by the Statute of the Interior Service as well as by the laws and other legal acts regulating the activities of interior agencies.

3. The service of other public servants working at the Centre shall be governed by the Law on Public Service and other legal acts. The provisions of subparagraph 2 of paragraph 3 of Article 7 and paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Statute of the Interior Service shall also apply to the said public servants.

4. The activities of employees working under employment contracts shall be governed by the legal acts regulating labour relations.

1. A Centre officer shall have the following rights:

2. A Centre officer shall also have the rights granted by other laws and legal acts.

1. In addition to the general duties specified in paragraph 9 of Article 3 of the Statute of the Interior Service, a Centre officer shall also have the following duties:

2. A Centre officer shall also perform the duties conferred upon him by other laws and legal acts.

1. A Centre officer shall be personally liable for his own acts, decisions and their consequences as well as for the acts and decisions of persons subordinate to him under respective authorisations and within the framework of his competence and for their consequences.

2. A Centre officer shall not be relieved from liability in the event that he follows illegitimate orders or instructions.

1. The Centre shall be financed from the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania.

2. The Centre may be also financed from other funds received in accordance with the procedure established in the legal acts.

1. Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive).

2. Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications).

3. Commission Recommendation of 25 July 2003 on the processing of caller location information in electronic communication networks for the purpose of location-enhanced emergency call services (2003/558/EC).