Last July 11, the Commission services together with the Communications Committee, which is an advisory committee of Member States set up to assist the Commission in electronic communications matters, communicated that by October 15 they would like to receive more detailed info on the services Luca Coscioni Association had suggested to adopt. Indeed for a ‘116’ number to be reserved for a specific service at European level, it is important that there is evidence that there are organisations ready to supply it in a number of Member States, e.g. around five. The Luca Coscioni Association had submitted its opinion in the framework of the European Commission Public Consultation “Identification of services of social value in Europe that could benefit from single European freephone numbers starting with 116�?, concerning the Decision adopted by the European Commission and requiring Member States to reserve the six-digit number range starting with the digits 116 for services of social value in Europe. Following to the commitment undertaken through the campaign to promote the adoption of free-of-charge SMS for deaf people and the Milan international congress “Technologies and reforms against dsabilities”, Luca Coscioni Association suggested to address some of ‘116’ numbers to provide information and assistance to disabled people. Several of the 200 numbers range should be reserved to address people with different disabilities. Services should include some free directory enquiry services not currently provided in Italy, in particular: 1) relay services for text telephony; 2) relay services for video telephony. The opinion was acknowledged by the Commission and it is now available on the Commission website.

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