116000 - ever heard of it? No, me neither!

When there are rules they should be obeyed - and this applies equally to governments as to citizens.

The EU has made a ruling (a directive) that governments must introduce a common telephone number 116 000 to allow for the rapid reporting of missing children across the EU. Well guess what? The only countries to have done so are Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Hungary and Portugal of the 27 EU states. What has Britain done - well the website http://www.eumonitor.net/ reports that the UK expects to do so 'Early September 2008'. Hello! it's the 26th!

Now I'd never heard of the 116xxx common number range, but it's a EU standard for 'social' numbers - so 116123 is reserved for 'emotional support' helplines. Good idea - no action.

See http://www.eumonitor.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=106575&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0  for the full lowdown and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7339335.stm linking this to the McCann story.

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