The EU's 112-based in-vehicle emergency call was originally implemented over the circuit-switched domain, carrying the call into a public safety answering point across a 2G or 3G voice channel. The NG stands for Next Generation: the call moves to the packet-switched domain, with voice over IMS and the MSD travelling out of band alongside the SIP signalling. The channel changed. The encoding rules for position and vehicle data did not.
So the changes being discussed for 2026 are not about adding hardware to the car. They are three things: a standard version switch, an expanded test scope, and dates that have moved. Get those three straight and production planning stays calm. At kick-off, keep the fitment obligation separate from the question of which standard version an approval is assessed against. The first has not moved at all.
Two sets run in parallel from 1 January 2026. An applicant picks one: stay with CEN/TS 17184:2022 and CEN/TS 17240:2018, or move to EN 17184:2024 and EN 17240:2024. The authority assesses against the set the manufacturer has chosen and refuses only what fails that set. It is not a matter of satisfying both. The widely repeated claim that older technical specifications stopped being accepted from 2026 is wrong.
Projects already running on the CEN/TS route do not have to be torn up. New projects are better prepared directly against the 2024 EN versions, which removes the cost of the next switch.
From 1 January 2027, new applications have to move to EN 17184:2024 and EN 17240:2024. Existing approved vehicle types are not affected, and the approval is not simply voided.
Two expiry tables then separate. From 1 January 2027, vehicles approved after 31 March 2018 that meet neither set have their certificates of conformity treated as no longer valid for the purposes of Article 48(1) of 2018/858. That article governs the requirement that a vehicle carry a valid CoC to be placed on the market, registered or entered into service, so the practical effect is that the vehicle can no longer be registered on that basis. Vehicles already registered and in use are not caught retrospectively. From 1 January 2028 the same wording tightens to cover vehicles that fail the 2024 EN versions, and the periodic roadworthiness requirements in Annex VII apply from 1 January 2028 as well. Three dates with three different characters: keep three separate ledgers.
The installation obligation in the parent regulation, (EU) 2015/758, has not moved. What changed is the string of technical standards cited in Article 5(8), across points (a), (b) and (c): EN 16072:2022 rises to EN 16072:2025, CEN/TS 17184:2022 becomes EN 17184:2024, and CEN/TS 17240:2018 becomes EN 17240:2024.
The amending instrument is Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1871, published in the Official Journal on 28 October 2025 and in force from 17 November 2025, CELEX number 32025R1871. To check the source text, open the CELEX number or the OJ reference on EUR-Lex rather than relying on a second-hand account. The MSD encoding basis remains EN 15722; that one did not change version.
This revision adds back-up power performance requirements to Annex X. In the words of the requirement itself, the eCall system or the eCall Separate Technical Unit (STU) has to operate for at least five minutes in voice communication mode, followed by sixty minutes in call-back mode - idle, registered on the network - followed by at least another five minutes in voice communication mode.
There is a precondition that is easy to drop: it applies only where the unit is fitted with a back-up power source. The provision reads "In case the STU is fitted with a back-up power source", and the recital uses "if fitted". Lose that half-sentence and readers assume every unit has to carry a battery. For projects without a back-up source, the power question falls to be checked at vehicle level rather than left dangling at neither end.
The obligation bites for new approvals from 1 January 2027. Two execution details sit alongside it: the test is run on a unit that has already passed the Annex I high-severity deceleration test, and where the unit does not include the eCall microphone and speaker, representative ones are fitted for the test.
The MSD does not grow just because it is NG. Clause 5.1.4 of EN 15722:2020 caps the encoded MSD, including optional additional data, at 140 bytes. What NG changes is the transport channel; extended information travels through the SIP additional data mechanism and does not enter the MSD body.
Positioning accuracy is fixed in the standard, and a value asserted in a project's own plan document is not a basis for anything. The threshold is checked against the text of the standard the approving body cites in that period, and the test target is drawn from the same place.
The EC type-approval mark goes on the STU and on components. Vehicles do not use it, and instead carry the statutory plate and CoC under 2018/858. The mark itself is a rectangle around a lowercase e with the member state code, followed by the basic approval number whose first two digits are the sequence number allocated to the regulation. The point that gets mistyped: only the STU carries the ECALL symbol ahead of the sequence number, components do not, and the approval number itself has no ECALL prefix. One more note - the EU uses a lowercase e while UNECE uses a circled capital E, and the two systems are not interchangeable. On EU files, the first column of the programme header is filled in with the standard version number.
A provision should come with a CELEX number or an OJ reference, a standard should be quoted with its full title and year, and any point that cannot be pinned down should not be forced to a conclusion. Those three habits turn an article from hearsay into something a reader can check.
BlueAsia has taken several rounds of EU emergency call projects, and the working method is to lay the regulation text, the standard version and the application date side by side. Once the version is right, samples and scheduling can be discussed.
Contact: King Email: king.guo@cblueasia.comAddress: Building C, Hongjingda Industrial Park, No. 107 Beihuan Road, Shiyan Street, Bao'an District, Shenzhen, China BlueAsia delivers more than service!
