On 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act began applying across the EU and EEA. This Directive, which creates harmonised rules for accessible services and products, was the first EU law to identify specific types of accessibility features which EU and EEA Member States had to make available to people with disabilities so they can contact 112 in an equivalent manner to other users. These two features are Real-Time Text, and Total Conversation.
Real-Time Text
The first of these features is Real-Time Text (RTT). RTT allows users to send and receive text messages as they type them during a phone call, rather than waiting until the full message is ready to be sent.
RTT allows for significantly faster text-based conversations, and has significant improvements over other alternatives, such as SMS. For example, if the caller is sending a lengthy text, but has already included their address and some initial information about the emergency, the PSAP can route emergency services to their aid before the first RTT message has been completed.
Call takers who have worked with RTT have confirmed to EENA that the feature feels like a more real time conversation, and makes emergency communications faster and smoother for people with hearing disabilities.
Total Conversation
The second feature is Total Conversation (TC). TC calls include video and Real-Time Text, offering the caller and call receiver several means to communicate.
This technology has several benefits over RTT, particularly for people who struggle to communicate by written text. For example, it facilitates sign language conversation, and can even allow PSAP staff to see what the emergency is if another form of communication is not possible.
Unfortunately, the use of TC in emergency communications is not made obligatory in the European Accessibility Act, which notes that this technology only needs to be implemented by PSAPs if video calls have previously been made available as a service on a mobile network in that country.
Next steps
While the lifesaving potential of both of these technologies is clear, when exactly they will be made available across the EU is less so. Although the European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June, Member States have the right to extend this deadline for RTT and TC to 28 June 2027. Therefore, while several countries such as Ireland and Croatia began offering RTT services before the 28 June 2025 deadline, the remaining 25 EU Member States have not yet started offering RTT services.
For those who are interested, EENA’s Regulation Implementation Hub can be invaluable in tracking when RTT becomes available in each EU Member State. This page is updated on a best-efforts basis, and tracks both whether a country has implemented RTT, and their timelines for implementing the technology if they have not yet done so.
If your country has updated its timeline for implementing RTT, or has recently implemented RTT, please reach out to Peter Lonergan at [email protected] and to update this page accordingly.