Telephone Legislation in the United Kingdom.

From 1^st January 1985 government legislation came into force which opened the way for companies in private sectors to supply approved telephones for connection to domestic direct exchange lines, later on the 1^st December 1986 further relaxation in the regulations allowed users, or their agents to install extension wiring and telephone sockets to be connected into the PSTN. In order to do this however the user must have a master socket installed by the appropriate network operator. To the public this change of policy permitted apparatus to be owned outright instead of being leased. 

Similar legislation has been introduced around various countries of the EU, this new specification is CTR21 for telephony apparatus and approved equipments may carry the CE mark  or the green BABT spot. The EU council decision 98/482/EC is a pan-European specification permitting single termination connection to the PSTN.

One point worthy of note is the emergency number in the UK which is 999 is not the only number, actually 112 is also the emergency services and it's worth being aware that 112 works in nearly all country's across Europe.

 

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