Luxembourg authorities, who signed up to the European system in 2016, triggered it for the first time on 26 June 2018 when a seven-year-old was taken by his father. The child was found safe and well in France later that evening.

Responding to a parliamentary question from CSV MPs Octavie Modert and Jean-Marie Halsdorf about the effectiveness of the system, defence minister Etienne Schneider (LSAP) said that some partners in the amber alert network had been surprised by the automatic alert and therefore had to be contacted directly.

The alert involves mobilising police and security forces in Luxembourg and in Europe as well as appealing to the public for information. According to Schneider, the emergency contact centre set up two additional hotlines for the alert and received some 20 calls from the public. A further two calls related to the child’s possible whereabouts were also received at the Diekirch police station.

Schneider said since the alert, police were working with partners to test the automatic procedures in the event of a future amber alert.

The amber alert system was named after Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old child who was abducted and murdered in Texas, USA, 20 years ago. Today the system is used in 20 European countries have a child alert system in place.