(WARSAW) - The EU's telecoms chief Friday hailed Poland's decision to fall into line and enable emergency services to locate callers who dial the European Union-wide number 112 using their mobile telephones.

"This is about saving lives and how we should do it together in Europe," EU communications commissioner Viviane Reding told reporters at the launch of a a new website, www.112.gov.pl, which Polish authorities say will help promote the service.

Poland was taken to court by the European Commission, the executive body of the 27-nation EU, last November because Brussels decided Warsaw was taking too long to introduce a caller-location system.

The commission decided last month to freeze its lawsuit against Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, after the government pledged to introduce the system by June.

It also dropped legal action against Poland's fellow EU newcomer Latvia, which now has a caller-location system in place.

A handful of other member states are still in the commission's line of fire, however.

They include Lithuania and Slovakia, which also joined in 2004, as well as 2007 entrants Romania and Bulgaria, and Italy and the Netherlands, which were founder members five decades ago.

"We are slowly going ahead with persuading all member states to bring 112 into practice," Reding said.

With the population of the EU now close to 500 million, and with increasing numbers of residents moving around the near-borderless bloc, the 112 number is crucial, Reding added.

The number was introduced in 1991, in an effort to make it simpler for people to call emergency services when they travelled outside their home countries.

Previously, travellers were forced to remember an array of numbers, ranging from Britain's single 999 for all emergency services, to France's 17 for the police and 18 for the fire brigade.

Although the 112 line functions alongside the traditional numbers in many EU member states, sluggishness in enabling emergency services to locate mobile telephone callers automatically has been a problem.

EU research has found that only 53 percent of Europeans are able to give their exact location when they are abroad compared to 80 percent at home.

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