(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission took legal action against a host of member states on Thursday for failing to respect various EU telecommunications rules.

The European Union's executive arm said it would sue Bulgaria and Romania for not making a special EU-wide emergency telephone number -- 112 -- available as required by European law.

The commission, which polices member states to make sure that they implement and respect EU laws, also sent a formal warning to Italy because its system for dealing with calls to 112 was deemed to be inefficient.

It also filed cases before an EU court against Poland over how it handled regulation of retail broadband internet prices and Cyprus for the way it granted rights to put mobile network equipment on public land.

Brussels also opened new infringement cases against Latvia and Lithuania over concerns about the independence of telecommunications regulators and a case against Sweden over concerns about the regulator's effectiveness there.

Detailed overview of the state of infringement proceedings is available on the Implementation and Enforcement website of DG Information Society and Media.

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