EU sues Ireland over lack of location info


7 Apr 2006

The European Commission said yesterday that Ireland is amongst 11 member states it is taking legal proceedings against over the non-availability of caller location information to emergency services.

“We have now started proceedings in a very important area for EU citizens, namely caller location information for the emergency number 112,” said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.

“The ability to locate emergency callers can save lives and I urge the member states to lose no more time in making the necessary changes so that these proceedings and all other pending cases can be closed.”

The move follows the publication of the 11th Implementation Report, which indicated that immediate action would be taken if the problem was not remedied by the countries concerned.

As well as Ireland the countries being taken to court include Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovakia.

By John Kennedy