Known as EGNOS - the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service - the facility will enhance typical accuracy for GPS tracking from 10 metres down to just two or less.
Plans call for the free-to-use service to be used by delivery firms to improve the security of loads, as well as the location of IT assets using enhanced tracking facilities.
Vehicle security will also be improved with EGNOS, said officials with the EU, announcing the commercial deployment of the service yesterday.
EGNOS is the first pan-European navigation satellite system and was developed as a joint project by European Space Agency, the European Commission and Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation.
EGNOS is available immediately for users of mobile phones, vehicle tracking systems and other GPS-based security systems.
As well as boosting accuracy - which initial tests suggest is down to one metre, the GPS signals can be received from the three EGNOS satellites under conditions where a `fix' using conventional GPS takes longer than usual, such as where the sky is covered by trees.
Unconfirmed reports also suggest that EGNOS works a lot better when the GPS tracking device is in city areas and/or adjacent to buildings.
Announcing the commercial launch of EGNOS on Thursday, Antonio Tajana, the EU's vice president for transport, said that it opens the door for European businesses and citizens to benefit from better applications made possible by more precise navigation signals.
"We are laying the foundation stone of a very imminent future", he said, adding that the service will spur new business models such as road pricing and a new range of location-based services.
"This is a major milestone for the project: its primary service is now available to all users equipped with EGNOS-compatible receivers. Most mass-market satellite navigation receivers being sold today are ready for EGNOS", said Tajana.
Infosecurity notes that the service is not part of the EU Galileo value-added GPS system, which is expected to go live in the middle part of the next decade, but the plan is for EGNOS to be integrated into it.
EGNOS consists of transponders aboard three geostationary satellites over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Europe, linked to a network of about 40 ground stations and four control centres.
The EGNOS ground stations receive signals sent out by the US GPS satellites.
Information on the accuracy and reliability of these signals is relayed to users via the geostationary satellite transponders.
This allows them to determine their position to a minimum of two metres, compared with a minimum of 20 metres for GPS alone.