European Union roaming regulations
[8] Research shows that the ban on roaming charges in 2017 more than doubled mobile data usage among travelers and led to a total consumer surplus of €2 billion within the first six months of implementation.In October 2005, the European Commission launched a consumer website on roaming tariffs in order to highlight the issue, which included €12 for a 4-minute call.The regulation also required that customers travelling to another member state would receive a text message of the charges that apply for roaming services.[19] Following the proposal made by the commission, the European Parliament and Member States reached an agreement on 31 January 2017 to set the subsequent wholesale roaming caps from 15 June 2017:[20] On 8 February 2017 member states' ambassadors endorsed the deal on wholesale caps that put an end to retail mobile roaming charges in the EU on 15 June 2017.[21] To prevent misuse (i.e. cheaper tariffs available in the western members to be used constantly in the eastern members where tariffs are higher) a fair-use policy was mandated which would allow EEA citizens to use their phones while roaming without extra charges for business and leisure, but would still limit the use to prevent misuse and extra costs to mobile operators.They were inclined to set the cap lower, believing a "30 consecutive days granted to each consumer within the proposal would have already covered 100% of the needs of the vast majority of European citizens."Also, legal concerns were cited stating that "In Denmark, for example, the maximum length of a contract is six months, so customers would have been able to 'reset' their roaming allowance twice a year."Finally, it was suggested to come up with a new proposal that would be "easy to execute, and effectively prevent arbitrage and distortions on domestic markets" and warning by quoting the Commission that "Otherwise, network quality and investments in new capacity in some Member States could be affected".The new mechanism, although not defined in detail, "will be based on principle of residence or stable links European consumers may have with any EU Member State."A stable link is defined as: "work commuters, expats who are frequently present in their home country or Erasmus students."Operators can continue to impose surcharges if they can substantiate to the national regulators that they are unable to recover their "actual or projected costs" of providing roaming services.Once the Parliament and the Council approve the provisional deal, Member States will have two years to transpose the Electronic Communications Code into national law.[38][39] According to Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018, any retail price (excluding VAT) charged to retail consumers for regulated intra-EU communications shall, starting 15 May 2019, not exceed:[40] Business users in some Member States continue to pay the "original" international call rates of up to €1 per minute.On 7 June 2017, Boris Larochevitch, Head of Division of the Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE – European External Action Service, told Georgia's Public Broadcaster that the EU plans to abolish roaming fees for the six members of the Eastern Partnership; Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and Belarus by 2020.[44] At the Sofia summit in May 2018, Western Balkan countries agreed to reduce roaming costs among themselves, and the EU pledged to develop a roadmap to reduce the roaming costs between the EU and the countries in the Western Balkans; Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.[citation needed] Monaco, Andorra and San Marino have cooperation with the EU, like usage of the euro, but not free roaming.
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