Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (recast) (Text with EEA relevance)

Article 7

Implementation of fair use policy and of sustainability mechanism

(a) the application of fair use policies;

(b) the methodology for assessing the sustainability of the provision of retail roaming services at domestic prices; and

(c) the application to be submitted by a roaming provider for the purposes of the assessment referred to in point (b).

The implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 20(2).

The Commission shall, after consulting BEREC, review the implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph periodically in light of market developments.

(a) the evolution of pricing and consumption patterns in the Member States;

(b) the degree of convergence of domestic price levels across the Union;

(c) the travelling patterns in the Union;

(d) any observable risks of distortion of competition and investment incentives in domestic and visited markets.

(a) the determination of the overall actual and projected costs of providing regulated retail roaming services by reference to the effective wholesale roaming charges for unbalanced traffic and a reasonable share of the joint and common costs necessary to provide regulated retail roaming services;

(b) the determination of overall actual and projected revenues from the provision of regulated retail roaming services;

(c) the consumption of regulated retail roaming services and the domestic consumption by the roaming provider’s customers;

(d) the level of competition, prices and revenues in the domestic market, and any observable risk that roaming at domestic retail prices would appreciably affect the evolution of such prices.

Other competent authorities shall enforce the requirements of Article 5 and of the implementing acts which are relevant for the exercise of the powers conferred on them by national law transposing Directive (EU) 2018/1972, as the case may be.

The national regulatory authority and, where applicable, other competent authorities shall inform the Commission annually concerning the application of Articles 5 and 6, and of this Article.

Article 8

Exceptional application of retail surcharges for the consumption of regulated retail roaming services and provision of alternative tariffs

(a) any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls made, regulated roaming SMS messages sent and regulated data roaming services shall not exceed the maximum wholesale charges provided for in Articles 9(2), 10(1) and 11(1), respectively;

(b) any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls received shall not exceed the single maximum Union-wide mobile voice termination rates set for that year in accordance with Article 75(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972.

With regard to point (b) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, where the Commission decides, following its review of the delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 75(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, that setting a Union-wide voice termination rate is no longer necessary and decides not to impose a maximum mobile voice termination rate, any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls received shall not exceed the rate set by the most recent delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 75 of that Directive.

Roaming providers shall not apply any surcharge to a regulated roaming SMS message received or to a roaming voicemail message received. This shall be without prejudice to other applicable charges such as those for listening to such messages.

Roaming providers shall charge roaming calls made and received on a per second basis. Roaming providers may apply an initial minimum charging period not exceeding 30 seconds to calls made. Roaming providers shall charge their customers for the provision of regulated data roaming services on a per-kilobyte basis, except for MMS messages, which may be charged on a per-unit basis. In such a case, the retail charge which a roaming provider may levy on its roaming customer for the transmission or receipt of a roaming MMS message shall not exceed the maximum retail charge for regulated data roaming services set out in the first subparagraph.

Without prejudice to the first subparagraph, roaming providers shall apply a tariff set in accordance with Articles 4 and 5, and paragraph 1 of this Article to all existing and new roaming customers automatically.

Any roaming customer may, at any time, request to switch to or from a tariff set in accordance with Articles 4, 5, 6 and paragraph 1 of this Article. When roaming customers deliberately choose to switch from or back to a tariff set in accordance with Articles 4, 5, 6 and paragraph 1 of this Article, any switch shall be made within one working day of receipt of the request, shall be free of charge and shall not entail conditions or restrictions pertaining to elements of the subscriptions other than roaming. Roaming providers may delay a switch until the previous roaming tariff has been effective for a minimum specified period not exceeding two months.

(a) the specific tariff plan or tariff plans and, for each tariff plan, the types of services offered, including the volumes of communications;

(b) any restrictions imposed on the consumption of regulated retail roaming services provided at the applicable domestic retail price level, in particular quantified information on how any fair use policy is applied by reference to the main pricing, volume or other parameters of the provided regulated retail roaming service concerned;

(c) clear and comprehensible information on the conditions and the quality of the roaming service when roaming within the Union in accordance with the BEREC guidelines referred to in paragraph 6.

In addition, roaming providers shall publish information about reasons why the roaming service is potentially offered under conditions that are less advantageous than those offered domestically. That information shall include factors that can have an impact on the quality of the roaming service to which the roaming customer subscribes, such as network generations and technologies available to the roaming customer in a visited Member State.

Article 9

Wholesale charges for the making of regulated roaming calls

Article 10

Wholesale charges for regulated roaming SMS messages

Article 11

Wholesale charges for regulated data roaming services

Article 12

Wholesale charges for emergency communications

Without prejudice to Articles 9, 10 and 11, the visited network operator shall not levy on the roaming provider any charges related to any type of emergency communications initiated by the roaming customer or to the transmission of caller location information.

Article 13

Transparency of retail conditions for roaming calls and SMS messages

That basic personalised pricing information shall be expressed in the currency of the home bill provided by the customer’s domestic provider and shall include information on:

(a) any fair use policy that the roaming customer is subject to within the Union and the surcharges which apply in excess of any limits under that fair use policy; and

(b) any surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6.

Roaming providers shall provide roaming customers, when they enter a Member State other than that of their domestic provider, with information on the potential risk of increased charges due to the use of value-added services by means of an automatic message, without undue delay and free of charge, except where a roaming customer has notified its roaming provider that it does not require this service. Such information shall include a link to access, free of charge, a dedicated webpage providing up-to-date information about the types of services that may be subject to increased costs and, where available, information about numbering ranges for value-added services or other relevant additional information contained in the database established pursuant to Article 16, first paragraph, point (a), in accordance with Article 16, third paragraph. The webpage shall include information about charges applicable to freephone numbers while roaming, if any.

The basic personalised pricing information referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall also include the free-of-charge number referred to in paragraph 2 for obtaining more detailed information.

On the occasion of each message, customers shall have the opportunity to give notice to the roaming provider, free of charge and in an easy manner, that they do not require the automatic message. Customers who have given notice that they do not require the automatic message shall have the right at any time and free of charge to require the roaming provider to provide the service again.

Roaming providers shall provide customers with disabilities with the basic personalised pricing information referred to in the first subparagraph automatically, by voice call, free of charge, if they so request.

With the exception of the reference to any fair use policy and the surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6, the first, second, fifth and sixth subparagraphs of this paragraph shall also apply both to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers when connecting to national or international non-terrestrial public mobile communications networks, and provided by a roaming provider and to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider.

Roaming providers shall send a reminder at reasonable intervals thereafter to all customers who have opted for another tariff.

Article 14

Transparency and safeguard mechanisms for retail data roaming services

Where appropriate, roaming providers shall inform their customers, before the conclusion of a retail contract and on a regular basis thereafter, of the risk of automatic and uncontrolled data roaming connection and download. Furthermore, roaming providers shall notify to their customers, free of charge and in a clear and easily understandable manner, how to switch off those automatic data roaming connections in order to avoid uncontrolled consumption of data roaming services.

That basic personalised tariff information shall include information on:

(a) any fair use policy that the roaming customer is subject to within the Union and the surcharges which apply in excess of any limits under that fair use policy; and

(b) any surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6.

The information shall be delivered directly to the roaming customer’s mobile device, for example by an SMS message, an email, means of a text message or a pop-up window on the mobile device, every time the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider and initiates for the first time a data roaming service in that particular Member State. It shall be provided free of charge at the moment the roaming customer initiates a regulated data roaming service, by an appropriate means adapted to facilitate its receipt and easy comprehension.

A customer who has notified his roaming provider that he does not require the automatic tariff information shall have the right at any time and free of charge to require the roaming provider to provide this service again.

To that end, the roaming provider shall make available one or more maximum financial limits for specified periods of use, provided that the customer is informed in advance of the corresponding volume amounts. One of those limits (the default financial limit) shall be close to, but not exceed, EUR 50 of outstanding charges per monthly billing period, excluding VAT.

Alternatively, the roaming provider may establish limits expressed in volume, provided that the customer is informed in advance of the corresponding financial amounts. One of those limits (the default volume limit) shall have a corresponding financial amount not exceeding EUR 50 of outstanding charges per monthly billing period, excluding VAT.

In addition, the roaming provider may offer to its roaming customers other limits with different, that is, higher or lower, maximum monthly financial limits.

The default limits referred to in the second and third subparagraphs shall be applicable to all customers who have not opted for another limit.

Each roaming provider shall also ensure that an appropriate notification is sent directly to the roaming customer’s mobile device, for example by an SMS message, an email, means of a text message or a pop-up window on the computer, when the data roaming services have reached 80 % of the agreed financial or volume limit. Each customer shall have the right to require the roaming provider to stop sending such notifications and shall have the right, at any time and free of charge, to require the roaming provider to provide the service again.

When the financial or volume limit would otherwise be exceeded, a notification shall be sent to the roaming customer’s mobile device. Where a roaming customer subject to a default financial limit or default volume limit as referred to in the fifth subparagraph consumes more than EUR 100 in a monthly billing period, excluding VAT, an additional notification shall be sent to that roaming customer’s mobile device. Those notifications shall indicate the procedure to be followed if the customer wishes to continue provision of those services and the cost associated with each additional unit to be consumed. If the roaming customer does not respond as prompted in the notification received, the roaming provider shall immediately cease to provide and to charge the roaming customer for regulated data roaming services, unless and until the roaming customer requests the continued or renewed provision of those services.

Whenever a roaming customer requests the removal or reinstatement of a financial or volume limit facility, the change shall be made within one working day of receipt of the request, shall be free of charge, and shall not entail conditions or restrictions pertaining to other elements of the subscription.

With regard to the facility referred to in paragraph 4, first subparagraph, the requirements provided in paragraph 4 shall not apply if the visited network operator in the visited country outside the Union does not allow the roaming provider to monitor its customers’ usage on a real-time basis.

In such a case the customer shall be notified by an SMS message when entering such a country, without undue delay and free of charge, that information on accumulated consumption and the guarantee not to exceed a specified financial limit are not available.

Article 15

Transparency with regard to the means of access to emergency services

Roaming providers shall ensure that their roaming customers are kept adequately informed about the means of access to emergency services in the visited Member State.

The roaming provider shall inform the roaming customer, by means of an automatic message, that the latter may access emergency services free of charge by calling the single European emergency number ‘112’. That message shall also provide the roaming customer with a link to access, free of charge, a dedicated webpage, accessible to persons with disabilities, which provides information on alternative means of access to emergency services through emergency communications mandated in the visited Member State. The information shall be delivered to the roaming customer’s mobile device by an SMS message or where necessary by an appropriate means adapted to facilitate its receipt and easy comprehension every time a roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of the roaming customer’s domestic provider. The information shall be provided free of charge.

In Member States where public warning mobile applications are deployed, if a link to that application is reported by the visited Member State in the database established pursuant to Article 16, first paragraph, point (b), roaming providers shall include, in the message referred to in the second paragraph of this Article, the information indicating that public warnings may be received by a public warning mobile application. A link to the public warning mobile application and instructions for its download shall be provided in the dedicated webpage referred to in the second paragraph of this Article.

Article 16

Databases of numbering ranges for value-added services and means of access to emergency services

By 31 December 2022, BEREC shall establish, and subsequently maintain:

(a) a single, Union-wide database of numbering ranges for value-added services in each Member State, to be made accessible to operators, national regulatory authorities and, where applicable, to other competent authorities; and

(b) a single, Union-wide database of means of access to emergency services that are mandated in each Member State and that are technically feasible to be used by roaming customers, to be made accessible to operators and national regulatory authorities and, where applicable, to other competent authorities.

For the purposes of the establishment and maintenance of the databases referred to in the first paragraph, the national regulatory authorities or other competent authorities shall provide the necessary information and the relevant updates to BEREC by electronic means without undue delay.

Without prejudice to Article 13, the databases referred to in the first paragraph shall enable national regulatory authorities and other competent authorities, on an optional basis, to provide additional information.

Article 17

Supervision and enforcement

National regulatory authorities shall strictly monitor and supervise roaming providers availing themselves of Articles 5 and 6.

Where applicable, other competent authorities shall monitor and supervise compliance by the operators with the obligations laid down in this Regulation which are relevant for the exercise of the powers conferred on them by national law transposing Directive (EU) 2018/1972.

National regulatory authorities and, where applicable, other competent authorities shall monitor and collect information on inadvertent roaming and take appropriate measures.

Article 18

Dispute resolution

Disputes between visited network operators and other operators on rates applied to inputs necessary for the provision of regulated wholesale roaming services may be referred to the competent national regulatory authority or authorities pursuant to Articles 26 and 27 of the Directive (EU) 2018/1972. The competent national regulatory authority or authorities shall notify any cross-border dispute to BEREC in order to bring about a consistent resolution of the dispute. Where BEREC has been consulted, the competent national regulatory authority or authorities shall await BEREC’s opinion before taking action to resolve the dispute.

Article 19

Penalties

Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the Commission of those rules and measures and of any subsequent amendment affecting them without delay.

Article 20

Committee procedure

Article 21

Review

The first such report shall be submitted by 30 June 2025 and the second by 30 June 2029.

The reports shall include, inter alia, an assessment of:

(a) the impact of the roll-out and implementation of next generation mobile communications networks and technologies on the roaming market;

(b) the effectiveness of the quality of service obligations with regard to roaming customers, the availability and quality of services, including those which are an alternative to regulated retail voice, SMS and data roaming services, in particular in light of technological developments and of the access to the different network technologies and generations;

(c) the degree of competition in both the retail and wholesale roaming markets, in particular the actual wholesale rates paid by the operators and the competitive situation of small, independent or newly started operators, and MVNOs, including the competition effects of commercial wholesale roaming agreements, of traffic traded on trading platforms and similar instruments and the degree of interconnection between operators;

(d) the evolution of the machine-to-machine roaming, including roaming on IoT devices;

(e) the extent to which the implementation of the measures provided for in Article 3, in particular on the basis of the information provided by the national regulatory authorities, of the procedure for prior authorisation laid down in Article 3(6), has produced results in the development of competition in the internal market for regulated roaming services;

(f) the evolution of the retail tariff plans available;

(g) changes in data consumption patterns for both domestic and roaming services, including changes in travel patterns of European end-users caused by circumstances such as pandemics, for example COVID-19, or natural disasters;

(h) the ability of home network operators to sustain their domestic charging model and the extent to which exceptional retail roaming surcharges have been authorised pursuant to Article 6;

(i) the ability of visited network operators to recover the efficiently incurred costs of providing regulated wholesale roaming services, taking into account the latest information on network deployment, as well as developments in technical capabilities, pricing models and constraints of the networks, for instance the possibility of including cost model calculations based on capacity rather than consumption;

(j) the impact of the application of fair use policies by operators, including on consumption by end-users, in accordance with the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Article 7, including the identification of any inconsistencies in the application and implementation of such fair use policies; as well as the effectiveness and proportionality of the general application of such policies;

(k) the extent to which roaming customers and operators face problems in relation to value-added services and the implementation of the database of numbering ranges for value-added services established pursuant to Article 16, first paragraph, point (a);

(l) the application of the measures of this Regulation and complaints related to the use of emergency communications while roaming;

(m) complaints related to inadvertent roaming.

BEREC shall also collect data regularly from national regulatory authorities on the application of fair use policies by operators, the developments of domestic-only tariffs, the application of the sustainability mechanisms and complaints on roaming and compliance with the quality of service obligations. Where appropriate, national regulatory authorities shall coordinate with and collect such data from other competent authorities. BEREC shall regularly collect and provide additional information on transparency, on the application of measures on emergency communication, on value-added services and on roaming on non-terrestrial public mobile communications networks.

BEREC shall also collect data on the wholesale roaming agreements not subject to the maximum wholesale roaming charges provided for in Article 9, 10 or 11 and on the implementation of contractual measures at wholesale level aiming to prevent permanent roaming or anomalous or abusive use of wholesale roaming access for purposes other than the provision of regulated roaming services to roaming providers’ customers while the latter are periodically travelling within the Union.

The data collected by BEREC pursuant to this paragraph shall be notified to the Commission at least once a year. The Commission shall make them public.

By 30 June 2027, the Commission shall submit an interim report to the European Parliament and to the Council, based on the data collected by BEREC pursuant to this paragraph, followed, if appropriate, by a legislative proposal to amend this Regulation.

On the basis of data collected pursuant to this paragraph, BEREC shall report regularly on the evolution of pricing and consumption patterns in the Member States both for domestic and roaming services, the evolution of actual wholesale roaming rates for unbalanced traffic between providers of roaming services, and on the relationship between retail prices, wholesale charges and wholesale costs for roaming services. BEREC shall assess how closely those elements relate to each other.

Article 22

Notification requirements

Member States shall notify to the Commission the identity of the national regulatory authorities and, where relevant, of other competent authorities responsible for carrying out tasks under this Regulation.

Article 23

Repeal

Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 is repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex II.

Article 24

Entry into force and expiry

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 2022.

However, the obligations of roaming providers to provide information about numbering ranges for value added services as referred to in Article 13(1), third subparagraph, and information about alternative means of access to emergency services as referred to in Article 15, second paragraph with regard to the information in the databases referred to in Article 16 shall apply from 1 June 2023.

This Regulation shall expire on 30 June 2032.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strabourg, 6 April 2022.

For the European Parliament The President R. METSOLA

For the Council The President C. BEAUNE

(1) OJ C 374, 16.9.2021, p. 28.

(2) Position of the European Parliament of 24 March 2022 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 4 April 2022.

(3) Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (OJ L 172, 30.6.2012, p. 10).

(4) See Annex I.

(5) Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access and amending Directive 2002/22/EC on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (OJ L 310, 26.11.2015, p. 1).

(6) Regulation (EU) 2017/920 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 amending Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 as regards rules for wholesale roaming markets (OJ L 147, 9.6.2017, p. 1).

(7) Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 7).

(8) Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 21).

(9) Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 33).

(10) Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 51).

(11) Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37).

(12) Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36).

(13) Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 70).

(14) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).

(15) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 of 15 December 2016 laying down detailed rules on the application of fair use policy and on the methodology for assessing the sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges and on the application to be submitted by a roaming provider for the purposes of that assessment (OJ L 344, 17.12.2016, p. 46).

(16) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 of 18 December 2020 supplementing Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council by setting a single maximum Union-wide mobile voice termination rate and a single maximum Union-wide fixed voice termination rate (OJ L 137, 22.4.2021, p. 1).

(17) Commission Decision 2010/166/EU of 19 March 2010 on harmonised conditions of use of radio spectrum for mobile communication services on board vessels (MCV services) in the European Union (OJ L 72, 20.3.2010, p. 38).

(18) Commission Decision 2008/294/EC of 7 April 2008 on harmonised conditions of spectrum use for the operation of mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services) in the Community (OJ L 98, 10.4.2008, p. 19).

(19) Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the Agency for Support for BEREC (BEREC Office), amending Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1211/2009 (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 1).

(20) Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies (OJ L 327, 2.12.2016, p. 1).

(21) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).