Roaming Regulation review [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Mar Negreiro and Maria Niestadt (4th edition, updated on 02.05.2022).

The Roaming Regulation established the ‘roam like at home’ (RLAH) rule that mandated the end of retail mobile roaming charges as of 15 June 2017 in all EU Member States and EEA countries. The regulation is currently in force until 30 June 2022. The application of the RLAH rule has been a success, boosting the use of mobile devices while travelling to other EU/EEA countries. For instance, the use of data roaming increased 17 times in the summer of 2019 compared with the summer preceding the abolition of roaming surcharges.

Nevertheless, five years after its implementation, the Commission needed to review the Roaming Regulation, with a view to extending the roaming market rules for a further 10 years. The Commission also sought to continue lowering wholesale roaming charges, improve the quality of roaming services, and provide access to all available network generations and technologies, including free access to emergency services, and information on any cost incurred in accessing value added services.

Within the European Parliament the file was allocated to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). The committee report was adopted on 14 October 2021, and the mandate for trilogue negotiations approved in plenary the following week. For its part, the Council agreed its position on 16 June 2021. The co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on the text on 9 December 2021. According to the final text, which was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 13 April 2022 and enters into force on 1 July 2022, the RLAH regime will be renewed for a further 10 years.

Versions

• May 2022: Roaming Regulation review (4th edition)