The Commission is changing its strategy to prevent permanent roaming. On Wednesday 21 September, it proposed to target suspicious behaviour and situations that lead to imbalances on the national market rather than limiting the time spent in another member state. In these two cases, operators will be authorised to apply surcharges.
The commissioner for the digital society, Günther Oettinger, informed the press that "the new proposal should help telecommunication companies operate the system in a sustainable way and for business or recreational travellers to telephone at the same price as in their countries, whatever the length of their stay abroad".
Regulation 2015/2120 provides for the surcharges invoiced by telephone operators during trips to another member state to be removed in June 2017 (roaming costs). On 5 September, the Commission provided the outlines of this new measure, in an effort to avoid, for example, consumers buying a sim card in other member states that provide lower prices than in their home countries. The thrust of its suggestion was to establish a time limit on these sim cards during the trips spent abroad (see EUROPE 11616). Nonetheless, it quickly withdrew its draft text following objections from consumer associations and certain MEPs (see EUROPE 11620).
Suspicious and disproportionate behaviour. The current proposal suggests a default ban on all surcharges for tourists, cross-border workers and expatriates who often return to their countries of origin, as well as Erasmus students. "These people will be able to make telephone calls, send texts and surf the web according to the tariffs in their countries of origin. They will also have total access to other areas of their mobile subscriptions (for example, monthly data quotas)", the Commission states. It does, however, allow telecommunication operators to invoice surcharges in the event of suspicious or disproportionate behaviour on their respective national market. In the first scenario, operators have to assess the situation on the basis of a consumer's place of residency or permanent links that consumers maintain with a country, and can apply surcharges when they observe, for example, that a user never uses their sim card in their country of origin. In the event of a dispute arising, consumers will be able to follow an appeal procedure or, if needs be, contact the national regulatory authority. In the event of mass purchases or resales of sim cards, the operator will be allowed to "take immediate and proportionate measures" on the condition of informing the national regulator. In the second scenario, operators will be able to obtain a free derogation on roaming in the event of price increases on a specific market or other negative effects on their national consumers. In both these cases, the Commission explains that surcharges should not be above those proposed for retail roaming, namely four cents per minute of communication, one cent for each SMS and 0.85 cents per megabyte of data.
Reactions. The EPP, S&D and ALDE political groups immediately welcomed the removal of the 90 day limit. Monique Goyens the Director General of the European Consumers’ Office (BEUC) expressed the same point of view: "It is very good news that time limits on roaming have been dropped. There should not be penalties for all consumers just because some hypothetically could misuse the system". The telecom operators gave a more cautious response. In a joint statement, the GSMA and ETNO stated that "a careful evaluation of all the technical, legal and economic aspects of this decision is vital. A clause testifying to fair and robust use is needed to ensure the best possible result for our consumers". Some of the national regulators contacted did not want to comment but the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) will reportedly provide an opinion on the European Commission draft text “before 19 October next”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)