07/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 7 May, the European Commission launched a public consultation exercise on the functioning and effectiveness of the EU Roaming Regulation. The aim is to gather responses from mobile operators, businesses and consumer associations on the general functioning and impact of the current regulation, as well as on specific issues, such as involuntary roaming, when consumers use their mobile phone close to the border of a neighbouring country and are connected to a foreign network, the effect of the Regulation on smaller operators and on domestic prices, the issue of actual and billed minutes, whether regulation is necessary for data roaming services and SMS, and the duration of the EU Roaming Regulation. Document: http: //ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/docs/comments/public_consultation_may08.pdf (O.L.)