Commission agrees new approach to end roaming in 2017

The Commission i today examined a revised draft of the rules that will prevent any abuse of the end of mobile roaming charges - all in time for June 2017 when roaming comes to an end.

As announced by President Juncker in his State of the Union Address i, Members of the College today discussed a new approach to the fair-use principle, and agreed that there should be no limits, either in time or volume, on consumers' use of their mobile devices when travelling abroad within the EU i. The new approach provides operators with a solid safeguard mechanism against potential abuses. The College will adopt the final proposal by 15 December 2016, following feedback from the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications, Member States i and all interested parties.

The new mechanism will be based on the principle of residence or the 'stable links' that European consumers have with any EU Member State (frequent and substantial presence in the Member State of the roaming provider, for example). More specifically, the College discussed rules that will enable all travellers using a SIM card of a Member State in which they reside or with which they have stable links to use their mobile device in any other EU country, just as they would at home.

Examples of stable links include commuters travelling to work, expatriates who are frequently present in their home country, or Erasmus students. Consumers will pay domestic prices when they call, text or go online from their mobile devices, and will have full access to other parts of their mobile subscription (e.g. monthly data package).

Today, President Juncker also provided a debrief on the recent Bratislava Summit i of the EU27 Heads of State or Government, and the College welcomed Sir Julian King as the new Commissioner for the Security Union.