Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union

Summary:

Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 - formally signed by the co-legislators on 13 June 2012 - concerning the roaming on public mobile communications networks within the European Union (EU). It was later amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and Regulation (EU) 2017/920.

Further information:

The so-called Third Roaming Regulation aims to end roaming charges while travelling within the EU. This means that EU citizens travelling within the EU can make calls, send text messages and access the internet on their mobile phones for the same price as in their own countries. It also sets out safeguards to ensure that mobile telephone operators are protected against abuses and can sustain the new roaming rules without increasing domestic prices.

This Regulation introduces a common approach to ensuring that users of public mobile communications networks, when travelling within the EU, do not pay excessive prices for EU-wide roaming services in comparison with competitive national prices. It intends to contribute to the smooth functioning of the internal market while achieving a high level of consumer protection, fostering competition and transparency in the market and offering both incentives for innovation and consumer choice.

It lays down rules to enable the separate sale of regulated roaming services from domestic mobile communications services and sets out the conditions for wholesale access to public mobile communications networks for the purpose of providing regulated roaming services. It also lays down transitory rules on the charges that may be levied by roaming providers for the provision of regulated roaming services for voice calls and SMS messages originating and terminating within the Union and for packet switched data communication services used by roaming customers while roaming on a mobile communications network within the Union. It applies both to charges levied by network operators at wholesale level and to charges levied by roaming providers at retail level.

This Regulation also lays down rules aimed at increasing price transparency and improving the provision of information on charges to users of roaming services.