32 Amendments of Alex AGIUS SALIBA related to 2021/0045(COD)
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) As Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 expires on 30 June 2022, the aim of this Regulation is to recast itextend the application of the abolition of roaming charges and recast the Regulation while introducing new measures to increase transparency and consumer protection, including on the use of value added services in roaming, use of non-terrestrial networks in roaming on vessels and aircrafts, and ensure a genuine RLAH experience in terms of quality of service and access to emergency services while roaming. The duration of this new Regulation is set for 10 years, until 2032,extended, with review periods of two years to provide certainty in the market and minimise regulatory burden, while introducingch should include a mechanism for intervening at retail and wholesale level in the interim if market developments so require.
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) A common, harmonised approach should be employed for ensuring that users of terrestrial public mobile communication networks when travelling within the Union do not pay excessive prices for Union-wide roaming services, thereby enhancing competition concerning roaming services between roaming providers, achieving a high level of consumer protection and preserving both incentives for innovation and consumer choice. In view of the cross- border nature of the services concerned, this common approach is needed so that roaming providers can operate within a single coherent regulatory framework based on objectively established criteria.
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The widespread use of internet- enabled mobile devices means that data roaming is of great economic significance. This is relevanta decisive criterion for both users and providers of applications and content. In order to stimulate the development of this market, charges for data transport should not impede growth or negatively affect customers’ Roam-Like-At-Home experience, in particular considering that the deployment of 5G networks and services is expected to grow steadily .
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council60 , Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council61 , Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council62 , Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council63 and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council64 aimed to create an internal market for electronic communications within the Union while ensuring a high level of consumer protection through enhanced competition. TExcept for Directive2002/58/EC, those Directives were repealed by Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council65 . Directive (EU) 2018/1972 aims to stimulate investment in and take-up of very high capacity networks in the EU as well as to set new spectrum rules for mobile connectivity and 5G. Directive (EU) 2018/1972 also aims to contribute to the development of the internal market and promotes the interests of EU citizens. For example, it ensures that all citizens have access to affordable communication, including the internet. It increases consumer protection and security for users and facilitates regulatory intervention. __________________ 60Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 7). 61Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 21). 62Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 33). 63 Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) (OJ L 108, 24.4.2002, p. 51). 64Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37). 65Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36).
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) requires its parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access, on an equal basis with others, to information and communications technologies and systems. Directive (EU) 2018/1972 aims to ensure the provision throughout the Union of good quality, affordable, publicly available services through effective competition and choice, to deal with circumstances in which the needs of end-users, including those with disabilities in order to access the services on an equal basis with others, are not satisfactorily met by the market and to lay down the necessary end-user rights. In accordance with Article 109 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, all end-users should have access to emergency services, free of charge, through emergency communications to the most appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP). Member States are also required to ensure that access for end-users with disabilities to emergency services is available through emergency communications and is equivalent to that enjoyed by other end- users. Consequently, emergency communications are a means of communication that includes not only voice communications services, but also SMS, messaging, video or other types of communications, for example real time text, total conversation and relay services. It is for the Member States to determine the type of emergency communications that are technically feasible to ensure roaming customers access to emergency services. In order to ensure that roaming customers have access to emergency communications under the conditions laid down in Article 109 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, visited network operators should inform the roaming provider through the wholesale roaming agreement about what type of emergency communications are mandated under national measures in the visited Member State. In addition, wholesale roaming agreements should include information on the technical parameters for ensuring access to emergency services, including for roaming customers with disabilities, as well as for ensuring the transmission of caller location information, including handset-derived information, to the most appropriate PSAP in the visited Member State. Such information should allow the roaming provider to identify and provide the emergency communication and the transmission of caller location free of charge.
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Roaming customers should, to the greatest extent possible, be able to use the retail services that they subscribe to and benefit from the same level of quality of service as at home, when roaming in the Union. To that end, roaming providers should take the necessary measures to ensure that regulated retail roaming services are provided under the same conditions as if such services were consumed domestically. In particular, the same quality of service should be offerguaranteed to customers when roaming, if technically feasible.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital (29)
Recital (29)
(29) Roaming providers should be able to apply a ‘fair use policy’ to the consumption of regulated retail roaming services provided at the applicable domestic retail price in very limited circumstances. The ‘fair use policy’ is intended to preventshould only address abusive or anomalous usage of regulated retail roaming services by roaming customers, such as the use of such services by roaming customers in a Member State other than that of their domestic provider for purposes other than periodic travel. Roaming providers should, in cases of force majeure caused by circumstances such as pandemics or natural catastrophes which involuntarily extend the period of temporary stay of the roaming customer in another Member State, consider extending the applicable fair use allowance for an appropriate period, upon a justified request by the roaming customer . Any fair use policy should enable the roaming provider’s customers to consume volumes of regulated retail roaming services at the applicable domestic retail price that are consistent with their respective tariff plans.
Amendment 48 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 35
Recital 35
(35) A contract which includes any type of regulated retail roaming service should specify the characteristics of that regulated retail roaming service, including the expected level of quality of service. Those specifications should include clear and comprehensible information about the level of quality of service the operator must guarantee towards consumers. The provider should also make available information on relevant factors that can further affect the quality of service, such asincluding speed, latency, availability of certain technologies, coverage or variation due to external factors such as topography. Those specifications should be provided in line with BEREC’s retail roaming guidelines.
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 36
Recital 36
(36) Roaming customers and home operators sometimes unwittingly incur large bills as a result of the lack of transparency and appropriate regulation on the numbers used for value added services across the Union and on the wholesale prices charged for value added services. Communications to certain numbers which are used for providing value added services, for example, premium-rate numbers, freephone numbers or shared cost numbers, are subject to particular pricing conditions at the national level. This Regulation should not apply to the part of the tariff that is charged for the provision of value added services but only to the tariffs for the connection to such services. Neverthelss, the RLAH principle might create an expectation for end-users that cCommunications to such numbers while roaming should not incur any increased cost in comparison to the domestic situation. However, this is not always the case when roaming. End-users are confronted with increased costs, even when they call numbers that are free when called domestically. This could erode customers’ confidence in using their phones when roaming and could result in bill shocks, thus having a negative impact on a genuine RLAH experience. This is mainly caused, at retail level by the insufficient level of regulation and the lack of transparency on the higher charges which can be incurred because of communications to value added services numbers. Therefore measures should be introduced to protect consumers and increase the transparency on the conditions for communications to value added services numbers and to ensure that customers that are roaming within the Union will pay the same amount as local customers for value-added services and ensure that customers keep paying the same price as at home when resorting to value-added services from their home country when travelling within the Union. To that end, roaming customers should be informed in their contract and notified and warned upfront, in a timely, user-friendly manner and free of charge, thatwhen communications to value added services numbers in roaming can entail additional charges and applicable cut-off limit, which consumers can opt-out from.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 43
Recital 43
(43) In order to improve the transparency of retail prices for roaming services and to help roaming customers make decisions on the use of their mobile devices while abroad, providers of mobile communication services should supply their roaming customers with information free of charge on the roaming charges applicable to them when using roaming services in a visited Member State. Since certain customer groups might be well informed about roaming charges, rIn order to ensure a high level of protection for consumers, the home operator should also inform roaming customers of any additional charges that may apply for resorting to value-added services and the applicable cut-off limit to prevent bill- shocks. Such information should be provided as soon as the consumer enters another Member State and also when the roaming customer tries to reach a value- added service. In addition, providers of mobile communication services should inform consumers of the use of non- terrestrial networks on aircrafts or vessels and the cut-off limit that applies to protect them from bill-shocks. Such information should be provided as soon as the mobile device connects to such non-terrestrial networks. Roaming providers should provide a possibility to easily opt-out from this automatic message service without unduly subverting or impairing consumers’ autonomy, decision-making, or choice. In addition, roaming customers should be provided free of charge with a text message including a link to access, free of charge, a web page giving detailed information about the types of services (calls and SMS) that may be subject to increased costs. Moreover, providers should actively give their customers, provided that the latter are located in the Union, on request and free of charge, additional information on the per- minute, per-SMS or per-megabyte data charges (including VAT) for the making or receiving of voice calls and also for the sending and receiving of SMS, MMS and other data communication services in the visited Member State.
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) This Regulation should in relation to regulated retail roaming services lay down specific transparency requirements aligned with the specific tariff and volume conditions applicable following the abolition of the retail roaming surcharges . In particular, provision should be made for roaming customers to be notified, in a timely and user-friendly manner and free of charge, of the applicable fair use policy, before and when the applicable fair use volume of regulated voice, SMS or data roaming services is fully consumed, of any surcharge, and of accumulated consumption of regulated data roaming services. and for using non-terrestrial networks in aircrafts and vessels such as boats or ferries.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) Customers living in border regions should not receive unnecessarily high bills due to inadvertent roaming. Roaming providers should therefore take reasonable steps to protect customers, including when connecting to non-terrestrial networks on aircrafts or vessels. Roaming providers should ensure customers are effectively protected against incurring roaming charges while they are located in their Member State. This should include adequaten opt-in mechanism to roam in a network outside of the Union and adequate and timely and clear information measures in order to protect and empower customers to actively prevent such instances of inadvertent roaming, including cut-off limits. National regulatory authorities should be alert to situations in which customers face problems with paying roaming charges while they are still located in their Member State and should take appropriate steps to mitigate the problem.
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 49 a (new)
Recital 49 a (new)
(49a) Price differences continue to prevail, both for fixed and mobile communications, between domestic voice and SMS communications and those terminating in another Member State. This continues to affect more vulnerable customer groups and to pose barriers to seamless communication within the EU. Any significant retail price differences between electronic communications services terminating in the same Member State and those terminating in another Member State should therefore be justified by reference to objective criteria.
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 50
Recital 50
(50) There are considerable disparities between regulated roaming tariffs within the Union and roaming tariffs incurred by customers when they are travelling outside the Union, which are significantly higher than prices within the Union, where roaming surcharges are only exceptionally applied following the abolition of retail roaming charges . Citizens and businesses in external border regions would benefit greatly from roaming provisions with neighbouring countries similar to those in the Union, which should lead to lowering roaming fees when using mobile connections in third countries. Due to the absence of a consistent approach to transparency and safeguard measures concerning roaming outside the Union, consumers are not confident about their rights and are therefore often deterred from using mobile services while abroad. Transparent information provided to consumers could not only assist them in the decision as to how to use their mobile devices while travelling abroad (both within and outside the Union), but could also assist them in the choice between roaming providers. It is therefore necessary to address the problem of the lack of transparency and consumer protection by applying certain transparency and safeguard measures also to roaming services provided outside the Union. It is also necessary to encourage bilateral agreements between operators from the Union and outside the Union as well as to include RLAH provisions in future international agreements with third countries, in particular those directly bordering the Union. Those measures should facilitate competition and improve the functioning of the internal market.
Amendment 76 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 63
Recital 63
(63) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to provide for a common approach for ensuring that users of public mobile communications networks and users of non-terrestrial networks in aircrafts and vessels, when travelling within the Union, do not pay excessive prices for Union-wide roaming services in comparison with competitive national prices, while increasing consumer protection, transparency and ensuring sustainability of the provision of retail roaming services at domestic prices as well as a genuine RLAH experience in terms of quality of service and access to emergency services while roaming, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
Amendment 77 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) ‘visited network’ means a terrestrial public mobile communications network situated in a Member State other than that of the roaming customer’s domestic provider that permits a roaming customer to make or receive calls, to send or receive SMS messages or to use packet switched data communications, by means of arrangements with the home network operator;
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point f
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point f
(f) ‘roaming customer’ means a customer of a roaming provider of regulated roaming services, by means of a terrestrial public mobile communications network situated in the Union, whose contract or arrangement with that roaming provider permits Union-wide roaming;
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 a (new)
Article 5 a (new)
Article 5a Abolition of retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications 1. Providers of electronic communication services to the public shall not apply tariffs for intra-Union fixed and mobile communications services terminating in another Member State different from tariffs of services terminating in the same Member State, unless the provider demonstrates the existence of direct costs that are objectively justified. 2. Six months after the entry into force of this Regulation, BEREC shall provide guidelines on the recovery of such objectively justified direct costs pursuant to paragraph 1. 3. One year after the entry into force of this Regulation and biannually thereafter, the European Commission shall, after receiving an opinion by BEREC, provide a report on the application of the obligations of paragraph 1, including an assessment of the evolution of intra-Union communication tariffs.
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Within six months after the entry into force of this Regulation, and in order to contribute to the consistent application of this and related provisions, BEREC shall, after consulting stakeholders and in close cooperation with the Commission, update its retail roaming guidelines regarding the implementation of the quality of service, transparency and other relevant requirements to protect consumers under this Regulation.
Amendment 91 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Article 13 – paragraph 1
Without prejudice to Articles 10, 11 and 12, the visited network operator shall not levy on the roaming provider any charge related to the emergency communications initiated by the roaming customer and the transmission of caller location information. The visited network operator shall also not levy on the roaming provider any charge related to other non-emergency crucial communications services of social value initiated by the roaming customer.
Amendment 98 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 7
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 7
The first, second, fifth and sixth subparagraphs, with the exception of the reference to the fair use policy and the surcharge applied in accordance with Article 7, shall also apply to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider, inadvertently roaming outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider or by using non-terrestrial networks.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 5
Article 14 – paragraph 5
5. Roaming providers shall make available information to their customers on how to avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions. Roaming providers shall take reasonable steps to protect and while using non-terrestrial networks. Roaming providers shall take the necessary measures to ensure their customers are protected from paying roaming charges for inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State.
Amendment 103 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 6
Article 15 – paragraph 6
6. Roaming providers shall take reasonable steps tothe necessary measures to effectively protect their customers from paying roaming charges for inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State. This shall include ensuring customers can opt-in to roaming outside the EU in border regions and informing customers on how to effectively avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions.
Amendment 104 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
This Article, with the exception of paragraph 6, the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, and subject to the second and third subparagraphs of this paragraph, shall also apply to data roaming services used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider and to data roaming services used by roaming customers when using non-terrestrial networks.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17 a (new)
Article 17a Application of retail charges for value- added services 1. Roaming customers that are roaming within the Union shall in principle pay the same amount as local customers for value-added services and other non-emergency crucial communications services of social value and ensure that customers keep paying the same price as at home when resorting to those services from their home country when travelling within the Union, if technically feasible. 2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, customers shall be informed in their contract and notified and warned upfront, in a timely, user-friendly manner and free of charge, when communications to value added services numbers in roaming can entail additional charges. They shall also be informed in a similar manner of any applicable cut-off limit which consumers can opt-out from, in line with the BEREC guidelines referred to in paragraph 3. 3. Within six months after the entry into force of this Regulation, and in order to contribute to the consistent application of this and related provisions, BEREC shall, after consulting stakeholders and in close cooperation with the Commission, update its roaming guidelines regarding how to best implement provisions related to value-added services in the interest of consumers and the internal market.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. National regulatory authorities shall ensure that roaming all information referred to in Articles 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 which is provided to customers, is accessible for persons with disabilities in accordance with requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act), the information does not exceed a level of complexity superior to level B1 (intermediate) of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, as well as is provided in easy-to-read format.
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 2
Article 18 – paragraph 2
2. National regulatory authorities and, where relevant, BEREC shall make up-to- date information on the application of this Regulation, in particular Articles 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12,12, 13, and 18 (1 a) publicly available in a manner that enablesaccessible to interested parties to have easy access to it, including to persons with disabilities.
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point j
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point j
(j) the extent to which roaming customers and operators face problems in relation to value added services and how those problems can be best resolved to protect consumers and secure an internal single market;
Amendment 124 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point k a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point k a (new)
(ka) effectiveness of this Regulation on ensuring equal access to electronic communications by persons with disabilities when travelling within EU/EEA.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
In order to assess competitive developments in the Union-wide roaming markets, BEREC shall collect data regularly from national regulatory authorities on developments in retail and wholesale charges for regulated voice, SMS and data roaming services, including wholesale charges applied for balanced and unbalanced roaming traffic respectively , on the use of trading platforms and similar instruments, on the development of machine-to-machine roaming, and on the extent to which wholesale roaming agreements cover quality of service and give access to different network technologies and generations. BEREC shall also collect data regularly from national regulatory authorities on the application of fair use policy by operators, the developments of domestic-only tariffs, the application of the sustainability mechanisms and complaints on roaming. When consulted pursuant to paragraph 1, BEREC shall collect and provide additional information on all relevant points, including but not limited to transparency, the application of measures on emergency communication and on value added services .
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – title
Article 26 – title
Entry into force and expiry
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – paragraph 2
Article 26 – paragraph 2