25 Amendments of Rasmus ANDRESEN related to 2021/0045(COD)
Amendment 29 #
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 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) In accordance withThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to communications technologies and systems on an equal basis with others. In addition, Article 109 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, establishes that all end-users should have access to emergency services, free of charge, through emergency communications to the most appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP). Emergency communications include voice communications services, SMS, messaging, video and other type of communications, such as real time text, total conversation and relay services. 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. 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 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 51 #
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. The provider should ensure the highest quality of service available in the country and should make available information on relevant factors that can affect ithe quality of service, such as availability of certain technologies, coverage or variation due to external factors such as topography.
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 35 a (new)
Recital 35 a (new)
(35a) A contract which includes any type of regulated retail roaming service should include clear information on the procedure to file complaints if the quality of service is not guaranteed. The roaming provider should handle the complaints in a timely and effective manner.
Amendment 55 #
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 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 communications to such numbers while roaming should not incur any increased cost in comparison to the domestic situation. HoweverCurrently, 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 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. To that end, roaming customers should be informed in their contract and notified and warned, in a timely manner and free of charge, that communications to value added services numbers in roaming can entail additional charges. Furthermore, roaming providers should also ensure that the use of value added services is provided under the same conditions as if such services were consumed domestically.
Amendment 59 #
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, rThe home operator should also inform roaming customers of any additional charges for the use of value added services and the applicable cut-off limits to prevent bill shocks. Such information should be provided as soon as the roaming customer enters another Member State and every time the roaming customer tries to reach value added services. Furthermore, when a mobile device connects with non-terrestrial networks with automatic handover on marine vessels and on board aircrafts, providers of mobile communication services should inform customers on the additional charges they may incur and on the cut-off limits applied in order to protect them from bill shocks. Roaming providers should provide a possibility to easily opt- out from this automatic message service. In addition, roaming customers should be provided with a text message including a link to 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 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) Customers living in border regions should not receive unnecessarily high bills due to inadvertent roaming or to the use of non-terrestrial networks with automatic handover on marine vessels and on board aircrafts. Roaming providers should therefore take reasonable steps to protect and inform in a clear and intelligible manner customers against incurring roamingadditional charges while they are located in their Member State. This should include an obligation to roaming providers to provide reasonable cut-off limits and to grant their customers the opportunity to block non EU/EEA networks, unless their customers request to opt-in, and an obligation to provide adequate information measures in order to empower customers to actively prevent such instances of inadvertent roaming. 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 71 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 53
Recital 53
(53) Number ranges, including those used for value added services, are set in the national numbering plans and are not harmonised at Union level. Operators may therefore not be able to recognise the numbering ranges for value added services in all countries in advance. Numbering ranges used for value added services are subject to particular pricing conditions at the national level and in many cases their termination rates are not regulated. While this is understood to roaming providers, the level of the wholesale charges they will incur may still be unexpectedly high. In a roaming scenario, operators are sometimes unable to address this issue, because they lack information on number ranges used for value added services throughout the Union. To address this problem BEREC should establish and maintain a single Union- wide, secure database for value added services’ numbering ranges. The database is intended as a transparency tool that will enable National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and operators to have direct access to information about which numbering ranges can generate higher costs (termination rates) in all Member States. It represents a necessary intermediate step to increase transparency at retail level as it cshould be used to inform roaming customers about the types of services that may be subject to increased charges when roaming. BEREC should establish the procedures by which the competent authorities are to provide and update the information requested under Article 17. and should create the necessary conditions for roaming providers to ensure that the use of value added services is provided under the same prices as if such services were consumed domestically.
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 59
Recital 59
(59) It is necessary to monitor and to review regularly the functioning of wholesale roaming markets and their interrelationship with the retail roaming markets, taking into account competitive and technological developments and traffic flows. The Commission should submit two reports to the European Parliament and to the Council. In its biennial reports, the Commission should, in particular, assess whether RLAH has any impact on the evolution of tariff plans available on the retail markets. That should include, on the one hand, an assessment of any emergence of tariff plans that include only domestic services and that exclude retail roaming services altogether, thus undermining the very objective of RLAH and, on the other, an assessment of any reduction in the availability of flat-rate tariff plans, which could also represent a loss for consumers and undermine the objectives of the digital single market. The Commission’s reports should, in particular, analyse the extent to which exceptional retail roaming surcharges have been authorised by national regulatory authorities, the ability of home network operators to sustain their domestic charging models and the ability of visited network operators to recover the efficiently incurred costs of providing regulated wholesale roaming services. In addition, the Commission’s reports should assess how, at wholesale level, access to the different network technologies and generations is ensured; the level of usage of trading platforms and similar instruments to trade traffic at wholesale level; the evolution of the machine-to- machine roaming; the persisting problems at retail level in relation to value added services, inadvertent roaming, cut-off limits and the application of the measures on emergency communications . In order to enable such reporting with a view to assessing how the roaming markets adapt to RLAH rules, sufficient data should be gathered on the functioning of those markets after the implementation of those rules.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 62
Recital 62
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
3. Without prejudice to Part III , Title III of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, roaming providers shall ensure the highest quality of service available in every country and shall guarantee that a contract which includes any type of regulated retail roaming service specifies the characteristics of that regulated retail roaming service provided, including in particular:
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
(c) the quality of service that can reasonably be expected when roaming in the Unclear and intelligible information on the quality of service available when roaming in the Union and on the divergences from the quality included in the national subscription.
Amendment 89 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Roaming providers shall ensure that a contract includes clear information on the procedure to follow to file complaints if the quality of service is not guaranteed.
Amendment 93 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Roaming providers shall, except when the roaming customer has notified the roaming provider that he does not require this service, provide the customer, automatically by means of a Message Service, without undue delay and free of charge, when the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider, with information on the potential risk of increased charges due to the use of value added services including a link to a dedicated webpage providing information about the types of services that may be subject to increased costs and, if available, information on value added services number ranges. Roaming providers shall also ensure that the use of value added services is provided under the same conditions as if such services were consumed domestically.
Amendment 96 #
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 usupplied by roaming providers and used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider, inadvertently roaming outside the Union and for using non-terrestrial networks with automatic handover on marine vessels and on board aircrafts.
Amendment 99 #
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 their customers from paying roamingprovide reasonable cut-off limits and grant their roaming customers the opportunity to block non EU/EEA networks, unless their customers request to opt-in, in order to avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions, including the use of non- terrestrial networks with automatic handover on marine vessels and on board aircrafts. Roaming providers shall take reasonable steps to protect and inform in a clear and intelligible manner their customers from the risk of paying additional charges for inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State.
Amendment 102 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 6
Article 15 – paragraph 6
6. Roaming providers shall take reasonable steps to protect their customers from paying roamingand inform in a clear and intelligible manner their customers from the risk of paying additional charges for inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State. This shall include informing customers on how to avoid inadvertent roaming in border regionan obligation to roaming providers to block non EU/EEA networks, unless their customers request to opt-in, in order to avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions, including the use of non- terrestrial networks with automatic handover on marine vessels and on board aircrafts.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Roaming providers shall ensure that their roaming customers are kept adequately informed on the means of access to emergency services in the visited Member State. This shall include equivalent access and choice for end-users with disabilities in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/1972.
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 2
Article 16 – paragraph 2
An automatic message from the roaming provider shall inform the roaming customer that the latter may access emergency services free of charge by calling the single European emergency number ‘112’ and by alternative means of access to emergency services through emergency communications mandated in the visited Member State. The information shall be delivered to the roaming customer’s mobile device by an SMS message, and via all the appropriate means established in Directive (EU) 2018/1972, in order to ensure that end-users with disabilities can access emergency services on an equivalent basis with others, every time the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider. It shall be provided free of charge at the moment the roaming customer initiates a roaming service, by an appropriate means adapted to facilitate its receipt and easy comprehension.
Amendment 108 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
BEREC shall establish and maintain a single Union-wide database of value added services numbering ranges in each Member State to be made accessible for national regulatory authorities and operators and shall create the necessary conditions for roaming providers to ensure that the use of value added services is provided under the same prices as if such services were consumed domestically. BEREC shall ensure adequate means of access to emergency services to customers, in particular to persons with disabilities in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/1972. The database shall be established by 31 December 2023. To that end, the NRA or other competent authorities shall, by electronic means, provide the necessary information and the relevant updates to BEREC without undue delay.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 a (new)
Article 18 a (new)
Article 18a Accessibility of information provided to customers Roaming providers shall ensure that all information provided to customers, in particular the information contained in Articles 9, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, is accessible for persons with disabilities, in accordance with Directive (EU) 2019/882. Information shall be provided in easy-to- read format and shall not exceed a level of complexity superior to level B1 (intermediate) of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
The Commission shall , after consulting BEREC, submit two reports to the European Parliament and to the Council. Where necessary, after submitting each report, the Commission shall adoppresent a delegated act pursuant to Article 22 amendislative proposal to amend this Regulation, including a proposal for lowering the maximum wholesale charges for regulated roaming services laid down in this Regulation. The first such report shall be submitted by 30 June 2025 and the second by 30 June 2029 .
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point i a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2 – point i a (new)
(ia) the impact of the obligation to ensure the highest quality of service available when travelling;
Amendment 123 #
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, inadvertent roaming and how those problems can be resolved;
Amendment 125 #
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) The effectiveness of this Regulation on ensuring equal access to electronic communications by persons with disabilities.