33 Amendments of Nicolás GONZÁLEZ CASARES related to 2021/0045(COD)
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) An internal telecommunications market cannot be said to exist while there are differences between domestic and roaming prices. Therefore the difference between domestic charges and roaming charges should be eliminated , thus establishing an internal market for mobile communication services. Specifities of IoT must be taken into consideration.
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 adversely affect the way consumers experience roaming as if at home, nor impede growth , in particular considering that the development and deployment of 5G networks and services is expected to grow steadily .
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital nuevo(14
Recital nuevo(14
new(14) In order to allow for the development of a more efficient, integrated and competitive market for roaming services, there should be no restrictions that preventing undertakings from effectively negotiating wholesale access for the purpose of providing roaming services. Obstacles to access to such wholesale roaming services, due to differences in negotiating power and in the degree of infrastructure ownership of undertakings, should be removed. To that end, wholesale roaming access agreements should respect the principle of technology neutrality and ensure all operators an equal and fair opportunity to accessing all networks and technologies available and be negotiated in good faith allowing the roaming provider to offer retail roaming services equivalent to the services offered domestically. Without adversely affecting negotiations between operators, roaming services should not jeopardise the experience of consumers. Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and resellers of mobile communication services without their own network infrastructure typically provide roaming services based on commercial wholesale roaming agreements with their host mobile network operators in the same Member State. Commercial negotiations, however, may not leave enough margin to MVNOs and resellers for stimulating competition through lower prices. The removal of those obstacles and balancing the negotiation power between MVNOs/resellers and mobile network operators by an access obligation and wholesale caps should facilitate the development of alternative, innovative and Union-wide roaming services and offers for customers. Directive (EU) 2018/1972 does not provide for a solution to this problem via the imposition of obligations on operators with significant market powers.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) 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, especially while travelling abroad, and is equivalent to that enjoyed by other end- users. Takes into account the obligations imposed in Article 2 and 4 of the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) that Member States shall ensure that economic operators provide services that comply with the accessibility requirements of this Directive. 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 53 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission in respect of setting out detailed rules on the temporary and exceptional application of the fair use policy and on the methodology for assessing the sustainability of the provision of retail roaming services at domestic prices , as well as on the application to be submitted by a roaming provider for the purposes of that assessment. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council66 . _________________ 66 Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’'s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).
Amendment 63 #
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 samea level of quality of service aswhich is equivalent to that enjoyed 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 samean equivalent quality of service should be offerguaranteed to customers when roaming, if technically feasible.
Amendment 66 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital nuevo(29
Recital nuevo(29
new(29) RIn very limited circumstances, 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. The ‘fair use policy’ is intended to preventshould cover 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 shouldmust, in cases of force majeure caused by circumstances such as pandemics, temporary border closures 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 72 #
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. 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 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, increase the transparency on the conditions for communications to value added services numbers and ensure that roaming customers pay the same price as in their country of origin for communications to value added services numbers and that they do not incur additional roaming costs. 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.
Amendment 78 #
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, roaming providers should provide a possibility to easily opt-out from this automatic message serviceThe home provider must clearly inform the consumer, on entry into another Member State, of the additional charges that may be incurred for value added services and the applicable cut-off limit. In addition, roaming customers should be provided with a free 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 82 #
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 against incurring roaming charges while they are located in their Member State. This should include adequate information measures in order to empower customers to actively prevent such instances of inadvertent roaming, including the cut-off limit. 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 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) Where Union providers of mobile services find the benefits of interoperability and end-to-end connectivity for their customers jeopardised by the termination, or threat of termination, of their roaming arrangements with mobile network operators in other Member States, or are unable to provide their customers with service in another Member State as a result of a lack of agreement with at least one wholesale network provider, national regulatory authorities should make use, where necessary, of the powers under Article 61 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 to ensure adequate access and interconnection , taking into account the objectives set out in Article 3 of that Directive , in particular the development of the internal market by favouring the provision, availability and interoperability of pan-European services, including of pan-European Internet of Things and end-to-end connectivity .
Amendment 90 #
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 and the application of the measures on emergency communications . Reports should include an assessment of the 5G rollout and any new technology implementation as well as effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market and end-user behaviour in terms of predictability of volumes. 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 103 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 2
Article 1 – paragraph 2
2. This Regulation also lays down rules aimed at increasing transparency and improving the provision of information on charges to users of roaming services, including users of roaming services outside the European Union.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. Mobile network operators shall meet all reasonable requests for wholesale roaming access , in particular allowing the roaming provider to replicate the retail mobile services offered domestically, when technically feasible according to technical capacities and availability.
Amendment 131 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. In order to contribute to the consistent application of this Article, BEREC shall, by ...[6 months after the entry into force of this Regulation],after consulting stakeholders and in close cooperation with the Commission, update its retail guidelines regarding the implementation of the quality of service measures. Such guidelines shall also provide more clarity around data speed and other quality of service parameters provided while roaming
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. RIn very limited circumstances, roaming providers may apply in accordance with this Article and the implementing acts referred to in Article 8 a ‘fair use policy’ to the consumption of regulated retail roaming services provided at the applicable domestic retail price level, in order to prevent 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.
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new)
By way of derogation from paragraph 1, roaming providers may not apply surcharges for the consumption of regulated retail roaming services under the fair use policy in the event of force majeure, following public health emergencies as provided for in Regulation (EU) No .... /(Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 1082/2013/EU), natural disasters or any other event involving the temporary closure of borders or an obligation on the part of the roaming customer to involuntarily extend the duration of his temporary stay in another Member State.
Amendment 145 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 (new)
In the event of a cut-off limit when the fair use policy limits are exceeded, the roaming customer must be informed thereof clearly, sufficiently in advance and free of charge by SMS by the roaming provider.
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 3 – point c
(c) the quality of the roaming service that can reasonably be expected when roaming in the Union.
Amendment 175 #
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. Communications to value added services must also be priced at the applicable domestic retail price level.
Amendment 178 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
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 free 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.
Amendment 179 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
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 hosted by BEREC providing information about the types of services that may be subject to increased costs and, if available, information on value added services number ranges.
Amendment 180 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2
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, which should also be priced at the applicable national retail price. Moreover, this SMS is to includinge 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.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
Article 15 – paragraph 4 – introductory part
4. Each roaming provider shall grant to all their roaming customers the opportunity to opt deliberately and free of charge forfree access to a facility which provides in a timely manner information on the accumulated consumption expressed in volume or in the currency in which the roaming customer is billed for regulated data roaming services and which guarantees that, without the customer’s explicit consent, the accumulated expenditure for regulated data roaming services over a specified period of use, excluding MMS billed on a per-unit basis, does not exceed a specified financial limit.
Amendment 193 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 7 – subparagraph 1
Amendment 196 #
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, every time the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider. The SMS shall contain a link to a dedicated webpage serving as a central information point where BEREC would provide regularly updated database. 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 217 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph nuevo1 – subparagraph 1 – point a a (new)
Article 21 – paragraph nuevo1 – subparagraph 1 – point a a (new)
(aa) the impact of the deployment of 5G communication networks and technologies on the roaming market;
Amendment 218 #
(b) the degree of competition in both the retail and wholesale roaming markets, in particular the actual wholesale rates paid by the operators and the competitive situation of small, independent or newly started operators, and MVNOs and providers of pan-European Internet of Things, including the competition effects of commercial agreements, of traffic traded on trading platforms and similar instruments and the degree of interconnection between operators;
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
Article 21 – paragraph new1 – subparagraph 1 – point c
(c) the evolution of roaming for the machine-to- machine roamingand Internet of Things services ;
Amendment 232 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 21 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. 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 Internet of Things, 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 transparency, the application of measures on emergency communication and on value added services .
Amendment 236 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22
Article 22
Amendment 246 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23
Article 23
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – title
Article 26 – title
Entry into force and expiry