EU-ministers willen voor einde van 2007 Europese richtlijn over roaming (en)

Surprisingly high bills for cell phone roaming should be made a thing of the past - reason enough for the telecommunication ministers of the EU's Member States to discuss the Commission's initiative for a Roaming Regulation at their Informal Meeting today on the sidelines of the CeBIT Fair in Hanover. The participants see regulation at the European level as necessary and urgent since rates for roaming services significantly exceed the costs and are thus a burden for European citizens. The purpose of the Regulation would be to help bring about a speedy and perceptible reduction of roaming charges for all consumer groups. "But in the process of treating the matter, competition among the operators and the incentives for innovation must not be endangered," according to German Minister of Economics Michael Glos.

The ministers agreed that the improvement of rate transparency for the consumer was an important element toward solving the problem. They were also in agreement that in addition to stronger transparency provisions, prices at both the wholesale and the end-customer levels would have to be regulated. Only in this manner could a clear reduction of roaming prices be achieved.

All ministers considered it to be of central importance for end customers to be offered an obligatory consumer protection rate. All further rate options would then be permissible in the interest of meeting the individual wishes of the consumer and guaranteeing the operators the possibility of innovative rate offerings. Whether or not this additional rate option is to be the object of price regulation was assessed differently by the various ministers.

The telecommunication ministers voiced their support for structuring the Regulation in as simple a manner as possible and keeping potential bureaucratic burdens at a minimum.

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Date: 15.03.2007