ROAMING REGULATION

On 9 December the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the Roaming Regulation. The Regulation introduces the following new rules:

(*) The operators are obliged to adequately inform their customers about extra charges when abroad, so that they can make informed choices about using such services. The new regulation guarantees better information and an automatic interruption of such services when the bill reaches a cost of €50, or another predefined limit. The operators may offer additional services, such as the possibility to opt out from roaming on planes and boats.

(*) If specific factors could impact the quality of the roaming experience, the operators will be required to promptly inform their customers.

(*) Customers have enhanced access to emergency communications including caller location, free of charge. Operators will ensure that customers are informed of the possibility to access emergency services through ‘112', the single European emergency number and other alternative means of access, such as via real-time-text or available apps, for people with disabilities. By June 2023, the operators will automatically inform customers via a text message of available alternative means of accessing emergency services.

(*) The agreed new wholesale caps are the following:

• For data services: 2 €/GB in 2022 (1 July 2022),1.8 €/GB in 2023, 1.55 €/GB in 2024, 1.3 €/GB in 2025, 1.1 €/GB in 2026 and 1 EUR/GB from 2027 onwards.
• For voice: 0.022 €/min in 2022-2024 (1 July 2022) and 0.019 €/min from 2025 onwards.
• For SMS: 0.004 €/SMS in 2022-2024 (1 July 2022) and 0.003 €/SMS from 2025 onwards.

               Next steps:

(*) The European Commission should also evaluate the measures on intra-EU communications and verify whether and to what extent there is an ongoing need to reduce caps to protect consumers.

(*) 1 July 2022: the rules will enter into force.

(*) The new regulation will prolong until 2032 the existing system.

The European Commission's press release can be found here.

The European Parliament's press release can be found here.
The Council of the EU's press release can be found here.

              

THE COMMISSION OPENS IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION IN THE PROPOSED REGULATION OF SOME FIBRE NETWORKS IN DENMARK

The Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the Danish Business Authority (DBA)’s draft market analysis with regard to the regulation of some regional fibre networks in Denmark.

In a series of draft measures, the Danish regulator DBA has defined and analysed two separate wholesale markets: a low capacity infrastructure market (including copper networks) and a high capacity infrastructure market (including fibre and cable networks).

The Commission has serious doubts as to the compatibility of the related draft measures with EU law and considers it necessary to initiate an in-depth investigation.

More information can be found here.

Next steps:

BEREC shall publish an opinion on the Commission’s reservations whether it considers that the drat measure should be maintained, amended or withdrawn.

 

DATA ACT: CONSULTATION RESULTS

On 6 December the European Commission published the results from the open public consultation on the Data Act. The consultation ran from 3 June to 3 September 2021. The responses show that while businesses engage in data sharing, data transactions are still held back by numerous obstacles of a technical or legal nature.
The contributions of the stakeholders can be found here.

PROTECTING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

On 10 December the European Commission published its annual report on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU.

The report focuses on five key policy areas: tackling the challenges of online moderation, safeguarding fundamental rights where artificial intelligence is used, addressing the digital divide, protecting people working through platforms and supervising digital surveillance.

The report can be downloaded from here

DIGITAL PRINCIPLES: EUROBAROMETER SURVEY

In September and October the Eurobarometer conducted a survey among the EU citizens regarding the digital principles promoted in the Commission's Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade. Some of the results are the following:

• 80% of the EU citizens think that the use of the digital tools and the Internet will bring at least as many advantages as disadvantages. However, 12% of the EU citizens expects more disadvantages than advantages from the use of digital tools and Internet by 2030.
• 56% of the EU citizens expressed their concern about cyber-attacks and cybercrime such as theft or abuse of personal data, malicious software, or phishing.
• 34% of EU citizens worry about the difficulty of disconnecting and finding a good online/offline life balance.
• Almost 40% of EU citizens are not aware that their rights such as the freedom of expression, privacy, or non-discrimination should also be respected online.

The press release can be found here.

Next steps:

The outcome of this first Eurobarometer survey will help develop the proposal for a European declaration on digital rights and principles of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

EU-US JOINT TECHNOLOGY COMPETITION

On 7 December the European Commission, the US Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice issued a joint statement. The documents underlines the intention of the three authorities to collaborate to ensure and promote fair competition, on the basis of the common belief that vigorous and effective competition enforcement benefits consumers, businesses, and workers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The press release can be found here

                

TEST YOUR DIGITAL SKILLS

The European Commission launched a new digital tool to help the respondents understand their strengths, weaknesses and to find appropriate training opportunities regarding their digital skills. This initiative contributes to the Digital Decade strategy and one of its targets: that 80% of Europeans will be equipped with at least basic digital skills by 2030.

More information can be found here.