FantasticSearch

Transparency of retail conditions for roaming calls and SMS messages

1. To alert roaming customers to the fact that they will be subject to roaming charges when making or receiving a call or when sending an SMS message, each roaming provider shall, except when the customers have notified the roaming provider that they do not require this service, provide the customers, by means of an automatic message, without undue delay and free of charge, when they enter a Member State other than that of their domestic provider, with basic personalised pricing information on the roaming charges, including VAT, that apply to the making and receiving of calls and to the sending of SMS messages by that customer in the visited Member State. That basic personalised pricing information shall be expressed in the currency of the home bill provided by the customer’s domestic provider and shall include information on:

(a) any fair use policy that the roaming customer is subject to within the Union and the surcharges which apply in excess of any limits under that fair use policy; and (b) any surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6. Roaming providers shall provide roaming customers, when they enter a Member State other than that of their domestic provider, with information on the potential risk of increased charges due to the use of value-added services by means of an automatic message, without undue delay and free of charge, except where a roaming customer has notified its roaming provider that it does not require this service. Such information shall include a link to access, free of charge, a dedicated webpage providing up-to-date information about the types of services that may be subject to increased costs and, where available, information about numbering ranges for value-added services or other relevant additional information contained in the database established pursuant to Article 16, first paragraph, point (a), in accordance with Article 16, third paragraph. The webpage shall include information about charges applicable to freephone numbers while roaming, if any. The basic personalised pricing information referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall also include the free-of-charge number referred to in paragraph 2 for obtaining more detailed information. On the occasion of each message, customers shall have the opportunity to give notice to the roaming provider, free of charge and in an easy manner, that they do not require the automatic message. Customers who have given notice that they do not require the automatic message shall have the right at any time and free of charge to require the roaming provider to provide the service again. Roaming providers shall provide customers with disabilities with the basic personalised pricing information referred to in the first subparagraph automatically, by voice call, free of charge, if they so request. With the exception of the reference to any fair use policy and the surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6, the first, second, fifth and sixth subparagraphs of this paragraph shall also apply both to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers when connecting to national or international non-terrestrial public mobile communications networks, and provided by a roaming provider and to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider.

2. In addition to the information provided for in paragraph 1, customers shall have the right to request and receive, free of charge, and irrespective of their location within the Union, more detailed personalised pricing information on the roaming charges that apply in the visited network to voice calls and SMS messages, and information on the transparency measures applicable by virtue of this Regulation, by means of a mobile voice call or by SMS messages. Such a request shall be to a free-of-charge number designated for this purpose by the roaming provider. Obligations provided for in paragraph 1 shall not apply to devices which do not support SMS functionality.

3. The roaming provider shall send a notification to the roaming customer when the applicable fair use volume of regulated voice, or SMS, roaming services is fully consumed or any usage threshold applied in accordance with Article 6 is reached. That notification shall indicate the surcharge that will be applied to any additional consumption of regulated voice, or SMS, roaming services by the roaming customer. Each customer shall have the right to require the roaming provider to stop sending such notifications and shall have the right, at any time and free of charge, to require the roaming provider to provide the service again.

4. Roaming providers shall provide all customers with full information on applicable roaming charges, when subscriptions are taken out. They shall also provide their roaming customers with updates on applicable roaming charges without undue delay each time there is a change in these charges. Roaming providers shall send a reminder at reasonable intervals thereafter to all customers who have opted for another tariff.

5. Roaming providers shall make available information to their customers on how to effectively avoid inadvertent roaming in border regions. Roaming providers shall take all reasonable steps to protect their customers from paying roaming charges for inadvertently accessed roaming services while situated in their home Member State.

6. Roaming providers shall take all reasonable steps to protect their customers from paying additional charges for voice calls and SMS messages for inadvertently connecting to non-terrestrial public mobile networks, such as enabling roaming customers to opt out of connecting to non-terrestrial networks. Where such an opt-out mechanism is offered, the roaming customer shall have the right to opt out from the use of non-terrestrial networks at any time, easily and free of charge and to request the reinstatement of the connection to such networks.