The Ukrainian Parliament has passed in the first reading the draft law on a single roaming zone with the EU.
Draft Law No. 10265 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Implementation of European Legislation on Roaming” introduces the principles of the joint roaming area between Ukraine and the European Union in accordance with EU law.
What exactly
To this end, the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Communications” and the Law of Ukraine “On the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Postal Services” are being amended accordingly.
Thus, Article 1041 states:
“Roaming service providers shall not charge any surcharge on top of the domestic retail price to roaming users in any Member State of the European Union for any regulated calls made or received while roaming, for any sent regulated SMS messages in roaming or for any consumed regulated data services in roaming (access to the Internet), and they shall not charge any general fee for the use of terminal equipment or service abroad in any Member State of the European Union in accordance with paragraph four of this Article.”
However, it goes on to state that “roaming service providers may offer a different roaming charging system than the one described above, and roaming users may choose it if they wish”. But at the same time, operators must ensure that roaming users are able to revert to paying only the home retail price free of charge when roaming in any EU state!
What it gives to Ukrainians
Once the bill is enacted, Ukrainians will be able to avoid paying additional communication fees when traveling for up to 4 months in Europe. This rule will also apply to Europeans visiting Ukraine.
Ukraine’s accession to the roaming zone of the European Union is another step towards digital visa-free travel with the EU. Ukraine has committed itself to implementing EU roaming legislation by April 2024. This is one of the conditions for Ukraine’s European integration in the field of electronic communications.
Now we expect the draft law to be passed by the Ukrainian parliament as soon as possible. After all, we need to move together towards European integration in all spheres of life.
