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Document 02015R2120-20240515
Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications and amending Directive 2002/22/EC and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 (Text with EEA relevance)
Consolidated text: Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications and amending Directive 2002/22/EC and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 (Text with EEA relevance)
Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications and amending Directive 2002/22/EC and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 (Text with EEA relevance)
In force
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02015R2120 — EN — 15.05.2024 — 003.001
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►M2 REGULATION (EU) 2015/2120 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 November 2015 laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications and amending Directive 2002/22/EC and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 ◄ (OJ L 310 26.11.2015, p. 1) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/1972 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2018 |
L 321 |
36 |
17.12.2018 |
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REGULATION (EU) 2018/1971 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2018 |
L 321 |
1 |
17.12.2018 |
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REGULATION (EU) 2024/1309 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2024 |
L 1309 |
1 |
8.5.2024 |
REGULATION (EU) 2015/2120 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 25 November 2015
laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications and amending Directive 2002/22/EC and Regulation (EU) No 531/2012
(Text with EEA relevance)
Article 1
Subject matter and scope
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions set out in Article 2 of Directive 2002/21/EC apply.
The following definitions also apply:
‘provider of electronic communications to the public’ means an undertaking providing public communications networks or publicly available electronic communications services;
‘internet access service’ means a publicly available electronic communications service that provides access to the internet, and thereby connectivity to virtually all end points of the internet, irrespective of the network technology and terminal equipment used;
‘regulated intra-EU communications’ means any number-based interpersonal communications service originating in the Member State of the consumer’s domestic provider and terminating at any fixed or mobile number of the national numbering plan of another Member State, and which is charged wholly or partly based on actual consumption;
‘number-based interpersonal communications service’ means number-based interpersonal communications service as defined in point (6) of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 );
‘number-independent interpersonal communications service’ means number-independent interpersonal communications service as defined in Article 2, point (7), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 );
‘domestic communications’ means any number-based interpersonal communications service originating in the Member State of the consumer’s domestic provider and terminating at any fixed or mobile number of the national numbering plan of the same Member State;
‘intra-EU communications’ means any number-based interpersonal communications service originating in the Member State of the consumer’s domestic provider and terminating at any fixed or mobile number of the national numbering plan of another Member State.
Article 3
Safeguarding of open internet access
This paragraph is without prejudice to Union law, or national law that complies with Union law, related to the lawfulness of the content, applications or services.
The first subparagraph shall not prevent providers of internet access services from implementing reasonable traffic management measures. In order to be deemed to be reasonable, such measures shall be transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate, and shall not be based on commercial considerations but on objectively different technical quality of service requirements of specific categories of traffic. Such measures shall not monitor the specific content and shall not be maintained for longer than necessary.
Providers of internet access services shall not engage in traffic management measures going beyond those set out in the second subparagraph, and in particular shall not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate between specific content, applications or services, or specific categories thereof, except as necessary, and only for as long as necessary, in order to:
comply with Union legislative acts, or national legislation that complies with Union law, to which the provider of internet access services is subject, or with measures that comply with Union law giving effect to such Union legislative acts or national legislation, including with orders by courts or public authorities vested with relevant powers;
preserve the integrity and security of the network, of services provided via that network, and of the terminal equipment of end-users;
prevent impending network congestion and mitigate the effects of exceptional or temporary network congestion, provided that equivalent categories of traffic are treated equally.
Providers of electronic communications to the public, including providers of internet access services, may offer or facilitate such services only if the network capacity is sufficient to provide them in addition to any internet access services provided. Such services shall not be usable or offered as a replacement for internet access services, and shall not be to the detriment of the availability or general quality of internet access services for end-users.
Article 4
Transparency measures for ensuring open internet access
Providers of internet access services shall ensure that any contract which includes internet access services specifies at least the following:
information on how traffic management measures applied by that provider could impact on the quality of the internet access services, on the privacy of end-users and on the protection of their personal data;
a clear and comprehensible explanation as to how any volume limitation, speed and other quality of service parameters may in practice have an impact on internet access services, and in particular on the use of content, applications and services;
a clear and comprehensible explanation of how any services referred to in Article 3(5) to which the end-user subscribes might in practice have an impact on the internet access services provided to that end-user;
a clear and comprehensible explanation of the minimum, normally available, maximum and advertised download and upload speed of the internet access services in the case of fixed networks, or of the estimated maximum and advertised download and upload speed of the internet access services in the case of mobile networks, and how significant deviations from the respective advertised download and upload speeds could impact the exercise of the end-users’ rights laid down in Article 3(1);
a clear and comprehensible explanation of the remedies available to the consumer in accordance with national law in the event of any continuous or regularly recurring discrepancy between the actual performance of the internet access service regarding speed or other quality of service parameters and the performance indicated in accordance with points (a) to (d).
Providers of internet access services shall publish the information referred to in the first subparagraph.
This paragraph shall apply only to contracts concluded or renewed from 29 November 2015.
Article 5
Supervision and enforcement
National regulatory authorities shall publish reports on an annual basis regarding their monitoring and findings, and provide those reports to the Commission and to BEREC.
Article 5a
Retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications
National regulatory authorities shall monitor the market and price developments for regulated intra-EU communications and shall report to the Commission.
Where a provider of regulated intra-EU communications establishes that, due to specific and exceptional circumstances distinguishing it from most other Union providers, the application of the cap referred to in paragraph 1 would have significant impact on that provider’s capacity to sustain its existing prices for domestic communications, a national regulatory authority may, upon that provider’s request, grant a derogation from paragraph 1 only to the extent necessary and for a renewable period of one year. The assessment of the sustainability of the domestic charging model shall be based on relevant objective factors specific to the provider of regulated intra-EU communications, as well as the level of domestic prices and revenues.
Where the applicant provider has discharged the applicable evidentiary burden, the national regulatory authority shall determine the maximum price level in excess of one or both of the caps set out in paragraph 1 which would be indispensable in order to ensure the sustainability of the provider’s domestic charging model. BEREC shall publish guidelines on the parameters to be taken into account by national regulatory authorities in their assessments.
The assessment referred to in paragraph 9 shall include:
the evolution of the wholesale costs related to the provision of intra-EU communications;
the evolution of competition in the market for the provision of number-based interpersonal communications services and the trend of the retail prices of intra-EU communications within the different Member States;
the evolution of consumer preferences and choice of special offers and bundles not charged on the basis of actual consumption of intra-EU communications;
the possible impact on the national markets for the provision of number-based interpersonal communications services and in particular on the retail prices charged to consumers at large, taking into account the costs of providing intra-EU communications, and the potential impact of the measures on revenues for the providers and, if possible, investment capacity of the providers, in view in particular of the future roll-out of networks in line with the connectivity targets set out in Decision (EU) 2022/2481 where additional charges for intra-EU communications are not already applied;
the extent of the usage, availability and competitiveness of number-independent interpersonal communications services or any alternatives to intra-EU communications;
the evolution of tariff plans as regards the intra-EU communications, and in particular, the extent to which the implementation of the measures provided for in paragraph 8, has produced results in the direction of the elimination of retail price differences for consumers between domestic and intra-EU communications.
Article 5b
Committee procedure
Article 6
Penalties
Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of Articles 3, 4 and 5 and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the Commission of those rules and measures by 30 April 2016 and shall notify the Commission without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them.
Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of Article 5a and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify the Commission of the rules and measures laid down to ensure the implementation of Article 5a by 15 May 2019 and shall notify the Commission without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them.
Article 7
Amendments to Regulation (EU) No 531/2012
Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 is amended as follows:
In Article 2, paragraph 2 is amended as follows:
points (i), (l) and (n) are deleted;
the following points are added:
‘domestic retail price’ means a roaming provider’s domestic retail per-unit charge applicable to calls made and SMS messages sent (both originating and terminating on different public communications networks within the same Member State), and to data consumed by a customer; in the event that there is no specific domestic retail per-unit charge, the domestic retail price shall be deemed to be the same charging mechanism as that applied to the customer for calls made and SMS messages sent (both originating and terminating on different public communications networks within the same Member State), and data consumed in that customer’s Member State;
‘separate sale of regulated retail data roaming services’ means the provision of regulated data roaming services provided to roaming customers directly on a visited network by an alternative roaming provider.’.
In Article 3, paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:
Article 4 is amended as follows:
the title is replaced by the following:
‘Separate sale of regulated retail data roaming services’;
in paragraph 1, the first subparagraph is deleted;
paragraphs 4 and 5 are deleted.
Article 5 is amended as follows:
the title is replaced by the following:
‘Implementation of separate sale of regulated retail data roaming services’;
paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:
paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
in paragraph 3, the introductory words are replaced by the following:
The following Articles are inserted:
‘Article 6a
Abolition of retail roaming surcharges
With effect from 15 June 2017, provided that the legislative act to be adopted following the proposal referred to in Article 19(2) is applicable on that date, roaming providers shall not levy any surcharge in addition to the domestic retail price on roaming customers in any Member State for any regulated roaming calls made or received, for any regulated roaming SMS messages sent and for any regulated data roaming services used, including MMS messages, nor any general charge to enable the terminal equipment or service to be used abroad, subject to Articles 6b and 6c.
Article 6b
Fair use
Any fair use policy shall 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.
Article 6c
Sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges
Article 6d
Implementation of fair use policy and of sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges
As regards Article 6b, when adopting implementing acts laying down detailed rules on the application of fair use policy, the Commission shall take into account the following:
the evolution of pricing and consumption patterns in the Member States;
the degree of convergence of domestic price levels across the Union;
the travelling patterns in the Union;
any observable risks of distortion of competition and investment incentives in domestic and visited markets.
As regards Article 6c, when adopting implementing acts laying down detailed rules on the methodology for assessing the sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges for a roaming provider, the Commission shall base them on the following:
the determination of the overall actual and projected costs of providing regulated retail roaming services by reference to the effective wholesale roaming charges for unbalanced traffic and a reasonable share of the joint and common costs necessary to provide regulated retail roaming services;
the determination of overall actual and projected revenues from the provision of regulated retail roaming services;
the consumption of regulated retail roaming services and the domestic consumption by the roaming provider’s customers;
the level of competition, prices and revenues in the domestic market, and any observable risk that roaming at domestic retail prices would appreciably affect the evolution of such prices.
Article 6e
Provision of regulated retail roaming services
Without prejudice to the second subparagraph, where a roaming provider applies a surcharge for the consumption of regulated retail roaming services in excess of any limits under any fair use policy, it shall meet the following requirements (excluding VAT):
any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls made, regulated roaming SMS messages sent and regulated data roaming services shall not exceed the maximum wholesale charges provided for in Articles 7(2), 9(1) and 12(1), respectively;
the sum of the domestic retail price and any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls made, regulated roaming SMS messages sent or regulated data roaming services shall not exceed EUR 0,19 per minute, EUR 0,06 per SMS message and EUR 0,20 per megabyte used, respectively;
any surcharge applied for regulated roaming calls received shall not exceed the weighted average of maximum mobile termination rates across the Union set out in accordance with paragraph 2.
Roaming providers shall not apply any surcharge to a regulated roaming SMS message received or to a roaming voicemail message received. This shall be without prejudice to other applicable charges such as those for listening to such messages.
Roaming providers shall charge roaming calls made and received on a per second basis. Roaming providers may apply an initial minimum charging period not exceeding 30 seconds to calls made. Roaming providers shall charge their customers for the provision of regulated data roaming services on a per-kilobyte basis, except for MMS messages, which may be charged on a per-unit basis. In such a case, the retail charge which a roaming provider may levy on its roaming customer for the transmission or receipt of a roaming MMS message shall not exceed the maximum retail charge for regulated data roaming services set out in the first subparagraph.
During the period referred to in Article 6f(1), this paragraph shall not preclude offers which provide roaming customers, for a per diem or any other fixed periodic charge, with a certain volume of regulated roaming services consumption on condition that the consumption of the full amount of that volume leads to a unit price for regulated roaming calls made, calls received, SMS messages sent and data roaming services which does not exceed the respective domestic retail price and the maximum surcharge as set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.
The weighted average of maximum mobile termination rates shall be based on the following criteria:
the maximum level of mobile termination rates imposed in the market for wholesale voice call termination on individual mobile networks by the national regulatory authorities in accordance with Articles 7 and 16 of the Framework Directive and Article 13 of the Access Directive, and
the total number of subscribers in Member States.
Without prejudice to the first subparagraph, roaming providers shall apply a tariff set in accordance with Articles 6a and 6b, and paragraph 1 of this Article to all existing and new roaming customers automatically.
Any roaming customer may, at any time, request to switch to or from a tariff set in accordance with Articles 6a, 6b, 6c and paragraph 1 of this Article. When roaming customers deliberately choose to switch from or back to a tariff set in accordance with Articles 6a, 6b, 6c and paragraph 1 of this Article, any switch shall be made within one working day of receipt of the request, shall be free of charge and shall not entail conditions or restrictions pertaining to elements of the subscriptions other than roaming. Roaming providers may delay a switch until the previous roaming tariff has been effective for a minimum specified period not exceeding two months.
Roaming providers shall ensure that a contract which includes any type of regulated retail roaming service specifies the main characteristics of that regulated retail roaming service provided, including in particular:
the specific tariff plan or tariff plans and, for each tariff plan, the types of services offered, including the volumes of communications;
any restrictions imposed on the consumption of regulated retail roaming services provided at the applicable domestic retail price level, in particular quantified information on how any fair use policy is applied by reference to the main pricing, volume or other parameters of the provided regulated retail roaming service concerned.
Roaming providers shall publish the information referred to in the first subparagraph.
Article 6f
Transitional retail roaming surcharges
Articles 8, 10 and 13 are deleted.
Article 14 is amended as follows:
in paragraph 1, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:
‘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:
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
any surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6c.’;
in paragraph 1, the sixth subparagraph is replaced by the following:
‘The first, second, fourth and fifth subparagraphs, with the exception of the reference to the fair use policy and the surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6c, shall also apply to voice and SMS roaming services used by roaming customers travelling outside the Union and provided by a roaming provider.’;
the following paragraph is inserted:
paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:
Roaming providers shall send a reminder at reasonable intervals thereafter to all customers who have opted for another tariff.’.
Article 15 is amended as follows:
paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
That basic personalised tariff information shall include information on:
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
any surcharge applied in accordance with Article 6c.
The information shall be delivered to the roaming customer’s mobile device, for example by an SMS message, an e-mail or a pop-up window on the mobile device, every time the roaming customer enters a Member State other than that of his domestic provider and initiates for the first time a data roaming service in that particular Member State. It shall be provided free of charge at the moment the roaming customer initiates a regulated data roaming service, by an appropriate means adapted to facilitate its receipt and easy comprehension.
A customer who has notified his roaming provider that he does not require the automatic tariff information shall have the right at any time and free of charge to require the roaming provider to provide this service again.’;
the following paragraph is inserted:
in paragraph 3, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:
in paragraph 6, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:
Article 16 is amended as follows:
in paragraph 1, the following subparagraph is added:
‘National regulatory authorities shall strictly monitor and supervise roaming providers availing themselves of Article 6b, 6c and 6e(3).’;
paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:
Article 19 is replaced by the following:
‘Article 19
Review
That report shall be accompanied by an appropriate legislative proposal preceded by a public consultation, to amend the wholesale charges for regulated roaming services set out in this Regulation or to provide for another solution to address the issues identified at wholesale level with a view to abolishing retail roaming surcharges by 15 June 2017.
In addition, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council every two years after the submission of the report referred to in paragraph 2. Each report shall include, inter alia, an assessment of:
the availability and quality of services, including those which are an alternative to regulated retail voice, SMS and data roaming services, in particular in the light of technological developments;
the degree of competition in both the retail and wholesale roaming markets, in particular the competitive situation of small, independent or newly started operators, including the competition effects of commercial agreements and the degree of interconnection between operators;
the extent to which the implementation of the structural measures provided for in Articles 3 and 4 has produced results in the development of competition in the internal market for regulated roaming services.
On the basis of collected data, BEREC shall also report regularly on the evolution of pricing and consumption patterns in the Member States both for domestic and roaming services and the evolution of actual wholesale roaming rates for unbalanced traffic between roaming providers.
BEREC shall also annually collect information from national regulatory authorities on transparency and comparability of different tariffs offered by operators to their customers. The Commission shall make those data and findings public.’.
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Article 9
Review clause
By 30 April 2019, and every four years thereafter, the Commission shall review Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 and shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council thereon, accompanied, if necessary, by appropriate proposals with a view to amending this Regulation.
Article 10
Entry into force and transitional provisions
It shall apply from 30 April 2016, except for the following:
In the event that the legislative act to be adopted following the proposal referred to in Article 19(2) of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 is applicable on 15 June 2017, point 5 of Article 7 of this Regulation, as regards Articles 6a to 6d of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012, point 7(a) to (c) of Article 7 of this Regulation and point 8(a), (b) and (d) of Article 7 of this Regulation shall apply from that date.
In the event that that legislative act is not applicable on 15 June 2017, point 5 of Article 7 of this Regulation, as regards Article 6f of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012, shall continue to apply until that legislative act becomes applicable.
In the event that that legislative act becomes applicable after 15 June 2017, point 5 of Article 7 of this Regulation, as regards Articles 6a to 6d of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012, point 7(a) to (c) of Article 7 of this Regulation and point 8(a), (b) and (d) of Article 7 shall apply from the date of application of that legislative act;
the conferral of implementing powers on the Commission in point 4(c) of Article 7 of this Regulation and in point 5 of Article 7 of this Regulation, as regards Articles 6d and 6e(2) of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012, shall apply from 29 November 2015;
Article 5(3) shall apply from 29 November 2015;
point 10 of Article 7 of this Regulation shall apply from 29 November 2015.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
( 1 ) Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36).
( 2 ) Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (OJ L 321, 17.12.2018, p. 36).
( 3 ) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31).
( 4 ) Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37).
( 5 ) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1203/2012 of 14 December 2012 on the separate sale of regulated retail roaming services within the Union (OJ L 347, 15.12.2012, p. 1).