European Commission initiated inclusion of Ukraine into European roaming zone
The European Commission proposed to include an agreement on a free telephone roaming zone with Ukraine in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
This is stated by Censor.NЕТ with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
As noted, this will be the first time the EU's internal market regime will be extended to Ukraine.
"The inclusion of Ukraine in the EU's free roaming zone is one of the key actions of the revised Priority Action Plan. This plan is a roadmap for the full implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between the EU and Ukraine and Ukraine's further integration into the EU Single Market," the European Commission said in a statement on its website.
The European Commission notes that Ukrainians will no longer have to pay any additional fees for using their cell phones while traveling to the EU. EU travelers will have the same rights when visiting Ukraine.
"Today's move follows the announcement by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union Address in 2022 to include Ukraine in the free roaming zone. It also follows the Commission's engagement with EU and Ukrainian operators to adopt voluntary measures allowing affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine, which were recently extended," the European Commission said.
This proposal will now be considered by the EU Council. According to the Council's agreement, the EU-Ukraine Trade Committee should adopt a joint decision on granting reciprocal internal market treatment for roaming. "The speed with which Ukraine will integrate into the EU's internal roaming market will depend on the speed of convergence and implementation of the relevant EU legislation in Ukraine," the statement said.
The European Commission notes that currently, EU and Ukrainian telecom operators offer affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine on a voluntary basis. Thanks to this arrangement, about 4 million Ukrainian refugees in the EU have affordable communication. The voluntary measures were recently extended for six months, and the new arrangement now also applies to calls to fixed line numbers in Ukraine, as well as to new types of operators.
