Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 November 2012
124. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to his statement on 30 May 2012 welcoming the formal decision on that date by the EU Competitiveness Council regarding data roaming costs, if he will update Dáil Éireann on the implementation to date of that decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48904/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing the Council decision referred to in the question, “EU Regulation 531/2012 of 13 June 2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks” was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the 30 June last and became directly applicable to mobile roaming services providers on the following day. The purpose of the Regulation is to provide increased levels of consumer protection for customers using mobile phone roaming services. The Regulation requires recurring reductions in the maximum permitted roaming charges over time out to 2014, imposes obligations on service providers to circulate better consumer information to customers including early warnings if the aggregate bill for roaming is rising above €50 in any month and to implement structural changes to permit increased competition in the provision of roaming services.
This is the third in a series of EU Regulations to increase the level of consumer protection for mobile phone users when using roaming services. The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) was designated as the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) in Ireland for the purpose of the previous Regulations (EC) No 717/2007, as amended by (EC) No 544/2009. My Department is currently drafting regulations to designate ComReg as the NRA in Ireland for the purposes of the current Regulation.
At the end of July last ComReg published a document [12/83] “Implementation of EU Roaming Regulation by Irish Mobile Companies - 9th wave of Irish and EU aggregated data” which, among other things, sets out the main obligations arising for roaming service providers under the most recent EU Regulation.
