Recently, it was proposed to include roaming in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
Thus, the European Commission took another step towards allowing Ukraine to join the “roaming European Union”. This will allow Ukrainians to travel within the EU without additional fees for using mobile communications, and EU citizens will have the same rights when in Ukraine.
To remind, BRDO experts called for Ukraine to be urgently joined to the roaming space of the EU as early as March 2022.
Why is this important?
This event marks the first extension of the EU internal market regime to Ukraine. The implementation of the free roaming zone in the EU for Ukraine is a key measure outlined in the updated Priority Action Plan. The document is designed to integrate Ukraine into the EU Single Market and fully implement a deep and comprehensive free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first announced the initiative in her 2022 address. This proposal will now be considered by the Council of the European Union, and the Ukraine-EU Trade Committee must make a joint decision on the mutual provision of the internal market regime for roaming. The speed of Ukraine’s integration into the EU’s internal roaming market will depend on the pace of approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation.
Background
Since 2017, Ukraine has repeatedly raised the issue of canceling roaming charges in the EU for our citizens. But as a first step, the EU proposed to create a common roaming space between the countries of the Eastern Partnership, and only after that to join them to the roaming space of the EU.
The war significantly changed the situation.
Currently, EU and Ukrainian telecommunications operators offer affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine on a voluntary basis, and this arrangement has recently been extended to include calls to landline numbers and new types of operators.