Press Release: Roaming in the EU after the 30 July deadline: Most mobile operators comply with the law, but a few “black sheep” still jeopardise consumer benefits

One month after the EU Roaming Regulation to reduce mobile roaming charges by up to 70% entered into force, the Commission has published a website to benchmark how mobile operators in all 27 Member States have applied the new EU rules. The Commission has found that the broad majority of mobile phone operators comply with the EU Regulation by offering customers the new "Eurotariff" (tariffs no higher than €0.49 per minute for calls made abroad and no higher than €0.24 for calls received abroad, excluding VAT). The Commission notes that many operators offered the Eurotariff already at the start of July 2007 while others waited till just before the 30 July deadline. Some operators are also offering prices below the EU cap or new roaming packages. The implementation of the regulation by operators appears to be proceeding smoothly, even though some non-transparent offers risk depriving consumers of the new EU rules' full benefits.