On march 18, 2019, Berec issued guidelines on intra-EU communications.

In the light of the new European Electronic Communications Code, the Board of Regulators of the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) adopted guidelines on intra-EU communications, starting to fulfil the tasks entrusted to it by the co-legislators.

From 15 May, a new EU Regulation means operators must offer tariffs to consumers with a maximum charge of €0.19 a minute for intra-EU calls and €0.06 per intra-EU SMS (excluding VAT).

BEREC has issued guidelines on how the new rules should be applied. The main points of the guidelines include:

• Making it clear that the obligation applies to fixed and mobile calls and SMS tariffs offered to consumers, but that tariffs for business customers are excluded
• Consumers can also be offered alternative tariffs, which do not comply with the caps, but consumers must opt in. In the case of consumers already on alternative tariffs having higher than the price cap prices, they must opt in within 2 months or be moved to a standard tariff
• The guidelines specify the criteria and benchmarks that NRAs should use in assessing applications for derogation from the price caps
• The guidelines also provide a template for NRAs to use when monitoring the market and price developments, so that BEREC can report to the Commission

 “The guidelines on intra-EU communications give clarity to operators, regulators and consumers alike. There has been a very short time between adoption of the Regulation on intra-EU communications and it coming into force. Experts from BEREC have worked intensely on the guidelines, and have addressed a broad range of issues that operators considered needed to be clarified. The success of this work demonstrates the value of using experts from national regulatory agencies to develop detailed rules for the sector” said Jeremy Godfrey, 2019 BEREC Chair.

Retrieved from Berec.europa.eu

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