Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 19 U.K. Review

1. The Commission shall review the functioning of this Regulation and, after a public consultation, shall report to the European Parliament and the Council by 30 June 2016. The Commission shall evaluate in particular whether the objectives of this Regulation have been achieved. In so doing, the Commission shall review, inter alia:

(a) whether competition has sufficiently developed in order to justify the expiry of maximum retail charges;

(b) whether competition will be sufficient for the removal of maximum wholesale charges;

(c) the developments and expected future trends in wholesale and retail charges for the provision to roaming customers of voice, SMS and data communication services, in comparison to the charges for mobile communications services at domestic level in the Member States, both for pre-paid and post-paid customers separately, and in the quality and speed of these services;

(d) the availability and quality of services including those which are an alternative to voice, SMS and data roaming services, in particular in the light of technological developments;

(e) the extent to which consumers have benefited through real reductions in the price of roaming services, the variety of tariffs and products which are available to consumers with different calling patterns, and the difference between roaming and national tariffs, including the availability of offers providing a single tariff for national and roaming services;

(f) the degree of competition in both the retail and wholesale markets, in particular the competitive situation of smaller, independent or newly started operators, including the competition effects of commercial agreements and the degree of interconnection between operators;

(g) the extent to which the implementation of the structural measures provided for in Articles 3 and 4 has produced results in developing competition in the internal market for roaming services to the extent that the difference between roaming and national tariffs has approached zero;

(h) the extent to which the level of wholesale and retail maximum charges has provided adequate safeguards against excessive prices for consumers while allowing the development of competition in the internal market for roaming services.

2. If the report shows that the structural measures provided for by this Regulation have not been sufficient to promote competition in the internal market for roaming services for the benefit of all European consumers or that the differences between roaming tariffs and national tariffs have not approached zero, the Commission shall make appropriate proposals to the European Parliament and the Council to address this situation and thus achieve an internal market for mobile communication services, ultimately with there being no difference between national and roaming tariffs. The Commission shall examine, in particular, whether it is necessary:

(a) to lay down additional technical and structural measures;

(b) to modify the structural measures;

(c) to extend the duration and possibly revise the level of the maximum retail charges provided for in Articles 8, 10 and 13;

(d) to change the duration or revise the level of maximum wholesale charges provided for in Articles 7, 9 and 12;

(e) to introduce any other necessary requirements, including non-differentiation of roaming and national tariffs.

3. In addition, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council every two years after the report referred to in paragraph 1. Each report shall include a summary of the monitoring of the provision of roaming services in the Union and an assessment of the progress towards achieving the objectives of this Regulation, including by reference to the matters referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.

4. In order to assess the competitive developments in the Union-wide roaming markets, BEREC shall regularly collect data from national regulatory authorities on the development of retail and wholesale charges for voice, SMS and data roaming services. Those data shall be notified to the Commission at least twice a year. The Commission shall make them public.

BEREC shall also annually collect information from national regulatory authorities on transparency and comparability of different tariffs offered by operators to their customers. The Commission shall make those data and findings public.