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European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR)
  • News article
  • 14 February 2023
  • Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations
  • 3 min read

A further step towards a long-term ‘Roam like at home' agreement with Ukraine

Roaming ukr

Ukraine is one step closer to the EU's free roaming area today, as the Commission adopted a proposal to incorporate roaming into the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Once in place, Ukrainian visitors will no longer have to pay any additional charges to use their mobile phones when travelling in the EU, while travellers from the EU will benefit from the same rights when visiting Ukraine.

Bringing Ukraine into the EU free roaming area is one of the key actions of the revised Priority Action Plan. This plan is the roadmap for the full implementation of the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) and Ukraine's further integration into the EU Single Market. This is the first instance of an extension of EU internal market treatment to Ukraine.

Today's step follows the announcement of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union Address, to bring Ukraine into the free roaming area. It also follows the Commission's engagement with EU and Ukrainian operators with a view to put in place voluntary measures to allow affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine, which were just extended.

Next steps

The proposal will now be considered by the Council of the European Union. Following the Council's agreement, a Joint Decision will need to be taken by the EU-Ukraine Trade Committee to grant mutual internal market treatment for roaming.

The pace at which Ukraine will be integrated in the EU internal market for roaming will depend on the pace of approximation and implementation of relevant EU legislation in Ukraine.

Background

At the moment, EU and Ukrainian telecom operators offer affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine, on a voluntary basis. Thanks to this arrangement, around 4 million people fleeing the war have affordable connectivity while they seek shelter in the EU. The voluntary measures were recently extended by six months and the new arrangement now also covers calls to fixed line numbers in Ukraine as well as new types of operators.

The Association Agreement, including a DCFTA between the EU and Ukraine was signed on 21 March and 27 June 2014. The DCFTA has been provisionally applied since 1 January 2016. The Association Agreement entered into force on 1 September 2017.

The Priority Action Plan for 2021-2022 was put in place to spur the implementation process of the DCFTA. Since the European Council has granted Ukraine candidate status on 23 June 2022, the EU and Ukraine have reached a new stage in their relationship. In the EU-Ukraine Association Committee in Trade Configuration on 25-26 October 2022 both sides agreed to revise and extend the Priority Action Plan to reflect these new priorities for 2023-2024.

The proposal adopted today is for a Council Decision on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Association Committee in Trade Configuration as regards the amendment of Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) to the Association Agreement.

For More Information

Quote(s)

Today we propose to a first step towards bringing Ukraine into the EU free roaming area, on a long-term basis, so that citizens in the EU and Ukraine can call, text and use the Internet without extra costs when travelling abroad. Just like the Roam-like-at-home that Europeans are very familiar with. This step will further support the country’s advancement on its European path and into the EU Single Market.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age - 14/02/2023

 

Bringing Ukraine into our ‘roam like at home’ initiative means we have reached the next important milestone in our ever-deepening relationship. It will make life easier for Ukrainian citizens coming to the EU, and help EU citizens travelling to Ukraine. It demonstrates our clear commitment to fully implement our ambitious Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, and represents yet another sign that Ukraine’s future is in the EU.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade - 14/02/2023

 

Today’s proposal brings Ukrainian citizens closer to benefiting from an important Single Market feature by roaming without surcharges when travelling within the EU. It is the first time we propose to open our ‘roam like at home’ area to a country outside the EU and EEA on a long term basis. It is also a first step towards potential further integration in the telecoms area.

Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market - 14/02/2023

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