Answer given by Mr Breton on behalf of the European Commission

21.11.2022

The Joint Statement[1] between EU and Ukrainian operators plays a key role in allowing millions of Ukrainian refugees to communicate for free or at affordable rates.

This voluntary initiative was prolonged on 8 October 2022 for a further three months. The Commission will continue encouraging such voluntary actions.

As announced by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union, the Commission is working on a longer-term arrangement for bringing Ukraine into the EU roaming area.

The Commission is looking into ways, which would achieve this aim while respecting international commitments. In the Association Committee in Trade Configuration on 25 October 2022, it was agreed to continue technical exchanges and agree on a way forward for bringing Ukraine into the EU free roaming area.

Possible solutions will depend also on indications from Ukraine’s side on the pace the country wishes to proceed with, and on the preparedness of Ukraine’s mobile communications operators for implementing the obligations included in the new Roaming Regulation (EU) 2022/612 and other relevant EU rules.

The Ukrainian national regulatory authority has recently started participating in the work of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and Ukraine will now be involved in its work related to roaming, including market monitoring.

BEREC and the Ukrainian national regulatory authority have also been monitoring the implementation of the Joint Statement and have collected extensive data for this purpose.

Any possible costs would vary, depending on the choice of the solution for the long-term arrangement.

• [1] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/joint-statement-eu-and-ukrainian-operators-help-refugees-ukraine-stay-connected