Interpretation of EU law concerning roaming charges - July 2012+

Ravelleman

I´d just like to see if people agree with me on this.

As many of you know, as of July 2012, mobile phone operators can charge a maximum of 9c per text message while the phone user is in another European Union state or three EEA member states. This, I believe, is what they refer to as Zone 1.

This is all well and good. However, am I right in saying that there is no maximum charge for text messages sent from within your home country to an international mobile number that is being used in either your state or any other in Zone 1? That is to say, if I send a message from my Irish phone to my Spanish girlfriend´s Spanish phone, while I am in Ireland and she is in Spain (or indeed Ireland). I know that if she were in Ireland her maximum charge per message would be 9c.

As far as we can tell she is being charged 9c per text to me when in Ireland but 60c per message while in Spain. This means that it is cheaper for her to send me messages while roaming in Hungary than it is while she is at home

If I am correct about this, it´s just another example of how the EU falls at the first hurdle when it comes to consumer issues.

I am charged 9c per message while in Spain and something very similar - possibly even 9c per message - while in Ireland.

The answer may be obvious but in Spain mobile phone operators really do try to cheat you out of money at every step - I know from experience - and to be honest, I don´t trust what they say in the shop. Vodafone in Ireland is a lot better than Vodafone in Spain, believe me!

Procrastastudy

Has this been enacted in to Irish law? EU law doesn't have effect here unless it has been as far as I know.

Ravelleman

It has been passed by the European Council so it is binding.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Lplated

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Has this been enacted in to Irish law? EU law doesn't have effect here unless it has been as far as I know.

This is wrong. Much EU law has direct effect in Ireland regardless of whether it has been enacted by Irish legislative process.

Lplated

OP, I can understand your frustration but to be fair it's not really the EU's job to dictate the price of anything. The EU only got involved in the phone charges controversy in the first place because of the excessive 'bill shock' that people were experiencing for downloading data on smart phones or otherwise.

I think July 2012 is the second [or third] step on their part to reduce the maxima that phone companies can charge.

The EU doesn't and can't control the internal laws or practices of any country, unless those laws are somehow in contravention of EU law - or to put it better,, the EU only has competence over legal areas specifically given to it by individual countries.

The price Spanish [or Irish etc] companies charge their domestic customers for domestic service is a matter for Spanish law, not EU.

The EU could only get involved in roaming where it became an inter-country matter.

Agent_99

Has been like that for a while, It was cheaper for me to text my mum O2 UK whilst I was roaming in NI 13c than it was for me to text her when I was at home from O2 IRE 25c, made the move to Meteor and now it's 13c all round.