Ukrainian govt approves document enabling establishment of free roaming regime with EU

MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian government last Friday endorsed amendments to Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunications services), to Appendix XVII to the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement, creating a legal framework for the internal market regime in the telecommunications services sector, in particular, with regard to roaming in public mobile networks, which are provided for in the draft decision of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in its trade composition.

"We are moving towards a roaming visa-free regime with the EU. We approved a document that will allow Ukraine to conclude a relevant agreement with the European Union as early as this year," Ukrainian media quoted Prime Minister Denis Shmygal's post on social media.

He emphasized that joining the EU roaming area means not only abolishing fees for calls, but also modern, transparent European rules in the field of telecommunications.

It is stipulated that the legislation in the field of telecommunications services in Ukraine, in particular regarding roaming, will be supplemented with current amendments to the EU legislation.

As First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko commented on the document, the said government decision is one of the stages of implementation of the updated Priority Action Plan for enforcing the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement, which was agreed by the Economy Ministry and the European Commission (EC). The focus of this plan is Ukraine's integration into the EU internal market.

"The approval of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee's decision in the trade composition will create conditions for Ukraine to obtain the internal market regime in the area of roaming. This area will be a 'pilot' one for the Ukrainian full legal integration into the intra-European regulation this year," the press service for the Economy Ministry quoted Sviridenko as saying.

Previously, Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fyodorov said at a joint meeting of the government and the European Commission that by the end of the year Ukraine expects the EC assessment of the obligations undertaken under the "digital" Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This will make it possible to introduce the internal market regime in the sector of electronic communications with the EU (digital visa-free regime) as soon as possible. The submission of a request for evaluating the fulfillment of obligations according to the "digital" appendix to the Association Agreement is planned before the end of the year.

In early February, Ukrainian and European telecommunications operators extended the agreement on affordable roaming for six months. At the same time, it was reported that Ukraine is continuing talks on joining the EU single roaming area (the EU Roaming like Home policy), which should be completed with the finalized agreements in the near future.