Council of EU endorses idea to include Ukraine in European free roaming area

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - The Council of the European Union has endorsed a proposal from the European Commission on incorporating an agreement on a common free roaming area with Ukraine into the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the Digital Transformation Ministry's social media post on Tuesday.

"We're advancing toward mobile roaming with the EU. So that Ukrainians don't pay extra communication fees in Europe and Europeans in Ukraine, the Council of the EU has approved [the European Commission's] proposal and given the green light to a bilateral decision," Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education Development, Science, and Technology and Digital Transformation Minister Mikhail Fyodorov said on social media.

The agreement would make it cheaper for Ukrainians to call their relatives in Europe, operators will not charge 30 hryvni per minute, Ukrainians travelling to Europe will not have to change their sim cards, and their consumer rights will be protected in line with EU standards, Fyodorov said.

A final decision confirmed by the Council of the EU will have to be further approved by the EU-Ukraine Trade Committee to grant mutual internal market treatment for roaming.

As reported earlier, 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.

EU and Ukrainian telecom operators now offer affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine on a voluntary basis. Owing to this arrangement, about 4 million Ukrainian refugees in the EU have affordable connectivity. The voluntary measures were recently extended by another six months, and the new terms now apply also to calls to fixed-line numbers in Ukraine and new types of operators.