Ukraine may join EU's free mobile roaming space in 2024 - ministry official

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - Ukraine may join the Roam-Like-At-Home (RLAF) free mobile roaming zone in 2024 if all necessary legal changes are implemented in less than 12 months, the head of the Ukrainian Digital Transformation Ministry's telecoms development department, Taras Stetsenko, said in an interview with Ukrainian media.

"If we talk specifically about the roaming sector, we will have 12 months to implement [a package of legislative norms]. The EU plans to assess our compliance with roaming obligations next year. But we plan to complete their implementation earlier to ensure that the ball is in the EU's court for such an assessment before the end of the year. On the whole, yes, we plan to become part of the EU's common digital market before acquiring membership," Stetsenko said.

If all goes well, Ukraine will be able to join the EU's RLAH zone in 2024, he said.

The Ukrainian government earlier finalized the internal procedure for updating Addendum 17-3 of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The Council of the EU carried out a similar internal procedure a few days ago. Following approval of these updates by the trade structure of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee, which is expected to happen in May, Ukraine will have 12 months to implement a list of legislative norms in order to be able to join the EU's free roaming space. Afterwards, based on an EU assessment, a final decision will be made as to when Ukraine may join the RLAH zone.