International roaming regulation

Regulation (EU) 531/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on roaming on public mobile communications networks in the EU, as amended, has brought residents of the EU Member States and other EEA countries (Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland) the possibility to use mobile services when travelling in EEA countries on domestic terms, with the abolition of surcharges for roaming within the EU from 15 June 2017.

Since that date, outgoing regulated roaming calls, SMS and data usage have been charged at the same prices as in the Czech Republic, with domestic prices for calls and SMS to other networks within the Czech Republic being considered domestic prices. Travellers must also continue to be wary of value-added services that are usually associated with numbers starting with 9 (so-called premium rate calls and SMS), and domestic conditions do not automatically apply to calls to "free lines" (typically 800, 0800, etc.) with all roaming providers.

More detailed rules on the use of roaming, including the so-called 'fair usage policy' in accordance with Article 6b of the Regulation (relating in particular to the reasonable consumption of data services) and the conditions for the 'sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges' in accordance with Article 6c of the Regulation (the possibility to charge surcharges as a last resort under strictly defined conditions) are regulated by the European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 and the relevant BEREC Guidelines on retail roaming (BoR (17)56 with a working translation into Czech language), which also serve to clarify other provisions of the Regulation (e.g. on transparency in the provision of roaming). The rules for the wholesale provision of roaming services (roaming providers vis-à-vis each other) are set out in the BEREC Guidelines on wholesale roaming (BoR (17)114, in English only).

Further information

List of BEREC guidelines
List of Commission regulations
FAQ (EU webpage)