A European Parliament Committee has today voted¹ to ban surcharges on intra-EU communications (calls, text messages and data usage) which would for example bring down prices for consumers when they call another EU country from home.

Surcharges on intra-EU calls are a longstanding source for consumer confusion and annoyance, despite caps of 0.19/minute having been introduced in 2019. Current rules are expected to expire in May 2024 and the Parliament is now asking to solve the problem once and for all. There is little justification from telecom operators for these surcharges which still make it expensive to call another EU country.

The end of roaming charges has been a widely-recognised EU success story. However, we are in a somewhat absurd situation that consumers can enjoy paying the same as back home when they are travelling, but not when they are at home and calling somebody abroad.

Ursula Pachl, Deputy Director General of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said:

“This is a terrific development which is long overdue. The Parliament is stepping up for consumers again. Calling somebody abroad from your home country can still be much more expensive than calling somebody in your own country or calling home when traveling abroad. This should not be the case in the 30 year-old EU Single Market. Since the end of roaming charges, this price differentiation stands out as confusing, disproportionate and unjustified: it's high time to end it. Member States and the Parliament should make sure this ban to surcharges becomes a reality before the EU elections and deliver consumers a real win.”

¹ This was part of a vote of the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee on the draft Gigabit Infrastructure Act.