In 2019, EMERG members decided to explore the possibility to start a project for the development of a regional approach toward international roaming regulation, giving the task to the competent Expert working group, chaired by MOC Israel. To this aim, a first report has been prepared in the context of the EMERG Work Plan 2019 and in accordance with the strategic objectives laid down during EMERG 2019 plenary, which was held in Sarajevo on 26 March 2019. It summarizes the work done by the EMERG IR-EWG and lays down recommendations on how affordable, accessible and reliable roaming services in EMERG region can be provided. The report aims to ensure continuity in workflow and to set the foundations for future discussions on regional roaming agreement among EMERG members.
One of the results of the work done by the IR-EWG members indicates that as concluded by other regional groups, there is a considerable need to regulate roaming services and to ensure their provision on an affordable, accessible and reliable basis. This inference relies on the fundamental acknowledgments that currently, exorbitant international roaming prices undermine consumer benefits and hinder the efforts of EMERG Non-EU members to promote the digital economy and society in their respective countries.
Background
The European Mediterranean Regulators Group (EMERG) was established on July 1st, 2008 in Malta, as an independent platform of National Regulatory Authorities for Electronic Communications Networks and Services.
EMERG is open to any National Regulatory Authority (NRA) concerned with the electronic communications sector that is member of or observer in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) or party to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership launched within the framework of the Barcelona Declaration of November 28, 1995 and/or to the ENP-South countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
Currently, EMERG is integrated by the NRAs of 23 countries: Algeria, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, State of Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.