This morning the European Parliament in plenary session approved by a large majority the directive establishing the new European Code for electronic communications. Thanks to this directive, all calls, both landline and mobile, between European Union countries will cost a maximum of 19 euro cents per minute. SMS must cost a maximum of 6 cents. VAT will have to be applied to this figure, which as regards Italy means an increase of 22 percent. Today the cost per minute for a call to another state of the Union varies from 5 to 80 cents.
The directive will be ratified in the coming weeks by the Council of the EU, which had already approved it : it will enter into force on May 15, 2019. “Anyone will feel free to call home in any country of the European Union they are,” explained Dita Charanzová, MEP from the Czech Republic who collaborated in the drafting of the text.
The electronic communications legislation currently in force dates back to 2009, but the world of telecommunications has undergone radical changes since then. The new Code was designed to adapt the European rules in the sector – for example by obliging messaging services to provide an end-to-end encryption system, that is, making messages visible only to sender and receiver – and in part to protect better consumers. For example, the new directive will make it even easier to switch operators or receive compensation in case of inconvenience.
The text of the directive does not contain the value of the maximum cost for calls and SMS. The rapporteur of the proposal, the Spanish Pilar Del Castillo Vera, answering a question from the Post said that the ceiling of 19 cents per minute for telephone calls between EU countries, for example, is a technically agreed figure that will be included in the regulations. which will be applied in the individual nation states. From the date of entry into force of the directive, the states of the European Union will have two years to insert the new Electronic Communications Code into national legislation.
Patrizia Toia, a European parliamentarian of the Democratic Party, which has often dealt with telecommunications, explained that the directive approved today is only the first step towards the definitive abolition of the additional costs for calling all over Europe: “we did this also with roaming. First we imposed a ceiling: it is the way to “cut the nails” to the operators and start a discourse of killing. It is the first step to say, attention: you cannot make money on international calls », Which at the moment do not involve additional costs for European companies.
As Toia explains, the directive approved today completes the” roaming package “, that is the provision that in June 2017 led to abolition of additional costs for those from abroad who used their mobile phone for calls, SMS and internet. Among other measures, it also includes a mandatory 112 alarm service to alert people via SMS in the event of an imminent and serious emergency, such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The new directive also provides for an increase in investments to bring the 5G network, that is the fifth generation network that will allow a faster connection, and simpler procedures for companies that sell digital services and who intend to work in European cities by 2020. all EU countries.
