The Trade (Mobile Roaming) Regulations 2023

PART 1 Preliminary provisions

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Trade (Mobile Roaming) Regulations 2023, and

(b) come into force on 6th April 2023.

Extent

2.  These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Definitions

3.  In these Regulations—

“the 2003 Act” means the Communications Act 2003(1);

“access-related condition” means a condition set as an access-related condition under section 45 of the 2003 Act;

“British provider” means a provider of a mobile phone service in the United Kingdom;

“customer” means, in relation to an overseas provider, a person who normally uses a mobile phone service of the provider in the country or territory of the provider;

“maximum rate” means the maximum rate specified in the Schedule;

“mobile phone service” has the meaning given in section 124S(10) of the 2003 Act(2);

“Ofcom” means the body corporate established under section 1(1) of the Office of Communications Act 2002(3);

“overseas provider” means a provider of a mobile phone service in a country or territory other than the United Kingdom;

“roaming agreement” means an agreement between a British provider and an overseas provider that enables a customer of the overseas provider to use a mobile phone service of the British provider while that customer is in the United Kingdom.

PART 2 Maximum rates chargeable to overseas providers

Limitation of Part 2

4.  Nothing in this Part—

(a) provides a right to the customers of an overseas provider to use a mobile phone service in the United Kingdom, or

(b) restricts a British provider from imposing conditions on the use of its mobile phone service to prevent abusive or anomalous usage by the customers of an overseas provider.

Iceland

5.—(1) This regulation applies to a British provider who has a roaming agreement with an overseas provider in Iceland.

(2) The British provider must not charge the overseas provider more than the maximum rate for the use of a mobile phone service in the United Kingdom by its customers.

Norway

6.—(1) This regulation applies to a British provider who has a roaming agreement with an overseas provider in Norway.

(2) The British provider must not charge the overseas provider more than the maximum rate for the use of a mobile phone service in the United Kingdom by its customers.

PART 3 Enforcement and information

Enforcement

Power of Ofcom to enforce maximum rates

7.—(1) Ofcom may enforce a requirement under Part 2.

(2) Sections 96A to 97 and 104 of the 2003 Act(4) apply for the enforcement of a requirement under Part 2 as they apply for the enforcement of an access-related condition.

Information

Power of Ofcom to require information for enforcement purposes

8.—(1) Ofcom may require information for the purpose of ascertaining whether a contravention of a requirement under Part 2 has occurred or is occurring.

(2) Section 135 of the 2003 Act(5) applies for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (1) as it applies for the purpose of ascertaining whether a contravention of an access-related condition has occurred or is occurring.

(3) Sections 138, 139(1) to (5) and 139A of the 2003 Act(6) apply for the enforcement of a requirement under section 135 of the 2003 Act as applied by paragraph (2) as they apply for the enforcement of any other requirement under section 135 of that Act.

PART 4 Dispute resolution and appeals

Dispute resolution

Power of Ofcom to resolve disputes

9.—(1) Ofcom may resolve a dispute relating to a requirement under Part 2.

(2) Sections 185 to 191(4) of the 2003 Act(7) apply in the case of a dispute relating to a requirement under Part 2 as they apply in the case of a dispute falling within section 185(1) of that Act.

(3) Sections 138, 139(1) to (5) and 139A of the 2003 Act apply for the enforcement of a requirement under section 191(1) of the 2003 Act as applied by paragraph (2) as they apply for the enforcement of a requirement under section 135 of that Act.

Appeals

Right of appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal

10.—(1) A person affected by a decision by Ofcom under the 2003 Act as applied by these Regulations may appeal against it to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

(2) Sections 192, 194A and 196 of the 2003 Act(8) apply in relation to a decision mentioned in paragraph (1) as they apply in relation to a decision mentioned in section 192(1)(a) of that Act.

(3) In this regulation, “Competition Appeal Tribunal” means the tribunal established under section 12(1) of the Enterprise Act 2002(9);

PART 5 Miscellaneous provisions

Service of notification and other documents

11.  Sections 394(3) to (10) of the 2003 Act apply in relation to any provision of that Act as applied by these Regulations that authorises or requires—

(a) a notification to be given to any person, or

(b) a document of any other description (including a copy of a document) to be sent to any person.

Consolidated Fund

12.  An amount paid to Ofcom in respect of a penalty imposed by it under the 2003 Act as applied by these Regulations must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Periodic review of regulatory provision

13.—(1) The Secretary of State must from time to time—

(a) carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations, and

(b) publish a report setting out the conclusions of that review.

(2) Section 30(3) of the 2015 Act(10) requires that, in relation to each international obligation of the United Kingdom implemented in these Regulations, the review must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how the obligation is implemented in other countries that are subject to the obligation.

(3) Section 30(4) of the 2015 Act requires that the report must, in particular—

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision,

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d) if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way that involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(4) Section 30(5) of the 2015 Act requires that the first report must be published before the fifth anniversary of the date on which these Regulations come into force (see regulation 1(b)).

(5) Section 30(6) of the 2015 Act requires that subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

(6) In this regulation—

“the 2015 Act” means the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(11);

“regulatory provision” has the meaning given in section 32 of the 2015 Act.

Revocations

14.  The enactments cited in the table are revoked(12).

Title	Number
Regulation (EU) No 531/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2012 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union	EUR 2012/531
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2116 of 28 November 2019 setting the weighted average of maximum mobile termination rates across the Union and repealing Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1979	EUR 2019/2116
The Mobile Roaming (European Communities) Regulations 2007	S.I. 2007/1933
The Mobile Roaming (European Communities) (Amendment) Regulations 2009	S.I. 2009/1591
The Mobile Roaming (European Communities) (Amendment) Regulations 2013	S.I. 2013/822
The Mobile Roaming (European Communities) (Amendment) Regulations 2014	S.I. 2014/2715
The Mobile Roaming (EU Exit) Regulations 2019	S.I. 2019/587

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Name

Title

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Date