L 17210 Official Journal of the European Union 30.6.2012 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 (recast) (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), After consulting the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3), Whereas: (1) Regulation (EC) No 717/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2007 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Community ) has been substantially amended (%). Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity. The objective of reducing the difference between national and roaming tariffs, which was included in the Commis- sion’s Benchmarking Framework 2011-2015, endorsed by the 12010 High Level Group in November 2009, and included in the Commission Communication entitled ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe, should also remain the goal of this Regulation. The envisaged separate sale of roaming services and domestic services should increase competition and therefore lower the prices for customers and create an internal market for roaming services in the Union with no significant differ- entiation between national and roaming tariffs. () O] C 24, 28.1.2012, p. 131. (3) Position of the European Parliament of 10 May 2012 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 30 May 2012. () OJ L 171, 29.6.2007, p. 32. (*) See Annex I. Union-wide roaming services can stimulate the devel- opment of an internal telecommunications market in the Union. An internal telecommunications market cannot be said to exist while there are significant differences between domestic and roaming prices. Therefore the ultimate aim should be to eliminate the difference between domestic charges and roaming charges, thus establishing an internal market for mobile communication services. The high level of voice, SMS and data roaming prices payable by users of public mobile communication networks, such as students, business travellers and tourists, acts as an obstacle to using their mobile devices when travelling abroad within the Union and is a matter of concern for consumers, national regulatory authorities, and the Union institutions, constituting a significant barrier to the internal market. The excessive retail charges are resulting from high wholesale charges levied by the foreign host network operator and also, in many cases, from high retail mark-ups charged by the customer’s own network operator. Due to a lack of competition, reductions in wholesale charges are often not passed on to the retail customer. Although some operators have recently introduced tariff schemes that offer customers more favourable conditions and somewhat lower prices, there is still evidence that the relationship between costs and prices is far from what would prevail in competitive markets. High roaming charges constitute an impediment to the Union’s efforts to develop into a knowledge-based economy and to the realisation of an internal market of 500 million consumers. Mobile data traffic is facilitated by allocating sufficient radio spectrum in order for consumers and businesses to use voice, SMS and data services anywhere in the Union. By providing for the allocation of sufficient and appropriate spectrum in a timely manner to support Union policy objectives and to best meet the increasing demands for wireless data traffic, the multiannual radio spectrum policy programme established by Decision No 243/2012/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (°) will pave the way for a development that will allow the Union to take the global lead on broadband speeds, mobility, coverage and capacity, facilitating the emergence of new business models and technologies, thereby contributing to reducing the structural problems at roaming wholesale level. (°) Decision No 243/2012EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 establishing a multiannual radio spectrum policy programme (O] L 81, 21.3.2012, p. 7).