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THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207(4), first subparagraph, in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,Whereas:
(1)The Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other partnote (the ‘Agreement’) entered into force on 1 September 2017.
(2)Pursuant to Article 11 of Annex XVII to the Agreement, the Association Committee in Trade configuration (the ‘Trade Committee’) may modify Annex XVII to the Agreement.
(3)In the course of 2025, the Trade Committee should adopt a draft Decision on modifying Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) of Annex XVII to the Agreement.
(4)As stated in the preamble to the Agreement and in accordance with Article 124 of the Agreement, the Parties to the Agreement recognise the importance of the approximation of Ukraine’s existing legislation to that of the European Union, meaning that Ukraine is to ensure that its existing laws and future legislation should be made gradually compatible with the Union acquis.
(5)Ukraine has requested further integration with regard to the roaming sector in the Union, in particular through internal market treatment for the purpose of roaming services.
(6)Therefore, Part A of Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) of Annex XVII to the Agreement should be modified in order to adapt to new circumstances and to ensure legal certainty.
(7)To ensure legal certainty as regards the scope of the Union acquis regarding roaming, it should be specified which provisions are relevant for this purpose. In view of the particular difficulties it is facing, as a result of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, Ukraine should be granted additional time to fully implement the Union acquis regarding roaming, where appropriate. Due to the expiry of the timetable agreed with Ukraine to implement Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote, a new timetable should be agreed with Ukraine in this respect. To ensure the application of reciprocity for any new Union average wholesale roaming charges or termination rates, specific rules should be provided. In view of existing textual discrepancies, the prevalence of the text of the Union Regulations referred to in Part A of Appendix XVII-3 of Annex XVII to the Agreement over any act incorporating them into Ukraine’s legal order should be ensured.
(8)It is therefore appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf within the Trade Committee, as the Decision modifying Part A of Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) of Annex XVII to the Agreement will be binding upon the Union,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1#
The position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the course of 2025 within the Association Committee in Trade configuration (the ‘Trade Committee’) established by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part, as regards the modification of Part A of Appendix XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services) of Annex XVII to that Agreement, shall be based on the draft Decision of the Trade Committee attached to this Decision.
Part A of Appendix XVII-3 of Annex XVII to the Agreement is replaced by the following text:
‘A.Overall European electronic communications policyDirective (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote
(1)as regards the political independence and accountability of the national regulatory authority of Ukraine, Article 8(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be fully implemented within 5 years of the date specified in an eventual decision by the Trade Committee for the granting of internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII. In particular, measures aimed at abolishing the obligation for regulatory legal acts of the national regulatory authority of Ukraine to undergo the procedure of state registration by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine shall be adopted. This adaptation is without prejudice to Ukraine’s obligation to implement all other requirements set out in Article 8(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972;
(2)as regards the termination conditions of the mandate of the college members of the national regulatory authority of Ukraine, Article 7(2) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be fully implemented within 5 years of the date specified in an eventual decision by the Trade Committee for the granting of internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII;
(3)as regards the power of the national regulatory authority of Ukraine to take urgent interim measures to remedy the situation in advance of reaching a final decision, where it has evidence of a breach of the conditions of the general authorisation, Article 30(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be fully implemented within 5 years of the date specified in an eventual decision by the Trade Committee for the granting of internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII. This adaptation is without prejudice to Ukraine’s obligation to implement all other requirements set out in Article 30(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972.
—take appropriate and proportionate legislative, technical and organisational measures, taking into account the framework of measures presented in the “Cybersecurity of 5G networks EU Toolbox of risk mitigating measures” published following Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/534note, when it comes to appropriately managing the risks posed to the security of networks and services.
—Article 11 – Cooperation with national authorities
—Article 40 – Exchange of information, paragraphs (1), (2), (4), and (5)
—Article 12 – General authorisation of electronic communications networks and services
—Article 42 – Declarations of interests, paragraphs (1) and (2).
—Article 13 – Conditions attached to the general authorisation and to the rights of use for radio spectrum and for numbering resources, and specific obligations, except all mentions to the rights of use for radio spectrum and numbering resources and the cross references to Article 45, Article 51, Article 62, Article 68, Article 83, and Article 94
—Article 14 – Declarations to facilitate the exercise of rights to install facilities and rights of interconnection
—Article 15 – Minimum list of rights derived from the general authorisation
—Article 16 – Administrative charges
—Article 17 – Accounting separation and financial reports
—Article 18 – Amendment of rights and obligations, except all mentions to the rights of use for radio spectrum, numbering resources and to install facilities
—Article 19 – Restriction or withdrawal of rights, except all mentions to the rights of use for radio spectrum, numbering resources and to install facilities
—Article 20 – Information request to undertakings
—Article 1 – Subject matter, scope and aims
—implement Articles 2 to 6 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120.
—monitor fair competition in the electronic communications markets, in particular concerning cost-oriented prices for services.
—Article 1 – Subject matter and scope, paragraph (5)
—Article 12 – Review.
—Article 3 – Objectives of BEREC, paragraph (5)
—Article 2 – Definitions, points (1) and (2), (4) to (11), (13) to (16), (22), (27) to (34), (36), and (38) to (40)
—Article 21 – Information required with regard to the general authorisation, rights of use and specific obligations, except all mentions to rights of use and specific obligations and the cross references to Article 13(2), Article 22, and Annex I, parts D and E
—Article 23 – Consultation and transparency mechanism, except paragraph (2) and the cross references to Article 32(10), and Article 45(4) and (5)
—Article 24 – Consultation of interested parties
—Article 25 – Out-of-court dispute resolution
—Article 26 – Dispute resolution between undertakings
—Article 27 – Resolution of cross-border disputes, paragraphs (1) and (2), and paragraphs (4) to (6)
—Article 29 – Penalties, paragraph (1)
—Article 30 – Compliance with the conditions of the general authorisation or of rights of use for radio spectrum and for numbering resources and compliance with specific obligations, except all mentions to the rights of use for radio spectrum and numbering resources and the cross references to Article 4, Article 13(2), Article 45(1), Article 47, Article 67, and Article 69
—Article 31 – Right of appeal
—Article 59 – General framework for access and interconnection
—Article 3 – Wholesale roaming access, paragraph (8)
—With regard to national calls originated from and terminated to Ukrainian numbers in Ukraine, Article 1(3) shall become applicable within 3 years of the date specified in an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII
—Article 4 – Regulatory tasks of BEREC, paragraph (4)
—Article 3 – General objectives
—Article 60 – Rights and obligations of undertakings, paragraphs (1) and (2)
—Article 61 – Powers and responsibilities of the national regulatory and other competent authorities with regard to access and interconnection, paragraph (1), paragraph (2), points (a) to (c), paragraphs (3), (5), and (6)
—Article 75 – Termination rates, paragraphs (2) and (3)
—Article 93 – Numbering resources, the first subparagraph of paragraph (5)
—Article 97 – Access to numbers and services
—Article 99 – Non-discrimination
—Article 100 – Fundamental rights safeguard
—Article 108 – Availability of services
—Article 111 – Equivalent access and choice for end-users with disabilities
—Article 120 – Publication of information
—Article 4 – Provision of regulated retail roaming services, paragraph (3)
—Article 1(4) shall be implemented before an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for telecommunications services pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII
—Article 7 – Composition of the Board of Regulators, paragraphs (1) to (3)
—Article 5 – National regulatory and other competent authorities
—Article 122 – Review procedures, the second and third subparagraphs of paragraph (1)
—Annex I – List of conditions which may be attached to general authorisations, rights of use for radio spectrum and rights of use for numbering resources, parts A to C
—Annex III – Criteria for the determination of wholesale voice termination rates.
—Article 7 – Implementation of fair use policy and of sustainability mechanism, paragraphs (1) to (3) and (5). The exception regarding Article 7(1) to (3) is without prejudice to Ukraine’s obligation to implement the implementing acts on the application of fair use policies, the methodology for assessing sustainability of the provision of retail roaming services at domestic prices and the application to be submitted by a roaming provider for the purpose of the assessment of the sustainability
—Article 4(2) to (5)
—Article 8 – Independence of the Board of Regulators
—Article 6 – Independence of national regulatory and other competent authorities
—Article 8 – Exceptional application of retail surcharges for the consumption of regulated retail roaming services and provision of alternative tariffs, paragraph (6)
—Article 5(2).
—Article 11 – Meetings of the Board of Regulators, paragraph (5)
—Article 7 – Appointment and dismissal of members of national regulatory authorities
—The first and third subparagraphs of Article 16 – Databases of numbering ranges for value-added services and means of access to emergency services
—Article 12 – Voting rules of the Board of Regulators, paragraph (2)
—Article 8 – Political independence and accountability of the national regulatory authorities
—Article 20 – Committee procedure
—Article 15 – Composition of the Management Board, paragraphs (1) to (3)
—Article 9 – Regulatory capacity of national regulatory authorities
—Article 21 – Review
—Article 18 – Meetings of the Management Board, paragraph (5)
—Article 10 – Participation of national regulatory authorities in BEREC
—Article 23 – Repeal.
—Article 38 – Confidentiality, paragraph (2)
Without prejudice to Ukraine’s obligation to implement Directive (EU) 2018/1972 fully and completely for the purpose of an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for telecommunication services pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII, for the purpose of an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII:In the event the reciprocal granting of internal market treatment pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII to the Agreement for roaming on public mobile communication networks precedes the expiry of the deadlines set out in points (1) to (3) above, Article 5(4) to (6) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 applies mutatis mutandis.Without prejudice to Ukraine’s obligation to implement Directive (EU) 2018/1972 fully and completely for the purpose of an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for telecommunication services pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII, for the purpose of an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII the following provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 need to be implemented:Timetable: without prejudice to the specific deadlines related to provisions relevant for internal market treatment for roaming, the provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be implemented by 31 December 2028.Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteTimetable: the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 shall be implemented by 31 December 2025.Commission Directive 2002/77/ECnoteDirective 98/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteTimetable: the provisions of the above acts shall be implemented within 2 years of the entry into force of this Agreement.Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteDirective 2000/31/EC covers all information society services, both business to business and business to consumer, i.e. any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of a recipient of a service.Timetable: the provisions of Directive 2000/31/EC shall be implemented within 3 years of the entry into force of this Agreement.Directive 2014/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteTimetable: the provisions of Directive 2014/61/EU shall be implemented by 31 December 2021.Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteThe provisions of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 shall, for the purposes of this Agreement, be read with the following adaptations: Article 1(4) refers to reference exchange rates published by the European Central Bank in the Official Journal of the European Union. For as long as the European Central Bank does not publish exchange rates for the Ukrainian hryvnia, exchange rates between the euro and the Ukrainian hryvnia published by the National Bank of Ukraine shall be used for the purposes of applying Article 1(4). The reference periods and conditions laid down in Article 1(4) remain unchanged.Implement all provisions with the exception of:In case the average wholesale charge set out in Article 9(1), Article 10(1), or Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 is amended after an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII, its compulsory application for the purposes of this Agreement starts on the same date for both Parties. This is either the date of entry into force of the relevant amendment to Regulation (EU) 2022/612 or the date of entry into force of Ukraine’s fully compliant legislation implementing the relevant amendment to Regulation (EU) 2022/612, following its confirmation by the assessment pursuant to Article 5(4) of Annex XVII, whichever date is last, or other date of entry into force agreed by both Parties to avoid the retroactive application effect. Until that date, the previously regulated charges remain applicable for the purposes of this Agreement.Without prejudice to Article 2(1) and Article 2(2) of Annex XVII, in the event of discrepancies between the text of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 and any act incorporating it into the Ukrainian legal order, the text of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 shall prevail.Timetable: the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 shall be implemented within 12 months of the date of entry into force of Decision No 1/2023 of the EU-Ukraine Association Committee in Trade configurationnote (“Decision No 1/2023”).Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286noteImplement all provisions with the exception of:Without prejudice to Article 2(1) and Article 2(2) of Annex XVII, in the event of discrepancies between the text of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 and any act incorporating it into the Ukrainian legal order, the text of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 shall prevail.Timetable: the provisions of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2286 shall be implemented within 12 months of the date of entry into force of Decision No 1/2023.Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654noteThe provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 shall, for the purposes of this Agreement, be read with the following adaptations: Article 3(2) and Article 3(3) refer to reference exchange rates published by the European Central Bank in the Official Journal of the European Union. For as long as the European Central Bank does not publish exchange rates for the Ukrainian hryvnia, exchange rates between the euro and the Ukrainian hryvnia published by the National Bank of Ukraine shall be used for the purposes of applying Article 3(2) and Article 3(3). The reference periods and conditions laid down in Article 3(2) and Article 3(3) remain unchanged.In case any of the termination rate set out in Article 4(1) or Article 5(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 is amended after an eventual decision by the Trade Committee to grant internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII, its compulsory application for the purposes of this Agreement starts on the same date for both Parties. This is either the date of entry into force of any amendment to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 or the date of entry into force of Ukraine’s fully compliant legislation implementing the relevant amendment to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654, following its confirmation by the assessment pursuant to Article 5(4) of Annex XVII, whichever date is last, or other date of entry into force agreed by both Parties to avoid the retroactive application effect. Until that date, the previously regulated termination rates remain applicable for the purposes of this Agreement.Without prejudice to Article 2(1) and Article 2(2) of Annex XVII, in the event of discrepancies between the text of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 and any act incorporating it into the Ukrainian legal order, the text of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 shall prevail.Timetable: the provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 shall be implemented before those of Regulation (EU) 2022/612 and within 11 months of the date of entry into force of Decision No 1/2023, with the following exceptions:Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilnoteImplement the following provisions:The national regulatory authority of Ukraine with primary responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day operation of the markets for electronic communications networks and services shall participate fully in the work of the Board of Regulators of BEREC, the working groups of BEREC and the Management Board of the BEREC Office. The national regulatory authority of Ukraine shall have the same rights and obligations as the national regulatory authorities of the EU Member States, except for the right to vote and for the Chairmanship of the Board of Regulators and of the Management Board.In light thereof, the national regulatory authority of Ukraine shall be represented at an appropriate level in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1971. In accordance with the relevant rules of Regulation (EU) 2018/1971, BEREC and the BEREC Office shall, as the case may be, assist the national regulatory authority of Ukraine in the performance of its tasks.The national regulatory authority of Ukraine shall take the utmost account of any guideline, opinion, recommendation, common position and best practices adopted by BEREC with the aim of ensuring the consistent implementation of the regulatory framework for electronic communications. For the purpose of internal market treatment for roaming pursuant to Article 4(3) of Annex XVII, the national regulatory authority of Ukraine shall take the utmost account of any guideline adopted by BEREC with the aim of ensuring the consistent implementation of the regulatory framework on roaming and shall provide reasons when deviating from such a guideline.Without prejudice to Article 2(1) and Article 2(2) of Annex XVII, in the event of discrepancies between the text of Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 and the act(s) incorporating it into the Ukrainian legal order, the text of Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 shall prevail.Timetable: the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 shall be implemented within 12 months of the date of entry into force of Decision No 1/2023.’.
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