The European Court of Justice has ruled against Telefonica Germany regarding the automatic switch to regulated roaming tariffs. According to the court, roaming service providers were required to apply regulated roaming tariffs automatically to all their customers from 15 June 2017. Since then, roaming providers should not levy any surcharge to the domestic retail price to roaming customers in any EU member state, according to Articles 6a and 6e of Regulation (EU) No 531/2012, the court said in the ruling.
The German union of consumer organisations and associations brought an injunction against Telefonica before the regional court in Munich. It believed that Telefonica required O2 customers who, prior to 15 June 2017 were charged a rate different from the new regulated roaming tariff, to send O2 a special notification to benefit from the new regulated roaming tariff, and in particular the RLAH. The regional court of Munich referred the question to the European Court of Justice.
Telefonica said in a statement that it will analyse the decision of the ECJ in detail. At the time, it left the decision to switch to the new EU roaming tariff to its customers, because such a change is not always beneficial to them, it said. The company said it expects a further ruling by the regional court in Munich to clarify the matter. In principle, further legal remedies are possible against such a ruling, it said.
