The sheet to print
Roaming: the one-page file
Seven reflexes, in travel order, from landing to complaint. Each carries the text it stands on.
File EU 2022/612
This page is made to be printed: when printing, the whole screen around it disappears.
Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Keep the border text of every country
It is compulsory, free and automatic: it confirms the roaming, recalls your fair use policy and your pricing. It is the reference exhibit of any future dispute. Screenshot, travel folder.
Article 13(1) · Regulation (EU) 2022/612, Article 13 (Transparency of retail conditions), paragraph 1, first subparagraph · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Do not buy what the Regulation gives you
The default regime is your plan at the domestic price across the Union. Specific roaming contracts, at tariffs outside EU rules, apply only if you specifically choose them. A daily “peace of mind” pack often swaps a free protection for a paid one.
Section “Other contracts” · Roaming: specific contracts outside EU rules · europa.eu - 03
At sea and in the air, look at the network name
Connected to a terrestrial network, your domestic rate applies. On a satellite system, EU rules no longer apply and nothing caps the prices any more: flight mode or roaming off for the crossing.
Section “Can I roam while travelling by ship or plane?” · Roaming: ships, planes and satellite networks · europa.eu - 04
Treat consumption alerts as instruments
An alert at 80 % of the agreed limit, a notification before it is exceeded, and an automatic cut-off unless you expressly ask to continue: the safeguard mechanism works for you, provided you read its messages.
Article 14(4) · Regulation (EU) 2022/612, Article 14 (Transparency and safeguard mechanisms for data), paragraph 4 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Demand the notification before any surcharge
A fair use excess is notified when the volume is used up, with the surcharge rate announced. A line that appears straight on the bill, without that alert ever existing, is disputed by naming that missing step.
Article 14(3) · Regulation (EU) 2022/612, Article 14 (Transparency and safeguard mechanisms for data), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 06
Compare the house policy with the Regulation's floor
Any fair use policy must enable you to consume, at the domestic price, volumes consistent with your tariff plan. A clause in the terms and conditions that goes below is not saved by its mere publication online.
Article 5(1) · Regulation (EU) 2022/612, Article 5 (Fair use), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 07
Climb the two steps of the complaint
The operator first, through its complaint procedure, in writing and with your exhibits. Then your country's national regulatory authority, which handles your case. No amount is too small for that counter.
Section “If things go wrong - your consumer rights” · Roaming: the complaint, from the operator to the national authority · europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/la-facture-de-roaming-surprise · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
Your plan travels at the domestic price
No surcharge on top of the domestic retail price for calls made or received, texts and data while roaming in the Union, and no general charge for activating the service abroad. The only provisos are Articles 5 and 6 of the Regulation, themselves tightly framed.
The official text · Article 4(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R0612“1. Roaming providers shall not levy any surcharge in addition to the domestic retail price on roaming customers in any Member State for any regulated roaming calls made or received, for any regulated roaming SMS messages sent or for any regulated data roaming services used, nor shall they levy any general charge to enable the terminal equipment or service to be used abroad, subject to Articles 5 and 6.”
A fair use policy must respect your plan
The fair use policy exists to prevent abusive usage, such as living permanently on another country's SIM card. But it must enable you to consume, at the domestic price, volumes consistent with your tariff plan: it fences in abuse, not your holidays.
The official text · Article 5(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R0612“1. Roaming providers may apply in accordance with this Article and the implementing acts adopted pursuant to Article 7 a fair use policy to the consumption of regulated retail roaming services provided at the applicable domestic retail price level, in order to prevent abusive or anomalous usage of regulated retail roaming services by roaming customers, such as the use of such services by roaming customers in a Member State other than that of their domestic provider for purposes other than periodic travel. Any fair use policy shall enable the roaming provider's customers to consume volumes of regulated retail roaming services at the applicable domestic retail price that are consistent with their respective tariff plans.”
The information message at every border
On entering another Member State, your operator sends you, free of charge and without undue delay, an automatic message with the basic personalised information: your pricing, your fair use policy, the charges beyond it. It is your reference exhibit in any dispute.
The official text · Article 13(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R0612“1. To alert roaming customers to the fact that they will be subject to roaming charges when making or receiving a call or when sending an SMS message, each roaming provider shall, except when the customers have notified the roaming provider that they do not require this service, provide the customers, by means of an automatic message, without undue delay and free of charge, when they enter a Member State other than that of their domestic provider, with basic personalised pricing information on the roaming charges, including VAT, that apply to the making and receiving of calls and to the sending of SMS messages by that customer in the visited Member State.”
A safeguard limit against the runaway bill
EUR 50
A default financial limit, close to but not exceeding EUR 50 of outstanding charges per monthly billing period, excluding VAT, applies to every customer who has not chosen another one. An alert at 80 %, a notification before it is exceeded, and if you do not reply, the operator immediately ceases to provide and to charge. It is not a price: it is a net.
The official text · Article 14(4)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R0612“One of those limits (the default financial limit) shall be close to, but not exceed, EUR 50 of outstanding charges per monthly billing period, excluding VAT. […] Each roaming provider shall also ensure that an appropriate notification is sent directly to the roaming customer's mobile device, for example by an SMS message, an email, means of a text message or a pop-up window on the computer, when the data roaming services have reached 80 % of the agreed financial or volume limit. […] If the roaming customer does not respond as prompted in the notification received, the roaming provider shall immediately cease to provide and to charge the roaming customer for regulated data roaming services, unless and until the roaming customer requests the continued or renewed provision of those services.”
No fair use surcharge without a notification
When the volume corresponding to fair use is fully consumed, the operator sends a notification stating the surcharge applicable to any further consumption. A surcharge that appears straight on the bill, without that alert, skipped a written step.
The official text · Article 14(3)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022R0612“3. The roaming provider shall send a notification when the applicable fair use volume of regulated data roaming service is fully consumed or any usage threshold applied in accordance with Article 6 is reached. That notification shall indicate the surcharge that will be applied to any additional consumption of regulated data roaming services by the roaming customer.”
A complaint in two steps, both of them written
First the operator, through its complaint procedure. Then, if the answer does not satisfy you, the relevant national regulatory authorities in your country, who will handle your case. No minimum amount is required anywhere.
The official text · Section “If things go wrong - your consumer rights”
Your Europe · European Union · https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/internet-telecoms/mobile-roaming-costs/index_en.htm“If you think your service provider has not respected your rights, you should contact your operator and use the complaint procedure in place. If you are not satisfied with their response you can contact the relevant national regulatory authorities in your country, usually your national telecoms regulator, who will handle your case.”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official site of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The amounts and deadlines quoted are copied from the official text or the official page, whose link appears under each right.
File EU 2022/612
The items in this file
Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.