> The roaming issue comes from roaming info usually being small footnotes, most consumers not thinking about the subject (and not considering they'd need it )
Then the EU should set standards for roaming advertising and contracts, not dictate the price.
I can't think of any other domain of business where a Western national or supra-national government set privte-sector prices because customers can't be trusted to read T&Cs.
Car rental contracts often have horrific small-print penalties for crossing intra-European state boundaries, but I don't see the EU intervening there.
>I can't think of any other domain of business where a Western national or supra-national government set privte-sector prices because customers can't be trusted to read T&Cs.
Example: California, fixing prices of electricity within the state. (not a good example, but one you should probably be aware of as it supports your argument while also giving you a clue that its not just the naughty euro-socialists doing these sorts of things..)
Anyway the EU are not setting prices because customers don't read T&C's. They're setting prices because their citizens get royally screwed by price gouging, whether they read the T&C or not, and its a serious economic issue in a region where cross-border travel is significantly higher than in any other part of the world.
Its one thing to assume that the EU is exerting some sort of fascist power over the free market and ruining it. Its another thing entirely when the EU actually does its job and protects the subjects of its member states from predatory business practices... but I guess this is an economics argument about the free market and capitalism, which I fear is not one you and I are about to form consensus. I'm quite happy for the telecom's to be getting their comeuppance in this market - the gouging is really, really heinous. For those of us who have to live here and work within the EU framework, this is exactly the sort of thing the EU is good for...
Then the EU should set standards for roaming advertising and contracts, not dictate the price.
I can't think of any other domain of business where a Western national or supra-national government set privte-sector prices because customers can't be trusted to read T&Cs.
Car rental contracts often have horrific small-print penalties for crossing intra-European state boundaries, but I don't see the EU intervening there.