The European Union will force the use of USB-C as a charger in all mobile phones
The European Commission has announced its intentions plans to force manufacturers of smartphones and other electronic products to install a USB-C charging port in their devices that they want to sell in the European Economic Community and not include a charger. This measure is intended to reduce electronic waste by allowing people to reuse existing chargers and cables when purchasing new electronic devices.
In addition to phones, the rules will apply to other devices such as tablets, headphones, portable speakers, video game consoles, and cameras. Manufacturers will also be forced to make their fast charging standards interoperable and to provide information to customers on the charging standards that their device supports. Under the proposal, customers will be able to buy new devices without a charger because they will already have one from another device.
USB-C as European standard for electronic charging
The European Union proposals only cover devices that use wired chargers, not wireless ones. This means that if a device is exclusively charged wirelessly, a USB-C charging port would not be necessary.
To become law, the revised proposal for a Directive on radio equipment will have to be voted on in the European Parliament. If adopted, manufacturers will eventually have 24 months to comply with the new rules that would imply that every mobile must be compatible with any USB-C charger.
Thierry Breton, a spokesman for the proposal, says that European consumers will be able to use a single charger for all their portable electronic devices. It will be an important step in increasing convenience and reducing electronic and resource waste. Feel that we Europeans have accumulated incompatible chargers in our drawers.
Today’s proposal focuses on the charging port at the device end, but the Commission says it eventually hopes to ensure “full interoperability” at both ends of the cable, so that all USB-C cables are the same at both ends. The power supply end will be addressed in a review due later this year. Most affected would be Apple, which has been using its proprietary Lightning protocol for years, and cheaper phones that opt to use Micro-USB.
Source: The Verge
