In one of the rare European agreements reached in terms of technology, the European institutions agreed on the single charging standard, USB Type-C, which technology manufacturers will have to adopt from the autumn of 2024.
Listen to this article
One of the post WWDC 2022 news to be reported most in the mainstream media in these hours, in the technological field, concerned an agreement on charging technologies, reached by the Parliament and the European Commission.
Last September, the European Commission, in recalling the good work done with manufacturers, which in a decade had reduced the types of chargers for smartphones from 30 to 3, had identified USB Type-C as the architrave of the charging system universal, including charging technologies, connectors, and battery chargers. In April, then, the European Parliament headquartered in Strasbourg, in the form of a committee for the internal market and consumer protection, had reached an agreement to amend the Radio Equipment Directive to this effect.
Now, from the confrontation with the European Commission, a provisional agreement has been reached in the same direction, which will then be formally approved: at that point the publication in the European Official Journal will take place. Twenty days after this publication, the entry into force will follow, while the actual application will have to wait 24 months. The end result will be that, by autumn 2024, all medium and small-level electronic equipment will have to mount a USB Type-C port for charging.
Among the equipment provided in this time range are smartphones, cell phones, tablets, earphones, headphones, speakers, ebook readers, mice and keyboards, consoles, portable geonavigators: for notebooks, a more time for manufacturers to adapt, given that the obligation to support charging via Type-C will only be effective 40 months after the directive enters into force.
Under the terms of the agreement, aimed at simplifying the lives of consumers (also in terms of giving up unnecessary expenses, given the estimated savings of 250 million euros in unnecessary chargers), and to reduce technological waste (to date, every year, there are “11 thousand tons of disposed and unused loaders”), there are also other details.
For example, with regard to the charging speed, also to avoid “sabotage” in the implementation of the directive, it was established that users will be able to charge their devices that support fast charging at the same speed “with any compatible charger”. The two European bodies, among other things, have established that, when they buy any of the new products, consumers will benefit from more details that make it easy for them to understand whether a charger they already own is compatible or not for charging the device. they are interested in. It will also be mandatory to offer the option to purchase a product both with and without charger included in the package, in the name of something to which Samsung and Apple, which have not been offering chargers to those who buy them for some time. smartphones, they will have to adapt.