The European Union validated on Tuesday a new regulation imposing on manufacturers a universal charger for smartphones, tablets, consoles and digital cameras from the fall of 2024, while laptops will be subject to the same requirement two years later.
The measure is intended to relieve the wallet of consumers of the single market, but also to reduce by several hundred tons of electronic waste, indicates a press release from the European Parliament.
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« Under the new rules, consumers will no longer need a different charging device and cable each time they buy a new device, and will be able to use one charger for all their small portable electronic devices. and medium size“, according to the same source, specifying that by the fall of 2024, mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, headphones and headsets, digital cameras, portable video game consoles and portable speakers, if they are rechargeable via a cable wired, ” must be equipped with a USB Type-C port, regardless of their manufacturer”. Laptops will be subject to the same requirement of a single charger “within 40 months of the entry into force of the text“, either by 2026, we add.
The regulations also provide for the charging speed to be harmonized for devices authorizing fast charging, to prevent it from being restricted when used with a device of a different brand. The text could save European consumers – who spend around 2.4 billion euros a year on purchases of chargers alone – at least 250 million euros annually, according to the European Commission, also noting that the waste of unused magazines, estimated at 11,000 tons per year, could be reduced by almost 1,000 tons.
This project had been launched as early as 2009 by the Commission, but had so far come up against strong reluctance from the industry, although the number of types of existing chargers had been greatly reduced over the years. From around thirty in 2009, they have gone to three: the Micro USB connector which has long been fitted to the majority of telephones, USB-C, a more recent connection, and the Lightning used by Apple.
With MAP