The EU has reached an agreement on requiring mobile phone manufacturers to make their devices compatible with a common battery charger. First proposed by the European Parliament, the common charging standard has now been agreed by the Council of Ministers. The exact details will still need to be approved by a vote in parliament, expected next March, and final approval by the Council.
The common charger is part of a provisional deal on radio equipment rules struck by MEPs and the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The draft directive lays down harmonised rules for placing radio equipment, including cellular phones, car door openers and modems, on the market. The rules aim to keep pace with the growing number and variety of radio equipment devices and ensure that they do not interfere with each other and respect essential health and safety requirements.
The common mobile charger is expected to simplify use of mobile devices and reduce unnecessary waste and cost for consumers. MEPs also agreed that there should be additional means for market surveillance in order to track and monitor products which fail to comply with the new rules. On the basis of information provided by member states, the Commission will identify categories of radio equipment that will need to be registered before they can be put on the market. A similar database is already operational in US.
Customers will also face less paperwork when buying radio equipment, as manufactures will be allowed to leave out a separate book with a declaration of conformity, in favour of a simplified statement on conformity with a web link to a full declaration. Once the rules are approved next year, EU states will have two years to implement the requirements in national law, and manufactures will have an additional year to comply.
The EU has yet to decide which standard will be used for the charger. The USB standards group recently announced the type-C connector, a USB 3.1 (compatible with 2.0) connector similar to the Lightning from Apple. The first devices using the connector are expected to ready by the second half of 2014, in line with the EU's schedule for the standard device.
