EU set to introduce common charging devices for mobile phones

Consumers can look forward to less clutter in the future with the news that the European Commission is set to introduce a common charger for all mobile phones.

The move, which has been in the pipeline for a number of years, has been widely welcomed by environmentalists, one of whom, Ireland South Green Party MEP, Grace O'Sullivan has hailed it as "a great green success that will benefit the climate and help tackle the problem of waste and pointless over-production.”

Estimates indicate that introducing a common charger and selling devices and leads separately, could save up to 29,000 tonnes of electronic waste per year, tackling one of the fastest growing EU waste streams.

"Most of us have leads for this and leads for that. They become obsolete only to be replaced by new versions, creating more junk, to fill more of our already cluttered homes" said Ms. O'Sullivan, who said Apple and other commercial interests "have us over a barrel on this."

She said "we can all look forward to less lead clutter in the future which I have no doubt will be greeted by widespread public relief and support.”

Under the proposal, USB-C standards will have to be used by every device covered by the regulation, which will harmonise fast charging and make mandatory the separate selling of device and charger.

In the legislative procedure in the Internal Market Committee, Committee Chair, Green MEP Anna Cavazzini, has said the Committee will fight to ensure all mobile devices will be covered and that the regulation will be designed without loopholes.

The European Parliament and its Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) have been insisting on a common charger solution for years, continuously asking the Commission to act upon it through own-initiative reports, resolutions, and questions addressed to the Commissioners.

In 2014, Parliament strongly advocated for a common charger for all mobile phones during the negotiations of the Radio Equipment Directive (RED).

Since then, several other Parliament initiatives have directly or indirectly asked for mobile phone chargers to be standardised, including a resolution earlier this year calling on the Commission to introduce a standard for a common charger “as a matter of urgency”.

Moreover, in a recent resolution on the new circular economy action plan, MEPs called on the Commission to introduce urgently a common charger for smartphones and similar devices to best ensure standardised, compatible and inter-operable charging options and asked the Commission to prepare a decoupling strategy for chargers and harmonised labelling.