The Council of the European Union (EU), which represents the Member States in decision-making in the EU, adopted a position on the proposal to create a single universal USB-C type charger so that its use in mobile phones is harmonized phones, tablets, cameras and game consoles.
The final text will have to be negotiated with the European Parliament and with the Commission, which launched the legislative initiative last September.
Brussels has been promoting this measure since 2009 and a voluntary agreement with the main mobile device manufacturers allowed that year to reduce the existing chargers on the market from 30 to 3, USB 2.0 Micro B, USB-C and Lightning, exclusive to Apple.
That pact, however, expired in 2014 and since then the objective of having a single Universal charger.
In addition to simplifying the lives of consumers, the Commission defends that the devices are sold with and without a universal charger, which would reduce the electronic waste associated with the production, transport and disposal of chargers, as the Council also recognizes.
The Twenty-seven, in their position with a view to the final negotiation, which once approved will have a transition period of two years, maintain the essence of the Commission’s proposal and add two annexes, one that requests that the devices must display a pictogram indicating whether they are sold with a charger or not and another with certain technical specifications.
The European Parliament, for its part, has not yet approved its negotiating mandate.
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