USB-C charging mandate arrives in EU Here’s what this means:

From December 28, a significant portion of devices purchased within the EU will need to be charged via USB-C. Directive 2022/2380, commonly known as Common Charging Solutions, aims to reduce e-waste and address market fragmentation. You may remember Apple and the EU clashing over this issue a few years ago.

The requirements for USB-C only scratch the surface of these guidelines. It also includes regulations for fast charging, separating charging devices from retail devices and introducing improved labeling, which has the potential to make life much simpler for gadget enthusiasts in the EU. Of course, if it works.

To get started, you’ll need some background. EU countries and parliaments reached a provisional agreement on a common charging solution on 7 June 2022. The bill was officially approved in October of the same year. After approval by the board, countries will have until December 28, 2024, to incorporate it into their own laws, at which point companies operating within the bloc will have to comply.

The breadth of this directive means that the impact will be felt by both consumers and businesses, as a common charging solution applies to everything the EU defines as wireless equipment. It states that this is an electrical or electronic product that intentionally emits or receives radio waves for the purpose of “communication and/or radiolocation.”

The regulation stipulates that portable cell phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, portable video game consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and Applies explicitly to earbuds. It can deliver up to 100 watts of power.”

For example, the PlayStation 5 has a power rating of 350W, so it doesn’t fall under the guidelines. Nintendo Switch consumes up to 6W in TV mode. Currently, the only exception to this definition is laptops, which must comply with the directive by April 28, 2026.

However, there is a gray area. For example, drones are not listed and it is unclear whether they fall into other categories such as digital cameras. In cases like this, the Commission says it will “continually evaluate market developments, market fragmentation, and technological advances” to keep this device list as relevant and up-to-date as possible.

Wireless charging is also not included in the instructions. For now, the commission has said it will “promote harmonization” of practices “to avoid future fragmentation of the internal market and negative impacts on consumers and the environment”. What form this will take is anyone’s guess, but the EU is seizing it.

Despite this ambiguity, the bottom line is that most consumer-facing technologies in the EU must be equipped with a “USB-C outlet”. However, this only applies to the device side. This is because connecting a charging device is not covered in these instructions.

Nonetheless, for regular users, there will not be any significant changes regarding charging inputs on December 28. Most devices on the market that fall under this directive already use USB-C. Even Apple, its biggest competitor with Lightning technology, has switched to it. maximum I’ll explain more about that device in a moment.

What’s interesting about this regulation is that the EU hasn’t actually banned proprietary charging ports. Instead, the hardware just needs to have the ability to charge via USB-C. This means that the current MacBook lineup with MagSafe is compatible. That’s because it can be charged using both Apple’s magnetic connector and the EU’s chosen technology.

So what happens when devices that fall under the common charger guidelines are sold on the block? without USB-C charging port? In most cases, they won’t be available for sale even if released before the December 28th deadline. For example, Apple is reportedly preparing to remove the iPhone 14, iPhone SE, and TouchID-less Magic Keyboard (the final retail device with a Lightning charging port) from its EU retail portfolio, as it has already done in Switzerland.

However, there are exceptions to this. For products already in circulation, devices without a USB-C port that first hit the market before December 28 may continue to be sold within the EU.

For the purposes of this bill, the relevant block defines “market launch” as the moment a manufacturer or importer supplies a product to a distributor or end user for the first time. “Manufacturers, importers and distributors must be given time to exercise any rights they have acquired under existing, national or EU regulations, for example to sell stock of products manufactured under the ex-ante regulations,” the European Commission said. says: -Existing rules.”

This means that most of the existing inventory can be sold if the retailer already owns it, but the products are no longer available for purchase in the store. However, in some cases, retailers are careful not to sell hardware or move it to unregulated markets.

Another important but little-known aspect of the Common Charging Guidelines concerns the integration of fast charging. The EU’s goal is to simplify what is often a confusing practice. The regulator defines fast charging as anything that can be recharged over a wire with “a voltage greater than 5V, a current greater than 3A, or a power greater than 15W.”

Once a device reaches this threshold, it must operate with USB Power Delivery (USB PD), a charging protocol that allows the device to transfer power over USB in addition to data. Some devices, such as the iPhone and the Google Pixel family, have been using this standard for some time, but other handsets, such as OnePlus and OPPO, do not support USB PD and use the proprietary SUPERVOOC charging standard.

The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure that devices that offer fast charging are compatible with all chargers. Consumers should then be able to power their hardware at the maximum speed supported by their charging equipment. The key factor here is that the full functionality of USB PD must be enabled and not interfered with by other charging protocols.

For consumers, the world of fast charging may still be confusing in the short term, but as the hardware they already own is slowly being replaced, guidance will make this process simpler in the future.

The third part of the common charging solution is to give consumers the opportunity to “buy new electronic devices without a new charger,” as the European Commission puts it. The purpose is to prevent excessive waste caused by buyers owning too many unused redundant chargers.

On the surface, this wouldn’t be a hassle for many companies. Apple stopped selling iPhones and other devices with charging devices some time ago, a trend that is being repeated across the industry. For consumers, this will be one of the bigger changes.

The days of receiving a charger every time you buy an electronic device in the EU are over and will cause confusion as people expect a brick in the wall with their new device but don’t receive one. However, over time the public will adapt, especially with the help of the last part of the guidelines.

Specifically, the introduction of a new visual language for charging. The first example is self-explanatory with a graphic showing whether there is a charging device in the box or not.

The second picture can actually help people figure out what their devices are capable of receiving power from. The outline is as follows: Where “XX” is the minimum amount of power required to charge the device, “YY” is the maximum amount of power, and you will see “USB PD” if your hardware can support that protocol.

Introducing this visual language is a simple idea, but it will help educate users about power delivery and tie together many of the provisions above.

The elephant in the room is how common charging solutions are implemented in practice. It is up to the Member States themselves to be responsible for carrying out market surveillance.

Countries can take a variety of measures, including fines and forced withdrawal of nonconforming equipment. The question is how these institutions will manage and verify the massive influx of cheap technology coming from outside the bloc. Giants like Samsung and Apple will follow suit because they know they will be scrutinized by regulators, but it is difficult to know whether smaller companies will adapt quickly or face the same level of scrutiny.

Ultimately, it’s hard to see a common charging solution as anything other than a good thing for people inside the EU. The transition to USB-C has already gained a lot of momentum, but it could be argued that regulations have accelerated this transition, especially for Apple.

However, these guidelines are yet to be tested, and it remains to be seen how agile they can be to adapt in the face of new device categories and the development of improved charging solutions and interfaces. In some ways, this is a microcosm of the ongoing battle regulators wage with technology. How a slow-moving legislative process deals with an industry where change is the only constant.