There’s a few things that tech enthusiasts only talk about in their closest circles, the utopian tech implementations that everyone wants and dreams of. Things that come to mind are devices made in accordance with an owner’s right to repair, universal cross-platform compatibility for video games, and a single charging port for all the everyday use devices. Well, the European Union legislation might have taken a step to address that last dream, by reaching a provisional agreement on rules to enforce common charging solutions for a large variety of devices.
A total of 15 types of devices will be covered in these new rules, including smartphones, laptops, tablets and other small and medium sized electronics. All these devices will have to implement a standard charging port, and USB Type-C being the most efficient and widely implemented option, is expected to take over all these devices. That means, the world might finally get to see an iPhone with a USB type-C port on its bottom panel. But that’s not it, the rules will also be enforcing wireless charging interoperability, making it compulsory for all companies making wireless chargers to make their product compatible with all devices, irrespective of the brand on the back.
Sounds good? Well, there’s even more. In recent years, in a bid to make smartphone releases more environment friendly, top smartphone companies have discontinued including a charger in the box. Now, it shouldnt be a moral offense for a person to be cynical about the intent there, but the fact remains, the idea was not ideal regardless. With this piece of legislation, companies will be required to provide customers not just full information about charging characteristics, but also a choice for an external power supply to be included in the box or not. Considering this instantly clarifies itself as a more close to ideal solution, one has to wonder why publically elected officials came up with it before a bunch of seasoned experts in tech.
The legislation, introduced for discussion last year, does not come into effect immediately, as it will be ascending up the chain of EU’s democratic law making process.But it will be coming into effect in 2024. Laptop makers will be given a 40 month window post the law coming into effect to comply with it. Devices released before the legislation comes into action will not be required to comply with the new guidelines. The parliament’s lead negotiator for this file, Alex Agius Saliba, said “The common charging solution will not only affect Apple. It will affect a lot of brands producing some of these 15 different types of products when it will come into force in two years time.” He reffered to the provisional agreement as “historic” and a “great achievement.”
While there is a two year window before the hammer drops, Internal market commissioner Thierry Breton had asked manufacturers to start preparing and implementing the guidelines as soon as possible, since these will be the rules come 2024.
