It’s a real sea serpent. For more than ten years now, the European authorities have been trying to get the principle of a single charger adopted across the old continent. It would be a world first that could be emulated.
To move forward, the Commission tabled a draft directive at the end of last year, but this draft is clearly not to the liking of certain Tech giants, and in particular Apple, which strongly opposes it.
The Apple brand believes that this risks harming innovation and could create new electronic waste, as customers would be forced to buy new chargers.
Some disagreements remain to be settled before the final vote of the single charger
For their part, EU leaders recall that Apple is the only manufacturer not to have adopted USB-C on its iPhone and AirPods, while its competitors have now mostly integrated it into their products.
Despite its intense lobbying, the Cupertino company will probably not achieve its ends. Thus, according to information from Reuters, an agreement between MEPs and Member States could be reached on this file by the end of 2022.
Maltese Labor MP Alex Agius Saliba, who took charge of this dossier in the European Parliament, expressed his hopes to the press agency. He explains : ” An agreement by the end of the year is achievable. This is our ambition. »
However, there are still some details to be settled. While the Commission wants a single charger for smartphones, tablets and headphones, parliamentarians also want to add to this list, e-readers, keyboards, computer mice, connected watches, or even electronic toys.
MEPs are not counting elsewhere on the implementation of the single charger for 2025. Manufacturers would then only have six months to put this new regulation into practice while the Commission wanted to grant them two years.