EU Lawmakers Call to Establish Mobile Device Charger Standard

On Thursday, EU lawmakers called to establish a common mobile phone charger standard across all major devices in Europe. The vote was met with an outpour of positive support from members of the European Parliament.

According to Reuters, the vote was met with a 582-40 divide, with members of the European Parliament urging the European Commission to draft a new law. The goal presented by the EU lawmakers would see to it that consumers within the EU would no longer have the need to purchase a charger with every new device. It is that the European Commission will likely embrace the changes by July of this year.

During the European debate regarding the resolution, it was said that consumer electronic waste was up to 36.6lbs per inhabitant in 2016. This new vote hopes to help minimize that number moving forward by consolidating the needs consumers have when it comes to charging their devices.



While many major manufacturers have voluntarily adopted a unified charger across its devices, Apple has continued to be the outlier. Google and Samsung have featured USB-C chargers for some time now. Yet in the past, Apple had its feet firmly planted when it comes to its use of the Lightning Cable.

However, Apple has been vocal on its intended shift toward adopting the USB-C charger for future iPhone devices. Per the Reuters report, Apple stated that a mandatory shift could actually harm the environmental resolution the EU is hoping to solve, resulting in even more electronic waste.