In a landmark agreement, the European Union has enacted a new law that makes it mandatory for electronic devices sold in the EU to include USB-C as its charging port. This applies to “small and medium-sized portable electronic devices”, which includes everything from phones, tablets, portable speakers, e-readers, digital cameras, headphone/earbuds to handheld game consoles.
If the device needs to be charged through a cable, it needs to be equipped with a USB-C port. This will allow common USB-C chargers to work regardless of device and manufacturer, cutting down on e-waste. It also means that those devices won’t need to ship with a USB-C charger in the box.
The law goes in effect by fall 2024 (24 months), but it first needs to be approved by EU Parliament and Council later this year. Laptops are also included in the law’s purview, but they instead have a longer deadline of 40 months. This has to do with the varying power requirement for the various laptops, which would make forcing a single standard difficult.
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