The Government has set a date for the mandatory universal charger for electronic devices. After 13 years of negotiations, the European Union gave the final green light to this measure at the end of 2022 and the Ministry of Economic Affairs is already preparing the modification to adapt the Spanish regulation to the new community regulation.
December 28, 2024. It is the date established by the draft royal decree from which there must be a single USB-C type charger for all electronic devices. In practice, from 2025 mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, portable game consoles, speakers, e-book readers, keyboards or mice must share a cable charging system. With the exception of laptops, which will still have to wait more than a year, until April 28, 2026, for technical reasons.
The battle for the single charger began more than a decade ago. In 2009, the European Commission reached a voluntary agreement with the main manufacturers of mobile devices that allowed the existing chargers to be reduced from 30 to three. But the validity of that pact ended in 2014 and it was not renewed. The community authorities then opted for the legislative route, which was not exhausted until November of last year.
The amendment to the European directive on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States on the sale of radio equipment establishes, in addition to the universal charger, the obligation to equalize the charging speed for all devices that allow fast charging. It also sets new requirements regarding the combined sale of electronic devices and their chargers and the information that must be provided to consumers.
Specifically, as the main novelty, the draft royal decree prepared by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, which belongs to the department headed by Nadia Calviño, introduces the possibility for consumers to purchase certain categories of electronic devices without burden. And the obligation for economic agents to provide information in an accessible and easy-to-understand manner on whether or not the device is accompanied by a charger.
The Government pursues with this royal decree “to promote the interoperability of chargers, reducing the fragmentation of the market due to the existence of different connectors and charging performance, as well as contributing to the reduction of electronic waste, through the reuse of cables and chargers” . And it expects “a positive impact on the economic situation, increasing consumer savings and reducing spending on electronic waste management,” according to the Regulatory Impact Analysis Report.
Specifically, the Ministry of Economic Affairs calculates that the universal charger will mean savings of 26 million euros per year for consumers and economic benefits of 48 million euros for retailers and distributors and 2 million euros for manufacturers, since ” there is not a high number of equipment manufacturers originating in Spain”. Likewise, it estimates environmental benefits in terms of material use of 276 tons per year and 104 tons in terms of electronic waste.
Regarding the possible increase in the price of chargers, the report indicates that the impact assessment carried out by the EC determines that, in global terms, “consumers will save money since they will buy fewer chargers due to the possibility of reusing them.” In any case, he warns that the European authorities will be vigilant to the variation in the price of chargers and “could include it as part of an exercise to control the implementation of the proposal.”
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