In the future, European consumers will be able to charge their mobile phones, tablet computers, game consoles, digital cameras or headphones with an "all-purpose cable".
From 2024 onwards, manufacturers will only be allowed to sell these devices with the oval, so-called USB-C charging connection.
The European Parliament's Internal Market Committee spoke out in favor of this on Wednesday.
Charging via micro-USB or with the Lightning connectors from the iPhone company Apple is a thing of the past, at least in the EU.
After there were still around 30 charging formats a decade ago, these are the only ones left now due to years of pressure from the EU.
Ultimately, only Apple objects to the all-purpose charging cable.
Henrik Kafsack
Business correspondent in Brussels.
Follow I follow
Manufacturers are also obliged to offer their devices without a charging cable.
A ban on the sale of new electrical devices including charging cables is not planned, unlike what the Greens demand.
The European Parliament is thus largely behind a legislative proposal that the European Commission presented in September last year.
It now has to agree on a common position with the Council of Ministers, the body of the member states.
At the end of January, he adopted the Commission's proposal without any changes.
The French Presidency aims to reach an agreement during its term of office by the end of June.
There should be a dispute about the exact shape of the affected devices.
Parliament wants to include other small electronic devices such as toothbrushes or "smartwatches".
MEPs are also demanding that the Commission propose a uniform standard for wireless charging by 2026, so that different charging cables are not followed by different wireless charging stations next to each other.
The Commission took this up in its proposal, but did not set a date for it.
The Chair of the Internal Market Committee, Anna Cavazzini of the Greens, welcomed the result.
"A single standard for charging smartphones, laptops or headphones saves resources, avoids thousands of tons of electronic waste and is easy on consumers' wallets," she said.
The uniform charging cable is a perfect example of how high consumer protection goes hand in hand with combating the climate crisis.
The search in the in-house collection of chargers is now a thing of the past, said SPD MP René Repasi.
"We want to lower the prices of the end devices and prevent avoidable electronic waste." The commission had put the amount of electronic waste generated annually by charging cables at 980 tons.