In the future, Europeans will be able to charge their smartphones, tablet computers, e-readers, digital cameras or navigation devices with an "all-purpose cable".

From mid-2024 onwards, manufacturers will only be allowed to sell these devices with the oval, so-called USB-C connector, which has meanwhile become widespread.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the EU states agreed on this on Wednesday in Strasbourg.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

  • Follow I follow

The requirements also apply to headphones, portable speakers, smart watches and video consoles.

For technical reasons, a longer transition period is planned for laptops.

Manufacturers can still use ports other than the USB-C port for charging until the end of 2025.

"This means the end of the cable clutter in our drawers and less use of resources," said MP Anna Cavazzini (Greens).

Charging via micro-USB or with the so-called Lightning connectors from the iPhone company Apple is a thing of the past, at least in the EU.

After about 30 loading formats a decade ago, these are the only ones left now due to years of pressure from the EU.

Nevertheless, the European Commission presented an EU law in September 2021 to enforce uniform charging.

Only Apple resisted

Only Apple recently opposed the all-purpose charging cable because it considers its Lightning connectors to be technically superior.

The agreement reached by the EU Parliament and member states also provides for minimum standards for chargers.

This is to ensure, for example, that there are no differences in fast charging, regardless of which cable the consumers use.

Manufacturers are also obliged to offer their devices without charging cables so that buyers do not accumulate more cables.

A ban on the sale of new electrical devices with charging cables is not planned, unlike the Greens in the European Parliament.

The European Parliament said the new requirements would mean that chargers would be used longer, helping consumers save up to 250 million euros a year.

It is estimated that discarded chargers cause around 11,000 tons of electronic waste a year.

Since wireless charging is now becoming more widespread, the agreement also addresses the issue.

The European Parliament had urged the EU Commission to propose a uniform standard for wireless charging by 2026 in order to prevent different charging cables from being used side by side by different wireless charging stations.

The Commission is obliged to commission the development of a uniform standard for this by 2024.

The compromise that has now been agreed does not specify when the standard must be available and whether it will then become mandatory for all manufacturers.

The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers still have to officially accept the agreement.

But that is probably a matter of form.