All small electronic devices sold in France from Saturday will work with the same type of USB-C charger… which will be offered separately.
No more collection of chargers lying around in the drawers of your house. One will soon be enough to charge all small electronic devices.
As of December 28, 2024, a universal USB-C charger is required for all new phones, wireless headphones, tablets, game consoles, e-readers, keyboards or cameras put on sale in France. Concretely, all will have the same charging port, and the same cable can be used to power these different devices.
The measure does not concern devices already in circulation, but each new product must be able to accommodate a suitable charger offering a charging power less than or equal to 100 watts. Clearly, the text provides that the charging speed be harmonized between the different brands. Until now, some were able to offer more powerful chargers only on their devices. The only exception: laptops are not yet affected but will be by April 26, 2026.
From Saturday, companies will also have to separate the sale of a new electronic device from that of its charger. The idea is to leave the choice to the consumer, in order to avoid the accumulation of redundant cables. A pictogram, mandatory on the packaging, will specify whether the device is accompanied by a charger or not. It remains to be seen whether consumers will see a difference in the selling price of these devices…
11,000 tonnes less electronic waste
Under discussion since 2009, the universal charger obligation was enacted by the European Union in 2022. When the European directive was transposed into French law, on December 28, 2023, the Ministry of the Economy put forward the desire to to converge “ digital and ecological transitions “. European legislation details that the universal charger will save 250 million euros and 11,000 tonnes of electronic waste per year within the European Union.
Two years ago, when the European text was still under discussion, the American giant Apple stated its opposition to the measure. The Californian brand emphasized that its “Lightning” technology already equips more than a billion devices around the world and that the new regulations will “ stifle innovation ”, or even “ harm consumers “. If some of the Macs or iPads already had a USB-C port, this was not the case for the brand's smartphones. Apple finally gave in by integrating it into its iPhone 15 and 16 released in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
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