Press Release: Commission welcomes industry’s commitment to provide a common charger for mobile phones

Incompatibility of chargers for mobile phones is a major inconvenience for users and also leads to unnecessary waste. Therefore, the Commission requested the industry to come forward with a voluntary commitment to solve this problem so as to avoid legislation. As a result major producers of mobile phones agreed to harmonise chargers in the EU. In a Memorandum of Understanding ('MoU'), which was submitted to the Commission on 29 June, 2009, the industry committed to provide chargers compatibility on the basis of the Micro-USB connector. In addition new EU standards to ensure continued safe charger use will be developed to facilitate the implementation of the MoU. The first generation of new inter-chargeable mobile phones should reach the EU market from 2010 onwards.

European Commission: MEMO/09/301: Harmonisation of a charging capability of common charger for mobile phones - frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/301&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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