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New EU standards for a common mobile phone charger
23 January 2011
Incompatibility of chargers for mobile phones is a major inconvenience and also poses a considerable environmental problem. Users who want to change their mobile phones must usually acquire a new charger and dispose of the old one, even if it is in good condition. In response to citizens' demand for a common charger, the European Commission invited manufacturers to agree on a technical solution making compatible the chargers of different brands.
As a result, in June 2009, fourteen world leading mobile phone producers committed themselves to ensure compatibility of data-enabled mobile phones, expected to be predominant in the market within two years, on the basis of the Micro-USB connector.
The European Standardisation Organisations CEN-CENELEC and ETSI were then requested by the Commission to develop European standards for the common charger. The two organisations have now made available the harmonised standards needed for the manufacture of data-enabled mobile phones compatible with a new common charger.
The standards allow for interoperability, i.e. the common charger is compatible with data-enabled mobile telephones of different brands. They also take account of safety risks and electro-magnetic emissions and ensure that common chargers have sufficient immunity to external interference.
The European Commission expects the first common chargers and mobile phones compatible with the new standards to reach the European market in the first months of 2011.
For more information:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/rtte/chargers/index_en.htm Source: MEUSAC news
