E.U. Commission Votes to Emphasize the ‘U’ in ‘USB’ ⇥ gizmodo.com

Philip Blenkinsop, Reuters:

Members of the European Parliament voted by 582-40 for a resolution urging the European Commission, which drafts EU laws, to ensure that EU consumers are no longer obliged to buy new chargers with each new device.

The Commission should adopt new rules by July, the lawmakers’ resolution said.

The resolution said voluntary agreements in the industry had significantly reduced the number of charger types, but had not resulted in one common standard.

Sam Rutherford, Gizmodo:

Another potential concern is that the new rules could force Apple to ditch its proprietary Lightning Connector which the company uses on the iPhone and some of its iPads. However, that may not necessarily be the case as it appears the EU is mostly focused on creating a standard charging adapter rather than forcing individual devices to use a specific port for charging.

It doesn’t sound like the Commission has any specific rules in mind, only that there ought to be a standard. It’s entirely possible that this is just a call for a standard wall adapter, but the actual port on the phone might not be standardized. But it also doesn’t seem like it has figured out how those rules can change over time.