The European Parliament today approved legislation that will require all mobile device makers to use a single, interoperable charger that works with any smartphone or tablet. Europe already requires that all mobile phones use the same charge port (microUSB), and today's legislation expands that to tablets, as well. Individual countries in the European Union have two years to adopt the EU legislation internally, and then manufacturers will have another year after that to comply. Toine Manders, with ALDE Group, said, "This legislation will bring benefits to consumers and will reduce waste." Those who introduced the legislation believe it will save European consumers 300 million Euros annually, as well as cut down the amount of electronic and paper waste. The rules also help to ensure that mobile devices and their chargers don't interfere with one another, while also maintaining Europe's safety requirements. Many manufacturers have already adopted microUSB as the standard for charging their devices, but some, such as Apple, use their own, proprietary ports and cables. In order to comply with European law, Apple now supplies an adapter with iPhones. It's unclear how it will comply with the new laws.
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