EU votes in favor of universal mobile charger

A common charger for mobile phones sold in the European Union should be developed in order to reduce waste and hassle for consumers, according to members of the European Parliament voting on an update to radio equipment laws.

The draft Radio Equipment Directive outlines a range of harmonized rules for bringing "radio equipment," which includes mobile phones and modems, on the market. The rules aim to make sure that the increasing range of devices don't interfere with each other and respect health and safety requirements. Part of the directive focused on reducing waste.

MEPs called for a renewed effort to develop a common charger for certain categories of radio equipment -- particularly mobile phones. They amended the draft law to stipulate that the ability to work with common chargers will be an essential requirement for radio equipment. It will be up to the European Commission to decide which specific types of radio equipment will have to meet the requirement. Rapporteur Barbara Weiler said that the directive is "an efficient tool to prevent interference between different ratio equipment devices."