After the EU and India made USB-C the default charging port for all consumer devices, the UK government has now begun a consultation on whether it should follow suit and implement a universal charging standard, and whether that standard should be USB-C.
The consultation, launched by the Office of Product Safety and Standards within the Department of Commerce and Trade, calls on manufacturers, importers, distributors and industry associations to provide input. Of course, if the UK decides not to adopt USB-C and implement a separate standard, device manufacturers would simply provide adapters that support USB-C, rather than unique device versions.
The Office of Product Safety and Standards issued the following statement on the issue:
"We believe it would potentially help business and bring benefits to consumers and the environment if charger requirements for certain portable electrical/electronic devices were standardized across the UK. We are seeking views from manufacturers, importers, distributors and industry associations to understand whether this would be helpful and, if so, whether it should build on USB-C as adopted by the EU."
The EU version of the law, which will come into force at the end of this year, focuses on reducing e-waste from specialized cables and chargers, which will impact a variety of devices including phones, tablets and headphones. The new law even prompted Apple to ditch Lightning cables in favor of USB-C in last year's iPhone 15 series of devices.
At the same time, India requires domestic manufacturers to take the same action by March 2025, three months later than the EU deadline, but will still affect the same list of consumer electronics products, but clearly stipulates that feature phones are also covered by this requirement. Both laws will also cover laptops, but both India and the EU have extended the deadline to 2026.