The French Presidency of the Council of the EU (FPEU) has submitted a series of proposals to Member States to amend the Council’s negotiating mandate for the Common Chargers Directive, according to a document seen by EUROPE on Monday 30 May. National delegations are expected to decide on the mandate on Wednesday 1 June at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives I (Coreper I).
Following the first inter-institutional (trilogue) meeting on 10 May (see EUROPE 12949/9), the co-legislators held four technical meetings during which the “main points of divergence” between the two institutions were discussed, on the basis of which the French Presidency of the EU Council submitted a revised mandate to the national delegations on 19 May.
Consequently the French Presidency suggests a modification of the scope to oblige the Commission to continuously assess the evolution of the market, its fragmentation and technical and technological progress in order to progressively extend the scope. It proposes to include e-readers, keyboards, mice and portable browsers in the Annex.
On the issue of wireless charging, the Presidency would like to oblige the Commission to carry out a thorough assessment of wireless charging technologies within 36 months of the entry into force of this Directive. The European institution will also be asked to produce a public report and will have to formulate a request for the development of harmonised standards within 48 months of the entry into force of this Directive.
Finally, the revised mandate instructs the European Commission to present a report on the decoupling of the sale of an appliance from the charger within 5 years of the date of entry into force of the directive, with a view to amending the directive. The question of the transposition period and the transition phase remains open.
The Presidency mentions the possibility of an inter-institutional meeting on 30 May, but this meeting will probably take place next week, once the Presidency has obtained a new negotiating mandate.
As a reminder, while the EU Council had broadly followed the European Commission’s proposal in its general approach (see EUROPE 12877/8), the European Parliament, in its position, had widened the scope of the directive, but also set 2026 as the deadline for the presentation of a delegated act by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12935/7).
To view the four-column table: https://aeur.eu/f/1uz (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)