According to the bill, smartphones and tablets placed on the EU market must display information about their energy efficiency, battery life, protection against dust and water, and protection against accidental drops. This is the first time that a product on the EU market has been required to display a repairability score.

Ecodesign Act (EU) 2023/1670

In order to improve the energy efficiency and durability of mobile phone and tablet products, strict requirements have been put forward for the maintainability, reliability and recycling of products through eco-design principles such as open repair rights, increased product transparency, and recycling.

Ecodesign Act, manufacturers, importers or agents are obliged to provide critical spare parts to maintenance personnel within 5-10 working days until 7 years after the end of the sale of the product model on the EU market.

If a battery or back cover assembly is not available to the customer, the manufacturer needs to ensure that the product design meets the following requirements:

1. The cycle life is not less than 500 times, and after 500 times, there is at least 83% of the remaining capacity;

2. The battery cycle life is not less than 1000 times, and after 1000 times, there is at least 80% remaining capacity;

3. The product has IP67 dustproof and waterproof design.

The Act requires manufacturers, importers or agents to publish product repair manuals on their free websites to provide professional technicians or users with information related to the repair and maintenance of products, including product identification, disassembly diagrams, fault diagnosis information, necessary circuit connection diagrams, tag diagrams, and disassembly tool requirements.

In order to improve the durability of mobile phones and tablets, the bill requires that products must meet certain reliability requirements

1. Anti-drop design;

2. Mohs 4 hardness screen design;

3. IP44 dustproof and waterproof design

4. The battery cycle life is not less than 500 times;

5. Improve the battery management function and optimize the charging efficiency

6. Availability of operating system upgrades: at least 5 years after the product is placed on the market;

7. Professional repairers use any software or firmware required for replacement without discrimination.

Energy Efficiency Rating Labelling Act (EU) 2023/1669

According to the Act, all smartphones and tablets must be labelled with an energy efficiency rating and registered on the EU's public goods database EPREL before they can be placed on the market.

Energy efficiency labels for smartphones and tablets

In response to the two new EU Directives, the CTTL-Terminal Labs can provide a complete evaluation program for enterprises, and can contact xialijiao@caict.ac.cn if necessary.

On July 28, 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union published a new regulation on batteries and waste batteries, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. The regulation aims to promote a circular economy in the battery industry by regulating all stages of the battery life cycle, including production, reuse, and recycling. The regulation includes labeling and information requirements for battery components and outlines targets for the recycling of used battery materials, as well as requirements for the carbon footprint of batteries (which does not apply to portable batteries). The regulation was codified on 12 July 2023, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 28 July 2023, and will enter into force on 18 August 2023

• Chapter 13 of the Regulation, from 18 August 2025, all batteries shall bear a separate recycling mark, from 18 August 2026, the relevant labelling requirements of the Regulation shall be fully implemented, from 18 February 2027 all batteries shall have a QR code containing the battery information required by the Regulations;
• Chapter 11 of the Regulation (Removable and replaceable requirements for portable batteries and LMT batteries): 18 February 2027;
• Directive 2006/66/EC, which replaces this regulation, will be repealed from 18 August 2025.

Click on this link to view the original Regulation (EU) 2023/1542.

Following a public consultation on 24 May 2023, on 20 July 2023, the European Commission published an announcement numbered C(2023) 4823 final, postponing the implementation date of (EU) 2022/30 from 1 August 2024 to 1 August 2025. The announcement also amends the text description in the second paragraph of Chapter 1 of (EU) 2022/30 by changing the original text "traffic data and location data" to "traffic data or location data".

Click on this link to view the original European Commission announcement.

On 17 April, the European Union published a new version of Regulation (EU) 2023/826 on standby power consumption in the ErP series of directives, which will be mandatory on 9 May 2025 and replace the old Regulation (EC) 1275/2008 and (EC) 107/2009. The new regulations cover most small household appliances, IT equipment (excluding desktop computers and laptops), consumer entertainment electronics, electric furniture and home decoration equipment. Regulations require devices to have power management capabilities to meet energy consumption requirements for shutdown mode, standby mode, and network standby mode.

Click this link to view the original text.

On December 7, the European Union officially published the revised Directive (EU) 2022/2380 on universal chargers to supplement the specific implementation requirements of 3.3(a) of the RED Directive Directive 2014/53/EU for universal charging interfaces.

The Amendment Directive covers a total of 13 types of wireless devices, including smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, wireless headphones, handheld game consoles, portable speakers, e-books, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and laptops. According to the requirements of the new directive, all 13 types of equipment mentioned above must be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port in accordance with EN IEC 62680-1-3:2021 and can be charged using a charging cable that complies with the same standard, where devices that support fast charging should support the USB PD protocol in accordance with EN IEC 62680-1-2:2021. In addition, consumers and users may choose to purchase devices with unbundled chargers, and the manufacturer or seller should indicate whether the product is equipped with a charger with a specific mark on the packaging, indicating the charger power range requirements and the supported fast charging protocols.

The new directive will be mandatory in all EU member states from 28 December 2024, with the requirement for laptop devices to be mandatory on 28 April 2026, and new devices entering the EU market after the mandatory date should meet the requirements of the directive.

On 23 November 2022, the European Commission published Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2307 entitled "Revision of Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/179 on the designation and provision of the frequency bands 5150-5250 MHz, 5250-5350 MHz and 5470-5725 MHz in accordance with the technical conditions specified in the Annex". The revision comes in response to a request by the European automotive industry for the European Commission to confirm the use scenarios of the 5470-5725MHz band in Decision (EU) 2022/179 published on 8 February 2022. The European Postal and Telecommunications Commission (CEPT) then conducted a study and finally updated the implementation date from 1 March 2022 to 30 June 2023 with no technical changes in the requirements given in (EU) 2022/2307.

Click on this link to view the original decision (EU) 2022/2307.

On June 7, 2019, the European Union published Directive (EU) 2019/882, also known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The directive complements the European Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102 (Web Accessibility Directive). Accessibility means that products, services, or environments should be designed to allow people with disabilities to be able to use them equally (directly or indirectly (with some degree of assistance).

Applicable Products & Services:

For specific products covered by the EAA, please refer to Article 2 Scope of Chapter 1 of the EU Directive (EU) 2019/882 (hereinafter referred to as "relevant products and services"). The specific "Accessibility" requirements are detailed in Directive (EU) 2019/882 ANNEX 1. Some example products include:

• computer and operating system
• ATMs, ticket machines and check-in machines
• Smartphones
• Television equipment related to digital television services
• Telephone service and related equipment
• Access to audiovisual media services such as television broadcasting
• Air, bus, rail and water passenger transport related services
• Banking services
• E-book
• E-commerce

Implementation time and transition period:

According to Directive EU2019/882, all relevant products and services, in particular digital technologies, that enter the EU market after 28 June 2025 must be accessible to persons with disabilities and older persons. The goal is to standardize accessibility and ensure easier access to relevant services and products.

Products that have been on the market or services that have been provided before June 28, 2025 can continue to be used for the duration of the contract, but with a maximum transition period of 5 years. That is, by 28 June 2030, the EEA must fully apply to all relevant products or services offered on the EU market, including those already on the market before 28 June 2025.

Click on this link to view the original Directive (EU) 2019/882.