India May Soon Pass A Law To Standardize Ports, Just Like The European Union

The Indian government is reportedly considering formalizing legislation that establishes a cross-industry standard for ports used for charging and input across all devices in the country in an effort to adopt a uniform standard.  According to the report, a government committee will convene a meeting with industry organizations and stakeholders on Wednesday, August 17, to discuss the potential adoption of a comparable standard across all devices.

Current Scenario

This is not a novel situation; earlier this year, we had heard a story of a similar nature from the European Union. Consumer electronics are currently segmented into several device types with proprietary input and charging ports around the globe. For instance, Apple’s smartphones have their own proprietary Lightning ports, whereas other devices use a combination of microUSB and USB Type-C, and some cameras have their own proprietary interfaces. Additionally, proprietary ports are also common on laptops and other peripherals.

The European Parliament officially enacted laws in June of this year requiring consumer electronics manufacturers throughout the region to use the same connector for charging, networking, and data transfer. Under this law, smartphone manufacturers will be given 24 months to transition to the new connection and charging standard when the legislation is formally enacted at the European Parliament’s winter session.

While laptops will also be covered by the regulation, OEMs will have an additional 40 months after its passage to adopt a uniform standard. All charging and communication ports on consumer electronics devices, including accessories, earbuds, handsets, cameras, laptops, and others, are expected to adopt USB-C in the near future.

It is still unclear whether India will follow suit and require OEMs to switch to a single standard. We’ll probably have a better idea of this when the meeting concludes.