On July 23, 2026, the European Commission opened Have Your Say initiative 18807, a draft delegated regulation under Directive 2014/53/EU (the Radio Equipment Directive, or RED) that would update the technical specifications for wired charging receptacles and communication protocols and revise the charging-capability label. Commission adoption is planned for the first quarter of 2027, and the public feedback window is not yet open. For manufacturers of radio equipment sold into the EU, the act will determine which USB standard editions and which label elements their conformity documentation, test evidence and packaging must track to keep CE-marked access to the single market.
The initiative modifies the technical layer set by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1717, which currently fixes the wired-charging references in Annex Ia to the RED: the USB Type-C receptacle and the USB Power Delivery communication protocol, via cited editions of the EN IEC 62680 series, together with the graphic and textual elements of the charging-capability label. The common-charger obligation itself was embedded in the RED by Directive (EU) 2022/2380; the delegated act now in preparation is the technical-refresh instrument that keeps those references aligned with technological and market developments.
What exactly would the new delegated regulation change?
Two things, both scoped to radio equipment capable of being recharged by wired charging. First, the references to technical specifications for the charging receptacle and the charging communication protocol would be modified. In practice that means the specific harmonised-standard editions, the EN IEC 62680 documents covering USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery, that a manufacturer must meet to demonstrate conformity. Second, the details of the information, graphic or textual elements of the label regarding charging capabilities would be revised, the pictogram and text that must appear on the product, its packaging and its instructions to tell users what power the device can deliver or accept.
Because the draft text and the feedback dossier are not yet published, the precise standard editions and label amendments are not fixed. The value of the initiative at this stage is procedural: it signals which specification and label elements will move, giving compliance teams a window to map their current conformity evidence against the expected changes before the Commission adopts the act.
Who has to track this, and by when?
RED product-compliance and CE-marking leads at OEMs of radio-enabled phones, tablets, laptops, headsets, earbuds, speakers, cameras and accessories sold in the EU, plus the importers, notified bodies and test labs that support them. The file is backed by expert group E03587, the Commission's radio-equipment working group, so members have an early procedural channel; non-members should watch the Better Regulation portal for the feedback opening.
The binding deadline is not until adoption in the first quarter of 2027 and a subsequent application date that the act will set. There is no new obligation to meet today. The exposure is planning risk: a product family whose cited-standard edition or label artwork drifts out of alignment at application will fail conformity assessment and lose EU market access until corrected.
How does this fit the existing common-charger timeline?
The common-charger regime has been applying in stages. Directive (EU) 2022/2380 made USB-C charging mandatory for the categories it lists, with application from December 28, 2024 for most devices and from April 28, 2026 for laptops. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1717 supplied the technical specifications and the label that make that obligation enforceable. Initiative 18807 is the next technical refresh of that delegated layer, not a new charging mandate, and it does not reopen the product categories or the application dates fixed in the base directive.
| Instrument | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Directive 2014/53/EU (RED) | Basic act, common-charger empowerment | In force |
| Directive (EU) 2022/2380 | Added common-charger obligation to the RED | Applying since December 28, 2024 (laptops April 28, 2026) |
| Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1717 | Current technical specifications and label (Annex Ia) | In force |
| Initiative 18807 (delegated regulation) | Updates the specifications and label | Draft, adoption planned first quarter of 2027 |
Take advantage of this real-time watch
Compliance teams should now confirm which of their radio-equipment product families fall under the wired-charging scope, inventory the EN IEC 62680 standard editions currently cited in their declarations of conformity and test reports, and watch the initiative 18807 page for the feedback opening to submit technical comments before adoption in the first quarter of 2027. Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces this kind of technical-specification shift the moment it publishes on the Better Regulation portal, so the team that catches the draft first is the team that files compliant documentation on time.
