Germany Proposes to Amend the Market Supply of Radio Equipment Act

This blog was originally posted on 21st November, 2023. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.

AUTHORED BY HANNAH JANKNECHT, REGULATORY ANALYST, COMPLIANCE & RISKS

Germany: Market Supply of Radio Equipment, Act BGBl. 1947, 2017 – Proposed Amendment – (on implementing Directive (EU) 2022/2380 on a common charger for electronic devices) Draft Law, November 2023

A German draft Law, issued on 3 November 2023, proposes to amend the Market Supply of Radio Equipment Act from 2017 in order to implement Directive (EU) 2022/2380 along with its compliance deadlines.

The Directive introduces a common standard for chargers for those electronic devices listed in the Annex to the Directive, e.g. mobile phones, tablets and headphones. This aims to limit the number of different chargers available on the European market, thereby improving the interoperability between different devices and reducing the amount of electronic waste generated each year.

What’s Changing?

The draft amendment entails the following main changes:

Radio equipment of the categories or classes set out in Part I of Annex Ia to Directive 2014/53/EU shall be designed to comply with the specifications for charging functions set out in that Annex;
Economic operators selling radio equipment must offer the equipment for purchase with or without a charger. A label attached to the packaging must indicate in a clearly visible and legible way if the product entails a charger. In case of distance sale, this information must be placed close to the information on the price of the device;
Importers must ensure that the device is labeled in accordance with Article 20 (6) and, in case of distance sale, must ensure that the information is placed on the website close to the information on the price of the device;
The product manual must contain information on the charger and the compatibility of the charger. Radio equipment must furthermore be labeled in accordance with Article 5 of the Act and Annex Ia Part IV. The label must be attached to the packaging and the instructions or, where this is not possible, to the device itself.