According to Apple’s marketing chief, the company will have to comply with a European Union law that requires electronic devices to use a common charging standard known as USB-C.

“Obviously we’ll have to comply,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said at The Wall Street Journal Tech Live conference on Tuesday.

On Monday, EU ministers gave final approval to the common charger law, which means that by 2024, electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets must support USB-C charging.

The European Council’s approval comes after other EU legislative bodies voted in favor of the law, which has been in the works for around ten years.

Apple’s iPhone makes use of its own Lightning charger. The iPhone would be required to support USB-C under the upcoming EU legislation.

Joswiak did not specify when Apple would introduce USB-C to its flagship smartphone, but he did state that it would have to happen by 2024.

Analysts previously predicted that iPhones due out in 2023 would include USB-C charging, and that Apple would likely implement the standard globally, not just in the European Union.

EU lawmakers argue that the rules will reduce waste because consumers will not have to buy a new charger every time they buy a device. According to the EU, this will reduce the production and disposal of new chargers.

Joswiak lashed out at the EU over the charging law, admitting that the two sides had a “little bit of a disagreement.”

“We think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government be that prescriptive,” he said.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)

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