Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 of 16 June 2023 laying down ecodesign requirements for smartphones, mobile phones other than smartphones, cordless phones and slate tablets pursuant to Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/826 (Text with EEA relevance)

(c) Provide, on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, a description of the procedure for the notification and authorisation of the intended replacement of serialised parts by the owner of the device referred to in point (d); the procedure shall allow for remotely providing the notification and authorisation;

(d) Before providing access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b), the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative may only require to have received a notification and authorisation of the intended part replacement by the owner of the device. Such notification and authorisation may also be provided by a professional repairer with the explicit written consent of the owner;

(e) Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b) within 3 working days after having received the request and, where applicable, the notification and authorisation referred to in point (d);

(f) The access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in point (a) may, as regards professional repairers, be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2(a) and (b).

From 20 June 2025:

(1) Scratch resistance: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the screen of the device passes the hardness level 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, except for foldable slate tablets designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display.

(2) Protection from accidental spills: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices are protected against accidental spills of water.

(3) Battery endurance in cycles: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices achieve at least 800 cycles at 80 % remaining capacity, to be tested under charging conditions where the charging rate is limited by the battery management system and not by the power delivery capabilities of the power supply.

(4) Battery management: (i) manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall include an optional charging feature selectable by the user which terminates the charging process automatically, when the battery is charged to 80 % of its full capacity. When this feature is enabled, manufacturers, importers, or authorised representatives may enable the device to periodically fully charge the battery for the purposes of maintaining accurate battery state of charge estimates. The user shall be informed automatically when charging the device for the first time or during the installation process, that the life span of the battery can be extended if the feature is selected and the battery is regularly charged only to 80 % of its full capacity; (ii) manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide a power management feature which by default ensures that once the battery is fully charged there is no further charging power supplied to the battery unless the charge level drops below 95 % of its maximum charge capacity.

(5) Operating system updates: (a) from the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system; (b) the requirement referred to in point (a) shall apply both to operating system updates offered voluntarily by manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives and to operating system updates provided to comply with Union law; (c) security updates or corrective updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 4 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand; (d) functionality updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 6 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand; (e) an operating system update may combine security, corrective and functionality updates; (f) when a functionality update provided by a manufacturer, importer or authorised representative shows a negative impact on device performance, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall modify the released operating system to ensure at least the same performance as before the update within a reasonable period of time, free of charge and without causing significant inconvenience to the end-user, except if the end-user has given explicit consent for the negative impact prior to the update.

From 20 June 2025, plastic components heavier than 50 g shall be marked by specifying the type of polymer with the appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between the punctuation marks ‘>’ and ‘<’ as specified in available standards. The marking shall be legible.

Plastic components shall be exempt from marking requirements provided the following conditions are fulfilled:

(i) the marking is not possible because of the shape or size;

(ii) the marking would impact on the performance or functionality of the plastic component;

(iii) marking is technically not possible because of the molding method.

For the following plastic components no marking shall be required:

(i) packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps;

(ii) wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts and any other component where not enough appropriate surface area is available for the marking to be of a legible size;

(iii) PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speakers;

(iv) transparent parts where the marking would obstruct the function of the part in question.

From 20 June 2025:

(1) Manufacturers, importers or their authorised representatives shall, without prejudice to Article 15(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, make available, on a free access website, the dismantling information needed to access any of the products components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU.

(2) The information referred to in point (1) shall include the sequence of dismantling steps, tools or technologies needed to access the targeted components.

(3) The information referred to in point (1) shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.

From 20 June 2025:

(1) Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide in the technical documentation and make publicly available on free access websites of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative the following information: (a) compatibility with removable memory cards, if any; (b) indicative weight range of the following critical raw materials and environmentally relevant materials: (i) cobalt in the battery (weight range: less than 10 g, between 10 g and 20 g, above 20 g); (ii) tantalum in capacitors (weight range: less than 0,01 g, between 0,01 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g); (iii) neodymium in loud speakers, vibration motors, and other magnets (weight range: less than 0,2 g, between 0,2 g and 1 g, above 1 g); (iv) gold in all components (weight range: less than 0,02 g, between 0,02 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g); (c) the indicative value of the recyclability rate Rcyc; (d) the indicative percentage of recycled content for the product or a part thereof, where available; if not available, the recycled content should be indicated as “not known” or “not available”; (e) ingress protection rating; (f) minimum battery endurance in cycles in number of cycles; (g) in case of foldable devices, it shall be indicated that ‘This device did not undergo a scratch resistance test’.

(2) Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide user instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, and shall include: (a) how to access on the device information from the battery management system on: (i) date of manufacturing of the battery; (ii) date of first use of the battery after the set-up of the device by the first user; (iii) number of full charge/discharge cycles (reference: rated capacity); (iv) measured state of health (remaining full charge capacity relative to the rated capacity in %); (b) instructions for battery maintenance, including the following: (i) impacts on battery lifetime related to exposure of the device to elevated temperatures, suboptimal charging patterns, fast charging and other known adverse factors; (ii) effects of switching off radio connections, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, on power consumption; (iii) information about whether the device supports other features, which extend battery lifetime, such as smart charging and about how these features are activated or under which conditions they work best.

(3) Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that: (a) Information that data encryption is enabled by default is displayed to the user in the course of configuring a new device, including an explanation that this eases data erasure through factory reset; (b) If wireless charging is selected, a message notifying the user that wireless charging will likely increase the energy use in the charging of the battery.

(4) Where the package does not include a charger, the user instructions referred to in point 2 shall include the following information: “For environmental reasons this package does not include a charger. This device can be powered with most USB power adapters and a cable with USB Type-C plug.”.

ANNEX III

Measurements and calculations

1.For the purposes of compliance and verification of compliance with the requirements laid down in this Regulation, measurements and calculations shall be made using harmonised standards, or other reliable, accurate and reproducible methods, which take into account the generally recognised state-of-the-art methods and are in line with the provisions set out below. The reference numbers of those harmonised standards have been published for this purpose in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ).

2.In the absence of relevant standards and until the publication of the references of the relevant harmonised standards in the OJ, the transitional testing methods set out in Annex IIIa or other reliable, accurate and reproducible methods, which take into account the generally recognised state-of-the-art, shall be used.

3.Cordless phones placed on the market with a base station shall be tested for networked standby power consumption, with the following test settings:

(a) Tests shall be performed on the base station both without the handset on the base station as well as with the charged handset on the base station.

(b) The devices shall be measured in the condition as delivered to the end-user(factory setting).

(c) The power consumptions shall be measured as average power consumptions over a time period of 10 minutes.

(d) The measurements shall be carried out with a mains supply voltage of 230V ± 1 %.

4.Cordless phones placed on the market with a charging cradle shall be tested for standby power consumption, with the following test settings:

(a) Tests shall be performed with the charged handset placed on the charging cradle.

(b) The devices shall be measured in the condition as delivered to the end–user (factory setting).

(c) The power consumptions shall be measured as average power consumptions over a time period of 10 minutes.

(d) The measurements shall to be carried out with a mains supply voltage of 230V ± 1 %.

5.Batteries of mobile phones and slate tablets shall be tested according to the default charging algorithms implemented by the manufacturer. The resulting number of cycles shall be rounded down to full hundreds and stated as “≥ x00”.

6.Ingress protection against particle and moisture ingress shall be expressed as an IP code, corresponding with the levels listed in Table 1. Tests shall be performed without protective cover.

7.Resistance to accidental drops or repeated free fall reliability is measured through the number of falls without defect in the repeated free fall test. The repeated free fall tests shall be performed with five units of each model for each of the applicable test cases. The resistance to accidental drops is the number of falls which have been passed by at least four out of the five units under test. The number of falls per unit shall be determined with the following test conditions:

(a) without protective foils and separate protective cover, if any, for non-foldable devices;

(b) with a protective foil on the display for foldable devices, first in the un-extended state and then in the fully extended state on the same unit under test in line with Table 2;

(c) fall height 1 m;

(d) after a defined number of falls corresponding to the intervals specified in Table 2, the unit under test has to be functional without defect, with particular reference to the following functionalities, where applicable: (i) integrity of screen; (ii) display with less than 10 pixel defects or similar malfunctions; (iii) all cameras, tested for still images and videos; (iv) mobile communication; (v) Bluetooth connectivity; (vi) WiFi connectivity; (vii) battery charging: wired and wireless; (viii) display touch sensitivity; (ix) responsive buttons and switches; (x) vibration alarm; (xi) main microphone(s); (xii) loudspeaker; (xiii) headset audio.

(e) cracks of the frame or backside shall not be considered a defect as long as full functionality and safe use of the unit under test is given;

(f) cracks of the touchscreen and of any other cover layers of a display shall not be considered a defect as long as full functionality and safe use of the unit under test is given;

(g) in case of no determined defect the test shall be continued, placing the unit under test in the tumble tester in the same orientation the device was found when the test was interrupted;

(h) for non-foldable devices, in case of a determined defect and in any case after 157 falls the test of the unit is terminated;

(i) for foldable devices, in case of a determined defect and in any case after 175 falls the test of the unit is terminated. Table 2 Test intervals for determining if the unit is defective (smartphones) Non-foldable device Foldable device 45 35 un-extended state + 15 additional falls in fully extended state

ANNEX IIIa

Transitional methods

ANNEX IV

Verification procedure for market surveillance purposes

The verification tolerances defined in this Annex relate only to the verification by Member State authorities of the declared values and shall not be used by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative as an allowed tolerance to establish the values in the technical documentation or in interpreting those values with a view to achieving compliance or to communicate better performance by any means.

Where a model is not in conformity with the requirements laid down in Article 40 paragraphs 1 to 4 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the model and all equivalent models shall be considered not compliant.

As part of verifying the compliance of a product model with the requirements laid down in this Regulation pursuant to Article 3(2) of Directive 2009/125/EC, the authorities of the Member States shall apply the following procedure for the requirements referred to in Annex II:

(a) the values given in the technical documentation pursuant to Annex IV, point 2, to Directive 2009/125/EC (declared values), and, where applicable, the values used to calculate those values, are not more favourable for the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative than the results of the corresponding measurements carried out pursuant to point (g) thereof; (b) the declared values meet any requirements laid down in this Regulation, and any required product information published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative does not contain values that are more favourable for the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative than the declared values; (c) when the Member State authorities check the unit of the model, it complies with the requirements, except for the requirements for which points (d), (e) and (f) apply; (d) when the Member State authorities test the unit of the model, the determined values (the values of the relevant parameters as measured in testing and the values calculated from these measurements) comply with the respective verification tolerances as set out in Table 4; (e) when the Member State authorities test five units of the model, the determined values (that is the values of the relevant parameters as measured in testing and the values calculated from those measurements) comply with the respective pass rate as given in Table 5; (f) when the Member State authorities test the five units of the model, the arithmetic mean of the determined values (that is the values of the relevant parameters as measured in testing and the values calculated from these measurements) complies with the respective verification tolerances as given in Table 4.

The Member State authorities shall use the measurement and calculation methods set out in Annex III.

The Member State authorities shall only apply the verification tolerances that are set out in Table 4 and shall use only the procedure described in the third paragraph for the requirements set out in this Annex. For the parameters in Table 4, no other tolerances, such as those set out in harmonised standards or in any other measurement method, shall be applied.

ANNEX V

Benchmarks

At the time of entry into force of this Regulation, the best available technology on the market was identified as follows:

Mobile phones:

(1) resistance to accidental drops: >100 falls; >>100 falls for ruggedized devices;

(2) scratch resistance: 6;

(3) ingress protection rating: IP68 (in combination with user-replaceable battery);

(4) battery endurance in cycles: 1 200 cycles.

Cordless phones:

(5) standby power cordless phones with base station: 0,4 W;

(6) standby power cordless phones with charging cradle only: < 0,05 W;

(7) ingress protection rating: IP65;

(8) compatibility with standard size batteries: yes.

Slate tablets:

(9) scratch resistance: 6;

(10) ingress protection rating: IP68;

(11) battery endurance in cycles: 1 000 cycles.