It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
Honestly, the EU’s where it’s at.
Invest in your people, and you’ll go far.
Just a small note, universal healthcare isn’t an EU thing and not really adopted properly across the EU’s constituent countries
I do have a card in my wallet issued by the EU that gives me the right to receive healthcare in any EU member state I visit, and I struggle to think of a EU member state that does not have universal healthcare in one form or another.
If you mean the European Health Insurance Card, it’s not the same as Universal Heathcare. If you travel to another contry that accepts it, you cannot go with any problem to the doctor, only ones that cannot wait until you return to the contry where you’re insured. Still useful to not have to have travel insurance within the EU, just might be useful to know.
You are correct, and it is indeed good to make this clear. I meant to argue that it is a bit of an exaggeration to say the the EU has nothing to do with universal healthcare. Arguably, I have more rights to health care as a EU citizen visiting another member state than a US citizen who can’t afford health insurance. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a state without socialized healthcare such as the US would be able to join the EU without reforming its public health policies.
Ireland joined the EU without it.
Even now Ireland’s system public system is still very limited access for most people.
I received an update of similar card this week. “European Health Insurance Card”.
Feels better having this while traveling :)
The EHIC doesn’t cover things like a mountain rescue or being flown back to the your home country i.e. the most expensive and potentially life-ruining things, so travel insurance is still a good idea.
Barely anyone has this card. I never heard about it before
You should get it when travelling in the EU though.
Some countries make it a real hassle though.
In Italy your national social security card acts as a European health card as well.
In France, where I’ve lived for 10 years, it doesn’t. But the European one is just a few clicks away on your personal online account, you just request it in a timely manner and it gets delivered at your address free of charge.
Dunno about other EU countries but I guess it’s pretty much the same.
German insurance cards are also EU cards, I have no idea why any country which has cards wouldn’t include the necessary EU stuff on it.
The UK were a reasonable exception as they don’t have insurance cards, you just walk into the doctor’s office they don’t care as long as you’re a human you’re getting treated. And because they didn’t record anything they never got reimbursed when non-UK EU citizens went to the NHS, and then they complained that it’s unfair that they have to reimburse when UK folks get treatment in other countries. You know, complaining about issues they themselves created, typical Brit stuff.
What you mean with properly? I would understand if you said equally or not everywhere but that wording confused me.
In Austria, in theory there would be health insurance, but in practice most doctors are private, meaning that you have to pay cash. The reason is that being in-circuit (to use the US term) comes with a lot of requirements and can be stopped by nearby competitors, so most doctors just don’t bother.
I love clicking to accept cookies so I can see the bottom portion of a website
The issue is that they required websites to implement the banner, instead of just implementing a standard (like this one) and letting browsers handle the UI. Imagine just telling your browser once what kind of cookies you are okay with and all websites adhere…
Good example of good intentions with a bad or suboptimal outcome. I really hope we can get a standard like that eventually.
That’s such a great idea, can’t believe I never heard of it! Thanks for sharing!
Decline all. Ghostery extension will do it for you.
lol I saw someone else last year complaining about GDPR because they thought clicking cookie banners was annoying. But it’s like… don’t be mad at GDPR for making you click banners that warn you about invasive practices, be mad at the fact that the invasive practices are allowed in the first place.
I actually run a directory of companies and products that don’t use invasive tracking cookies called CookieSlayers in an effort to make people aware of better alternatives, and ultimately build a better web. Feel free to contribute to it.
Cookies are not invasive, you need them to log in to websites
First-party cookies, yes, third-party cookies, no. There are good cookies and there are bad cookies. CookieSlayers is a directory focused on good cookies.
I have all third party cookies blocked at the browser level, GDPR or no GDPR
That’s good, although it shouldn’t have to fall to you (the consumer) to do that.
It shouldn’t fall on me to click cookie banners either
I don’t disagree. It’s a legislative failure.
Throwing some bones while preserving the proprietary nature of the USB standard, patent and IP laws, all kinds of certification required to produce stuff, etc.
They are just making the current state of things convenient, very slowly. Not addressing the root of the problem.
That’s fair. Standardize everything. For the moment, it’s the best of what we got. These changes happen over slowly, over decades. I’m all for addressing root causes and not symptoms.