EU Calls for Stronger RFID Privacy

European Commission Press Releases

Brussels, 16 October 2006

The European Commission today reports on the initial findings from its wide public debate on Radio Frequency Identification. At the ‘RFID – Heading for the Future’ conference in Brussels today, possible future policy options will be discussed with stakeholders from all over Europe and beyond.

Why is the Commission involved in RFID? Why not leave it completely to the private sector?

The private sector is crucial for developing the technological and economic conditions for successfully introducing RFID technologies. But as the private sector cannot clear all the roadblocks, this could slow RFID introduction.

Examples include the need for a common European technical standard to ensure that RFID systems work together and the lack of a radio frequency allocation common to all EU Member States. Suitable standards for RFID are crucial to its successful introduction. The Commission relies on standards proposed by the existing standardisation bodies in Europe, such as CEPT and ETSI for frequency spectrum allocation, and CEN and ISO for interoperability. It counts on self-regulation and industry-wide agreements to remove the remaining obstacles.

RFID also raises a number of public interest issues, including data protection and security. Here, there is a clear need to identify joint European responses to legitimate societal concerns. On privacy, RFID is generating a number of important questions such as: how do we credibly ensure that RFID tags are not abused to invade the privacy of consumers? Do we need to destroy an RFID tag when it could be useful for self-configuring products (built from autonomous components and assemblies), automating warranty checks etc.? The Commission’s role here is to help build a cross-society consensus on technical, legal and ethical issues associated with RFID and to intervene, where required, with regulatory instruments.

In addition to privacy, the interoperability debate and the availability of radio frequency spectrum are also important. We very much need a common approach throughout Europe, so as to ensure that individual EU Member States do not opt for incompatible solutions which ultimately would be detrimental to everyone. For example, because Europe lacks a common frequency range for ultra-high frequency (UHF) tags, electronic invoicing is possible within each country, but e-invoicing systems will not work across borders. Also a sector-specific approach, such as common EU guidelines that set out minimal requirements for RFID applications in different sectors (such as healthcare or government), might be helpful for industry and citizens in Europe.

More information on the public debate on RFID can be found at: www.rfidconsultation.eu

In the news:

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EU Calls for Stronger RFID Privacy ENT News

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