EU wants to fulfil RFID's potential

Posted on 10 Mar 2006 at 20:10

The EU has made the first steps of a long march that will bring widespread use of RFID tags within Europe.

Opening a public debate at the CeBIT tech show in Hanover yesterday, Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, said that use of the electronic tags will increase 1,000 per cent over the next decade.

She said that a public debate on the issue that would cover standards, spectrum allocation and privacy concerns is vital to ensure the technology is used to its full potential.

This 'Internet of things', as she referred to it, has to have harmonised standards: one of the widest uses of RFID will be as stock controls, balancing production against demand. But when those supply chains are stretched internationally, it is important that standards too are international. She warned that co-ordination at this level has traditionally been slow. But in Europe the EU has submitted proposals that include binding provisions for member states to use the same spectrum for RFID.

Reding was also forthright on protecting EU citizens privacy. She said that while some uses of RFID will not intrude on privacy, consumers are rightly wary of the information that will be stored in databases across the globe as they leave digital trails of their activities with RFID-enabled objects.

'These are fundamental issues on which we have to give citizens, consumers and organisations the legal certainty that their rights are protected, so that they can take-up RFIDs with confidence. If it requires legal measures to build this confidence I will be willing to take them. The business opportunities of RFID can only be built on a basis of mutual trust,' she said. 'Let me be clear: I will not see the liberty of citizens and their fundamental rights being compromised.'

However she said that RFID tags can also play a vital role in security and safety: Airbus' A-380 double-decker passenger aircraft will have passive RFID chips on removable parts such as passenger seats, life vests, and brakes, which will be key in the maintenance of those parts, she said.

'We need to build a society-wide consensus on the future of RFID, and the need for credible safeguards. We must harness the technology and create the right opportunities for its use for the wider public good.'

The public debate will be in the form of a series of workshops between March and June, with a report due out by the end of the year.

In short, RFID tags are coming to Europe sooner rather than later.

Author: Matt Whipp