EU drafts guidelines for RFID technologies

The European Commission has sketched out guidelines to help get RFID technologies up and running in the European Union, but stopped short of proposing formal legislation in the area.

The Commission said Thursday it has drawn up a draft text that aims to help the makers of RFID technology, as well as potential users, introduce the technology without harming privacy rights.

The Commission recommends that producers of RFID chips conduct a privacy assessment before marketing their wares, while industries that plan to use the chips should sign on to a code of conduct outlining how the chips should be used. Industries using RFID technology should agree on a symbol to attach to goods that carry the chips to alert customers to their presence, the Commission proposed. It also suggests that the chips should deactivate automatically at the point of purchase.

RFID chips used with such perishable items as milk could alert consumers if products go bad, but such a service should be optional, said Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr. “You should be able to decide whether to allow your milk carton to communicate with your fridge, for example,” he said at a news conference.

The Commission has opened an eight-week consultation, which ends April 25, with interested parties, including industry, consumer and privacy groups. It hopes to adopt the recommendations in the summer.

Ensuring that the potentially invasive technology respects people’s right to privacy is essential if it is to take off, Selmayr said. “The new technology will only take off in a sound environment where data protection is safeguarded,” he said. RFID could revolutionize logistics operations by allowing companies to trace their goods from the factory to the shop shelf.

Three kinds of RFID chips are currently in use in Europe:

* Passive RFID tags do not need a power supply of their own; the minute tension induced from a radio-frequency signal emitted by the reader is sufficient to activate their circuit and send out short digital-information streams in response. Typically, this information includes a unique identification number that points to an entry in a database.

* Semi-passive RFID tags have built-in batteries and do not require energy induced from the reader to power the microchip. This allows them to function with much lower signal-power levels and over greater distances than passive tags. They are, however, considerably more expensive.

* Active RFID tags have an on-board power supply, usually a battery, of their own. This lets more complex circuits be powered and allows more features.

Six hundred million RFID tags, almost all passive, were sold in the EU in 2006, according to Commission research. That is predicted to rise to around 300 billion by 2016, the Commission said.

More information on the RFID issue can be found at the Commission’s Web site.