EU pushes for smart tag revolution[fr] 

Fifteen months after putting out for consultation a draft recommendation on RFID, the Commission is finally due to adopt the document, leaving its original proposal largely unchanged (EurActiv 26/02/08).

Although not binding, the text is meant to increase legal certainty on how to deploy RFID, which many companies are already extensively using as a complement or alternative to the more-widely known but less effective bar codes.

According to Commission figures, in 2008 almost 2.2 billion RFID tags were sold in the world, roughly a third of which were in Europe: significant growth compared to 2007. The global market for RFID in 2008 was worth €4 billion and is foreseen to increase in the coming years, up to €20 billion by 2018. "The European share of the global smart tags market will reach 35% in the next eight years," says an internal EU document obtained by EurActiv.

In line with what the Commission proposed in February 2008, the recommendation will require retailers which use RFID tags to store and track products to deactivate them at the point of sale. This will avoid potential privacy and security-related problems to consumers. 

Buyers will also be offered an opt-in, meaning that they could agree to keep the tags active if they wish, to have a product identified and retrieved if proven to be dangerous, for example. This would help consumers and industry alike, as companies will not be forced to take off the market entire stocks in cases of proven but limited danger, such as the recent case involving contaminated Chinese milk powder. If consumers fail to voluntarilyy opt-in, tags will instead be deactivated. 

Privacy protection groups pushed for the opt-in principle to be adopted to prevent personal data - such as name, surname and credit card number - from being stolen and the information accessed via RFID readers.

However, the Commission underlines that the approach adopted so far is aimed at preventing such theft, which at the moment is unlikely due to the relatively low diffusion of RFID readers and their low technological development. 

The Commission also gave European standardisation bodies the mandate to define a standard sign to identify RFID, to be be displayed wherever tags or readers are located in order to make consumers aware of their presence.

BEUC, the European consumers' organisation, hailed the "long-awaited" recommendation as "an important first step towards finally addressing some of the core consumer concerns linked to RFID".

‘’With the adoption of the Recommendation, we now have clarity and a framework in which manufacturers and retailers can begin or expand deployments to deliver the benefits of RFID for consumers in Europe,” said  Miguel Lopera, Chief Executive Officer of GS1 EPCglobal, an organisation that promotes RFID standards.

On behalf of retailers, EuroCommerce Secretary General Xavier Durieu said : “We fully support the protection of consumers’ privacy, but the Commission text does not take into account the practical consequences. On the contrary, by adding constraints on operators, it will reduce the attractiveness of the new technology for them. This will inevitably be reflected in the costs. If RFID is to develop its full potential, and to contribute to European competitiveness, it must be made easy, cheap and attractive, both to develop and to use.” 

However, big retailers did not back the line of EuroCommerce. The European Retail Round Table (ERRT), which represents big chains such as Carrefour or Metro, replied: "“There has been much discussion with consumer groups and others over the past 2-3 years about the uses of RFID, and the need to balance the benefits it can bring with the need to ensure the highest standards of privacy and data protection. We believe this Recommendation achieves that balance, allowing the technology to develop while ensuring that those who use the technology will use it responsibly and sensibly", Paul Skehan, ERRT Director said in a statement.