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EU considers policy direction on RFID
The development of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology promises many benefits for European business, governments and citizens, but is also raising concerns about personal privacy. With a public consultation attracting a record response from organisations and citizens, EU policymakers are paying close attention.
RFID tags may only be tiny objects, but they are shaping up to have a massive impact on commerce and society across the world. The challenge facing EU policymakers is to understand the extent of that impact, and
to create or change policy accordingly.
It’s not an easy task, and the EU is not taking it lightly. In February 2006 it launched a public consultation with the aim of learning about people’s attitudes towards RFID, and listening to their opinions on how development and innovation in this space should best be managed. When the consultation period closed in September, the EU had received 2,190 responses
– almost a record.
The responses came not only from companies and organisations who are involved in developing, testing, implementing and using RFID, but also from citizens keen to voice their opinions about the technology. While many recognise that the technology will deliver major safety and security benefits, others are worried that some RFID tags might contain personal data that could be used in ways they cannot control, or that by carrying something with an RFID tag on it, their own movements could be
trackable.
The EU acknowledges these concerns, but is also keen to stimulate the development and uptake of RFID because of the wide-reaching benefits it can bring in so many areas. Speaking in October 2006, the EU Commissioner for the Information Society, Viviane Reding, talked of a large and diverse array of benefits including “livestock management, 24-hour patient monitoring, authentication of pharmaceuticals, tracking consignments in a supply chain, remote monitoring of safety-critical components in aircraft and
monitoring the safety of perishable food.”
Reding noted that pilot RFID implementations currently underway have also demonstrated benefits for vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society, for example by checking that medicines are being administered properly to patients and that surgical equipment remains properly sterilised, and by helping visually impaired people to find their way around buildings and public
places.
Striking the right balance between stimulating uptake, allaying citizens’ concerns and providing an appropriate regulatory framework is the challenge now facing EU policymakers. While current uses of RFID should not be a cause of major concern – most tags are used to track pallets of goods in logistical supply chains and are discarded long before the goods reach the consumer – in future, tags will increasingly be used in consumer environments, making their timely destruction or deactivation an issue of social importance. Vendors and researchers are fully aware of this obligation and are working to incorporate destruction and deactivation capabilities and other privacy safeguards into the technology
as it develops.
Predictions for exactly how the technology could be used in future is one area where the EU is keen to solicit information from expert parties. It is equally interested to gain a view from those involved in RFID development of how active it needs to be in terms of policy-making around RFID. There are strong arguments for making the industry self-regulating rather than government-regulated, with many interested parties believing that the data protection legislation already in place is sufficient
to protect citizens against any potential privacy infringements arising from RFID use.
Vendors, developers and purchasers alike are also concerned about standardisation of RFID technologies and frequencies. Standardisation is becoming necessary to the development of RFID as it is by its very a mobile technology, designed to track physical items through time and space. A tagged item like a pallet in a global supply chain may travel through many countries and touchpoints on its journey. Establishing global standards for tags, frequencies and the technologies that surround them will therefore be essential. Standardisation will also lower commercial risk and increase partnership opportunities for companies introducing new RFID-based
technologies, in turn helping to stimulate market growth.
Having gathered and analysed public opinion on the benefits and concerns surrounding RFID, the EU is now beginning to work on formulating a set of policies that will foster the safe and secure development of what is coming to be thought of as ‘the internet of things’. A further communication from Commissioner Reding outlining the potential policy
directions is expected later this year.
Oracle’s View
As a technology innovator, Oracle is committed to developing and working with technologies that benefit individuals, organisations and society. We consider RFID to be a technology that will have very many beneficial applications. Oracle therefore welcomes the EU’s open, collaborative and consultative approach to RFID policy development. As an international company, we also thoroughly support the EU’s call for collaboration and co-operation on the development of technologies and standards both inside its borders and on the international stage. We would like to see the EU encouraging RFID development by providing a supportive regulatory environment in which innovation can flourish, and we look forward to participating in further consultative activity
in the second half of 2007.
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