Gérald Santucci, DG INFSO European Commission

What significance does RFID hold for Europe?
I would like to recall that Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that was born in Europe in the mid to late 1940. Since the beginning of the 21st century, Europe has continued to play an important role in the evolution of this technology – further technological breakthroughs, harmonisation efforts in standardisation, the development of applications in various economic sectors, and awareness-raising towards end-users, SMEs and the wider public. If Europe wants to look for its place in the global economy, valorise its spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship, and exploit its best technological strengths, it must maintain its leadership in RFID.

Today, RFID goes beyond its initial positioning as a direct identification solution enabling access to buildings or to check authorisation for ID documents. First, by providing the linkage between the real world and the virtual world, it enables the development of many applications for asset utilisation, machine and parts monitoring and maintenance, item flow control in processes, inventory audit, theft control, authentication, and payment systems. Second, by coupling RFID to other technologies, such as Near Field Communication, sensors and actuators, and Real Time Location System technology, each object will be enhanced by the information related to its precise location or to its conditions that could be retrieved on the Internet.

In what way will citizens benefit from the technology?
Not only the private sector but also the public sector will increasingly rely on the fields of application that I have indicated before. For example, asset utilisation concerns waste management or the location of medical equipment at clinical settings; item flow control concerns the tracking of medication from the pharmacy to the patient at hospital or the tracking of blood bottles or the management of documents in the context of e-government; inventory audit concerns the tracking, location and counting of defence ammunition in warehouses, lending systems in libraries, expositions in museums, and the tagging of animals and plants for research purposes; authentication concerns e-passports, patient authentication for the monitoring of medication in hospitals, speed control on roads and highways, etc.; payment systems concern in particular traffic (for tolling) and public transport (for access control and payment). In other words, RFID can provide citizens – be they workers, patients or consumers – with an array of value-added services associated with reduction of waiting time and simplification of utilisation data of products.

Only recently, the European Union has published a recommendation on RFID. To what end?
The Recommendation was indeed adopted by the European Commission on May 12th. On one hand, it addresses some of the key concerns raised by citizens and civil society organisations, namely privacy and data protection. On the other hand, it provides RFID-producing and -using industries an improved legal certainty when investing in RFID technologies. The recommendation should improve trust in the technology by both sides: citizens will be better informed and industry will be more certain that their use of the technology is lawful in Europe.

What are the next milestones for the further adoption of RFID? In what way are they supported by the European Union?
The adoption of RFID has admittedly been slower than predicted. In total, 2.35 billion tags are expected to be sold in 2009 versus 1.97 billion in 2008, 1.74 billion in 2007 and 1.02 billion in 2006. So, the evolution in the recent years has been good but not exceptional.

The global economic slowdown obviously is going to play against fast market growth. Looking at the range of applications, the biggest projects, which tend to be government-led, such as e-passports and animal tagging, are unlikely to reverse. On the contrary, in industry RFID is being applied where it can demonstrate a fairly rapid return on investment. Therefore, some projects will probably be delayed, but at the same time some companies will continue to adopt RFID where the paybacks are compelling for competitive advantage and turnover increase.
Beyond the overall economic situation, there are several obstacles to RFID adoption.
First, there are technical shortcomings that impede faster take-up and deployment - the interference around the signal wave, the non-directional orientation, and tag packaging issues.
Second, there are economic viability issues, especially the cost effectiveness of RFID tags, which is key to their widespread adoption. However, cost reduction is directly linked to volume production, which means that RFID has to go beyond the pilot stage, as it is now the case for instance in retail trade, in the development stage.
Third, standard heterogeneity is a big challenge that could lead to interoperability issues, in particular for stakeholders involved in several industries adopting different standards, like tire manufacturers.
Fourth, there are of course the main challenges that are privacy and information security and integrity. The European Commission has started to address these challenges with the recent Recommendation. Over the next three years, it will monitor the implementation of the Recommendation in the Member States, especially as regards the Privacy and Data Protection Impact Assessment, the European logos, and the practical options for deactivating RFID tags in retail stores.
Further issues of policy importance are radiation – that is the impact of RF radiation on the human body – and environmental protection. These issues will be addressed within the broader context of the Internet of Things.

Organization:
RFID technology is increasingly becoming part of European citizens’ daily life. RFID tags are "smarter" than the widely known barcodes, which makes RFID easier to use and more efficient than barcodes. RFID is a key enabler of the future Internet of Things (IOT) and it has a great economical potential.  The RFID market is expected to grow notably during the next 10 years. The European Commission guides the development and usage of this technology, addressing concerns and making sure that the potential of RFID is used for the benefit of all Europeans.

ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/index_en.htm
www.iot-visitthefuture.eu