Communication on RFID: “steps towards a policy framework” (COM(2007)96 of 15 March 2007) Council of the European Union Working Party on Data Protection Brussels, 24 May 2007

How Does RFID Work? Reader Transponder Antenna Computer System Reader broadcasts signal through antenna Antenna Transponder is charged with enough energy to send back an identifying response Transponder Transponder receives signal Computer System Reader sends info/data to computer system for collecting, logging and processing

Why RFID Matters Strategic importance Socio-economic importance Improve efficiency Enable new products, services and solutions Gain competitive advantage Prepare Europe for the « Internet of Things » Socio-economic importance Safety, convenience, accessibility Sectoral benefits Horizontal benefits (anti-counterfeiting…)

Need for Legal Certainty Data protection, privacy and security Guidance on practical implementation of RFID under existing legal framework Governance of resources Model of an information retrieval network for RFID tags in the emerging “Internet of Things” Radio spectrum Short-term and longer-term spectrum requirements Standards Working towards international standards Environment and health Raising public awareness of existing legal framework

Actions at European Level: A threefold strategy Technology development ICT-FP7 (RFID in 4 ‘challenges’ out of 7) Cluster of European Research Projects (CERP) Awareness and multi-stakeholder debate RFID Expert Group: from June 2007 to 31 March 2009 Regulatory measures Self-regulation Codes of conduct, best practices and guidelines on data protection and privacy aspects of various RFID applications Close concertation with “Article 29 Data Protection Working Party” Legislation Recommendation to public authorities and other stakeholders Input from Expert Group, “Art. 29 WP”, other initiatives Further possible legislative steps

Milestones June 2007 By end of 2007 By end of 2008 2006 – 2008 Establishment of RFID Expert (Stakeholder) Group Balanced representation of all relevant interests By end of 2007 Recommendation Principles that public authorities and other stakeholders should apply wrt RFID usage Amendment of ePrivacy Directive Add appropriate provisions wrt RFID By end of 2008 Communication about the “Internet of Things” Particular attention to security, privacy, trust, governance Assessment of policy options, incl. legislation 2006 – 2008 International dialogue China, Japan, Korea, Russia, USA…

Follow-up Council of the EU German Presidency of the EU Telecommunications Council, 7 June German Presidency of the EU Conference “RFID: Towards the Internet of Things”, Berlin, 25-26 June (http://www.nextgenerationmedia.de/Nextgenerationmedia/Navigation/en/rfid-conference.html) ‘European Policy Outlook RFID’ document Portugal Presidency of the EU Tentatively: Conference & Exhibition “Towards a European Policy on RFID”, Lisbon, 15-16 November European Parliament Participation of MEPs in RFID Events STOA 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Strasbourg, 18-21 May – 5 RFID R&D projects with live demonstration European Economic & Social Committee Exploratory Opinion expected in July

Outcome of Public Online Consultation (1) Rely on technical solutions (70%) and awareness raising (67%) underpinned by legislation (55%) rather than on self-regulation (15%) Less than 10% think there is no issue, and just over 10% think it is up to the end user to take action 66% want RFID tags attached to products in supermarkets to be automatically de-activated, to be removable (51%) or only readable on short distance (44%)

Outcome of Public Online Consultation (2) 74% of respondents is fairly strongly or very strongly concerned with RFID-enabled monitoring of employees ~50% thinks use of PETs in RFID applications should be mandatory, be promoted at European level (31%); ~10% wants to leave it to the market Notification of RFID use can be done either by 3rd party certification (says 56%), or by self-certification (says 44%), as long as RFID use is clearly indicated

Privacy and Data Protection Users’ privacy protection Core principles should be defined EU’s Data Protection and ePrivacy Directives Compliance with principles “Working Party 29” Communication on promoting Data Protection by PETs (COM(2007) 228 final) Other societal concerns RFID use in the workplace Environment-friendly RFID tags

Further Information & Contact http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=3247 http://www.rfidconsultation.eu/ http://www.nextgenerationmedia.de/Nextgenerationmedia/Navigation/en/rfid-conference.html gerald.santucci@ec.europa.eu