David A.

Olive
General Manager, Fujitsu Limited
WITSA Public Policy Chairman

WI TSA Public Policy Meeting
Hanoi, Vietnam
November 26, 2005

Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

Supporting ICT Infrastructure Deployment
Drafted WITSA Statement on the
Policy Implication of Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) .







Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

RFID refers to the subset of automatic identification that
uses radio waves to identify an object.
The simplest tags are "passive"---without their own
power supply, receiving power from the electromagnetic
waves emitted by the reader which allows the
transmission of the information stored on the tag.
Other tags are "active" containing some form of power
supply to broadcast the information to the reader.








Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

Tags can have chips that can be read-write, read-only
tags or electrically read-only memory where data can
be overwritten using an electronic process.
The two critical elements are the readers which
receive the ID and the network for the transmission
and storage of information about the objects.








Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) has been
designed to make the supply chain much more
visible, from manufacturer through distributor
to the retail outlet at various points along the
way.








Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

APPLICATIONS
Maintenance: Taking advantage of the read/write
capabilities, inspectors can read the maintenance data,
update it and reprogram the chip.
Medical information: Printed bar code labels come with
RFID tags embedded in them. The tags can be read in
unattended scanning environments.
Inventory/Stocking: Several suppliers can walk into a work
area to see if the next shipment should go out without
relying on paperwork at customer sites to get up-to-date
info on quantities needed and pricing.







Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

APPLICATIONS
Electronic article surveillance: for apparel and high-
end consumer goods. Sensor tags used as antitheft
protection.
Retail Checkouts: Enables checkout at kiosks that
automatically updates the inventory information in
real time.
Handheld Devices: Adding RFID computing to devices
will lead to a variety of RFID uses, such as reading
utility meters, taking inventory or tracking items
through the supply chain.







Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

POLICY ISSUES
Privacy
Security
Competition law
Access to radio frequency spectrum
Health effects
Labor practices







Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

SUGGESTED GUIDELINES
Customers should be given their choice to remove
and/or discard, destroy, or deactivate RFID tags from
the products purchased.
Companies should disclose their policies regarding
any linkage between personally identifiable customer
information and information generated by RFID use.
Companies should implement technical measures to
address privacy, security, and access to information
issues in the development of new RFID applications.








Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID)

Acknowledgement
WITSA acknowledges the substantive contributions of
Elliot E. Maxwell in the preparations of this briefing
paper on RFID. He is a Fellow of the Center for the Study
of American Government at Johns Hopkins University,
Distinguished Research Fellow at the eBusiness
Research Center of the Pennsylvania State University,
and chair of the International Policy Advisory Council of
MITs Auto-ID Center.
providing a voice for the global IT industry.
HTTP://WWW.WITSA.ORG

David A. Olive
General Manager, Fujitsu Limited
WITSA Public Policy Chairman



WITSA 2003 Global Public Policy
Activities