New EU recommendations on RFID -Internet of Things

The European Commission adopted on May 12 a recommendation on the implementation of privacy and data protection principles in applications supported by radio-frequency identification. As the use of RFID tags will become the norm for retailers, they will be "in the privacy hot seat". Indeed, as the European Commission writes, "in the retail trade sector, an assessment of the privacy and data protection impacts of products containing tags which are sold to consumers should provide the necessary information to determine where there is a likely threat to privacy or the protection of personal data."

The European Union protects privacy of the individuals (article 7) and data privacy (article 8) in its Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Also of interest, the European Union has a web site dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT). See also here, and see also the European Commission staff working paper on the Internet of Things.