China's RFID future uncertain

Silence from the national government and aggressive marketing by EPCGlobal are combining to create a climate of uncertainty around the issue of RFID standards in China, according to ABI Research.

While official efforts toward setting a Chinese RFID standard remain in limbo, the challenge for the near future will be the rapidly changing conditions on the ground.

In July 2006, EPCglobal's UHF Generation 2 air interface protocol was incorporated into the ISO/IEC 18000 6 Amendment 1, as Type C.

But according to ABI Research analyst Junmei He, "As the RFID standard issue enters a new stage aimed at speeding up the adoption of RFID tags globally, the Chinese government remains silent about where the national RFID standard is heading."

One month previously, a Chinese RFID technology policy whitepaper was published, in which the national standard issue wasn't even discussed.

Meanwhile, EPCglobal is seizing the initiative. In April 2006, EPCglobal Hong Kong launched its EPCglobal Industry Support Program (EISP), to lend financial, technological and implementation support for EPC adoption in enterprises across Hong Kong and Southern China.