FAQs
What is an Electronic Product Code?
An Electronic Product Code, or EPC, is an electronic tag that contains a unique number. This number identifies one product from another. EPC is often called the next generation of the standard bar code. Like the bar code, EPC uses a numerical system to identify a product.
An EPC is a number that can be associated with specific product information, such as date of manufacture, origin and destination of shipment. This information provides significant advantages for businesses and consumers. EPCs do not carry personally identifiable information.
How does EPC work?
The EPC is stored on a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, which transmits data when prompted by a signal emitted by a special reader. EPC and RFID are not interchangeable.
How were RFID and EPC developed?
RFID was developed more than 60 years ago and is used every day by consumers for systems like E-Z Pass, which speeds commuters through toll booths, and for SpeedPass electronic payments at Exxon and Mobil stations. To combat Mad Cow disease, European nations and Canada are using RFID to track livestock. In fact, it was first developed by the allies in World War II to identify friendly aircraft in battle.
EPC was developed much more recently by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Auto-ID Center trying to help businesses identify items in the supply chain, automatically and in real time.
How does EPC benefit consumers?
The EPC has the potential to help us all. It helps businesses improve supply chain efficiencies and visibility, which benefits consumers by providing improved product availability, speed of service, and quality assurance. EPC helps prevent fake goods from reaching consumers by tracking products from its source and also helps manufacturers’ ability to quickly and effectively recall damaged or defective products. The EPC allows retailers to track inventory more effectively, reorder products more efficiently and get the products consumers want on the shelves at the right time.
How does EPC benefit businesses?
The EPC can help businesses transform their processes in order to improve efficiency while providing additional consumer benefits. Poor supply chain visibility results in more than $81 billion annually in losses to U.S. businesses due to lost, stolen, and out-of-stock inventory. The technology behind EPC can help businesses track inventory more effectively, reorder products more efficiently and reduce the number of times a product is “out of stock.”
In addition, companies can use the EPC to track their shipments to help prevent tampering and to help prevent counterfeit or illicit goods from entering the marketplace. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that 7 percent of pharmaceuticals worldwide are counterfeit. EPC can improve this because of its ability to track specific items from manufacture to destination. Items will be routed properly, and those with fake or duplicate tags can be investigated and removed quickly and easily.
Who is creating standards and managing implementation of EPC?
EPCglobal Inc. was created as a joint venture between GS1 (formerly EAN International) and GS1 US (formerly the Uniform Code Council, Inc.) — the same organizations entrusted to drive adoption of the barcode — to develop standards and to create a “visible” global supply chain. EPCglobal is a neutral, not-for-profit standards organization consisting of manufacturers, technology solution providers, and retailers. Many industries participate in the EPCglobal standards development process such as aerospace, apparel, chemical, consumer electronics, consumer goods, healthcare and life sciences, and transportation and logistics.
Are all companies using EPC a member of EPCglobal?
In order to receive an EPC number, a company must subscribe to EPCglobal. By becoming a subscriber, the company agreed to adhere to published public policy guidelines relating to consumer privacy. The EPCglobal Guidelines on EPC for Consumer Products provide that consumers should be given:
- Notice when EPC/RFID technology is in use
- Choice over using or disposing of the tag after purchase
- Education about EPC/RFID technology and its uses
What about consumer privacy concerns?
EPC tags are created for businesses to manage products, not people. An EPC tag contains no personally identifiable information. EPCglobal and its community of subscribers recognize that, for EPC to gain broad public acceptance, consumers must have confidence in its value and benefits and in the integrity of its use. EPC participants are committed to gaining and retaining this public confidence. Privacy has been a focus of the EPC developers and subscribers since the earliest stages of the effort to commercialize RFID for supply chain issues.
EPCglobal has created a multi-industry, global Public Policy Steering Committee to anticipate and engage in policy issues and address them through education and outreach to key stakeholders in the public and private sectors. EPCglobal subscribers have developed guidelines that can evolve as the technology develops. The EPCglobal Guidelines on EPC for Consumer Products promote consumer notice, education, and choice about the technology and include consumer privacy protections.
What happens if a retailer or manufacturer doesn’t follow the guidelines?
All members of EPCglobal have committed to following the Guidelines.
Can products that have EPC tags be identified once they are in the home?
EPC tags only transmit product data when prompted by a signal sent by a special reader with access to a secure database. EPC tags do not contain, collect or store any personal information. The EPC has no power source and can only transmit its unique number when it is less than about 10 feet from a reader that activates the tag. The power – or strength – of readers is strictly regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The actual distance from which an EPC tag can be read may be shorter because barriers such as shopping bags and other factors such as the presence of metal materials or nearness of walls or other obstructions weaken a reader’s signal.
Without access to the secure database, any code retrieved is meaningless.
If a consumer had the appropriate equipment at home they could read the EPC tag but even then the only information they would have is the unique number attached to that particular product.
Does EPC information contain any consumer personal information?
EPC tags do not contain, collect or store any personal information.
What kind of consumer input has there been?
The research and development process has been open and transparent. There has been extensive input from consumers, industry, community leaders, and others to understand and address concerns. EPCglobal and its subscribers have participated in open forums on RFID, testified before legislative committees and governmental associations, and remain in contact with influential consumer groups and other interested associations such as the National Consumers League and the Center for Democracy and Technology.
How do you remove or destroy an EPC tag?
In most cases EPC tags can be removed by removing and discarding product packaging. In some cases, consumers may want to keep the EPC tags for easier product returns, recalls, and recovery of stolen goods.
Are the tags and readers safe for people and the environment?
There are national and international regulations for operating RFID equipment at safe levels. There is no medical evidence to suggest the technology poses a concern to human health when operating according to each country’s specific regulations regarding RFID exposure.
The impact and benefits of EPC for the environment are being studied. In fact, EPCglobal has recently received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate how EPC can allow for more efficient and accurate sorting of recyclable items.
Will EPC and RFID technology interfere with my other wireless technology?
The radio frequencies used by EPC and RFID are assigned by governments around the world to help ensure that no interference occurs.
When can we expect to see widespread item-level tagging?
Companies and retailers are conducting tests and pilots to better understand the consumer benefits of item-level tagging and it is difficult to predict when item-level tagging will become widespread. Today the majority of EPC applications are within the supply chain at the pallet- and case-level, but item level pilots have started all over the world.
What information is captured about the buyer?
When an item carrying an EPC tag is purchased, no information is captured on the EPC tag about the buyer. As with any non-cash transaction today, separate and apart from an EPC tag or bar code, the retailer must still capture, if only temporarily, the information required to complete the transaction.
Where are the tags located?
The tags are placed on the product packaging, usually near the UPC label. To identify whether a product contains an EPC tag, look for the EPC symbol.