Mainland authorities are stepping up efforts to draft national standards for radio frequency identity (RFID) tags as Chinese manufacturers and distributors scramble to meet new product data requirements from large western customers.
The Beijing-based Standardisation Administration of China, an agency formed by the State Council in 2001 to prepare standards laws, recently formed the National RFID Tag Standards Working Group.
The group will investigate global research on RFID tags and their practical applications, and adopt relevant technologies to ensure the proposed national RFID tag standards are compatible with international standards.
United States retail giant Wal-Mart and other large organisations are driving the adoption of RFID tags, requiring many suppliers worldwide to comply by early next year. The technology carries descriptive information of a product in a tag embedded with a chip. Devices such as handheld computers or sensors located in a warehouse can read this data and help businesses to streamline processes such as inventory management.
There is tremendous interest in the mainland in RFID tag standards because of the technology's application in key industries, including the manufacturing, retail and defence sectors.
It is estimated that US companies imported US$70 billion worth of Chinese-made goods and components in 2002. Wal-Mart planned to buy about US$15 billion worth of merchandise last year from its mainland suppliers.