GS1 Releases Guidelines for RFID-based Electronic Article Surveillance

By Claire Swedberg

Oct. 14, 2009—EPCglobal, a subsidiary of global nonprofit standards organization GS1, has released its Strategic Overview Guide and Technical Implementation Guide for GS1 EPCglobal RFID-based Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS). The two documents provide the first guidance specifically for the production of RFID solutions that include EAS functionality based on EPCglobal's standards. The combined use of Electronic Product Code (EPC) numbers with UHF EPC Gen 2 RFID tags and readers will enable manufacturers and retailers to track inventory, as well as gain key security data as items pass through the door of a retailer's store.

German retail company Metro Group is among several retailers that have begun piloting this RFID EAS system—provided by Checkpoint Systems, which worked closely with GS1 EPCglobal to develop the new guide—at Metro's Innovation Center that uses an RFID tag for both inventory visibility and EAS.

Natalie Taylor Debouvry, manager of GS1's Standards Group

Other companies that participated in the development of GS1's guides included retailers Best Buy and Wal-Mart, and RFID technology vendors Tyco Electronics, Avery Dennison, Motorola, Impinj and UPM Raflatac, as well as the University of Arkansas and the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA).

The guides—developed and written by GS1's Electronic Article Surveillance Joint Requirements Group, to assist companies implementing GS1 EPCglobal standards-based RFID technology with EAS and loss-prevention capabilities—illustrate where and how RFID-based EAS implementation, based on existing GS1 EPCglobal standards, is possible.

According to GS1, RFID's ability to combine two functions—inventory management and theft prevention—will reduce costs to retailers, by eliminating the need for retailers to buy, deploy and maintain two separate systems.