Standards Development Process

The EPCglobal Standards Development Process

Before ratification, each proposed standard must go through a complex process. The process begins with requirements definition and moving through working group formation to technical development. The prototype and text are then reviewed by the Technology Steering Committee and Business Steering committees. The process concludes with ratification by the EPCglobal Board of Governors. This process is intended to ensure that all user requirements are heard and validated, if not incorporated, into the resulting standard, and to give all parties the chance to be involved so that a particular concern cannot sidetrack or sway the approved standard. For more information on the standards development process, click here.

Standards development is conducted through EPCglobal Action Groups, thereby ensuring that standards are developed for industry, by industry, to meet the needs of implementers and end-users while still maintaining neutrality.

Standards are developed concurrently across Action Groups, and are then subject to review by the Business and Technical Steering Committees and Architectural Review Committees to ensure that the standards as developed do not conflict or otherwise override one another or pre-existing standards.

A picture of some of the goals of EPCglobal standards, as well as working groups/standards under development in the Action Groups, is below, and is subject to change.

It is important to remember that as an EPCglobal Subscriber, one of the biggest benefits of subscription and the community driving the future of EPC/RFID is getting involved with the appropriate Action Groups. In fact, no discussion of Standards Development is complete without discussing the importance of Action Groups and end-users in the process. See the Subscriber On-boarding Kit for additional information if you are already an EPCglobal North America Subscriber, or the subscription information page if you would like more information on becoming an EPCglobal North America Subscriber.