Home > Community > Action Groups

EPCglobal Action Groups 

EPCglobal Action Groups are designed to bring together global users from a variety of industries to define business and technical requirements for the EPCglobal Network®. Participation is a benefit of subscription and is open to subscribers from all EPCglobal Member Organizations (MOs). The Industry and Technical Action Groups help to develop the foundational building blocks of the EPCglobal Network, working toward the creation of global, cross-industry standards and commercial adoption. Subscriber companies of EPCglobal  are encouraged to provide company representatives to participate in Action Groups. Below is the structure of the standards development groups of EPCglobal. :

  

Descriptions of the groups (bottom to top):


Industry Action Groups (IAGs) are comprised of representatives from subscribing companies that currently use or plan to utilize EPCglobal Network technology. These groups aim to establish business requirements and use cases across multiple industries to facilitate supply chain efficiency. The Industry Action Groups are:

  • Retail Supply Chain (fast moving consumer goods, apparel, media and entertainment)
  • Healthcare and Life Sciences
  • Transportation and Logistics Services


Currently the following industries are organizing to join the Industry Action Groups. Facilitated by EPCglobal's Global Industry Development team, these groups are in the Discussion Group Phase and are comprised of key industry leaders, both EPCglobal Subscribers and potential subscribers:

  • Aerospace & Defense
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Packaging Goods
  • Automotive


    Technical Action Groups

    Hardware Action Group (HAG) defines the interfaces between hardware components – primarily Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and readers – in the EPCglobal Network.

    Software Action Group (SAG) defines the software functionality and interface standards for the EPCglobal Network and how these elements interact with distributed enterprise systems.

•

Joint Requirements Groups (JRGs)

While there are significant differences between industries, there is actually a great deal of commonality across these groups. By capitalizing on these similarities, EPCglobal can form global multi- industry standards. JRGs consolidate industry requirements and co-develop more unified and refined business/user requirements that feed the functional requirement development described in a specification by the Software or Hardware Action Groups.

Cross Industry Adoption & Implementation Groups (AIGs)

The goal of the AIGs is to drive adoption globally as well as regionally. These groups discuss issues and barriers to implementation planning strategies to overcome them. Implementation learnings and best practices are shared and consolidated by these groups for beneficial output to the EPCglobal community of subscribers.

Public Policy Steering Committee (PPSC)

The PPSC manages critical EPC public policy issues globally such as economic benefits, privacy, health and science, waste and environmental issues , data security, labor impact and antitrust/competition. Its their goal to ensure EPC/RFID is deployed responsibly without undue public, legislative, or regulatory pressure slowing implementation. Special attention is given to governmental relations in the USA, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Auto-ID Labs

EPCglobal partners with 7 highly respected auto-id labs around the world to perform research which is communicated to the EPCglobal community of subscribers and action groups.

Architecture Review Committee (ARC)

The ARC has responsibility for the creation, documentation and maintenance of the EPCglobal Network Architecture per the strategic direction of the EPCglobal Board of Governors.  They work closely with the Business and Technical Steering Committees to ensure understanding of and alignment to that architecture. Members of this group are appointed by the Steering Committees.

Business Steering Committee (BSC)

The BSC is the steering committee for all Industry Action Groups workign on end user requirements and adoption activites. The BSC represents distinct user group communities and industry sectors. Members are comprised of the co-chairs of the IAG groups.

Technical Steering Committee (TSC)
The TSC is the steering committed for the TAGs and their respective working groups. The TSC works with the BSC to approve proposed standars so that these standards can be advaced to Recommended standards prior to Board ratification. This groups is comprised of the co-chairs of the SAG and HAG.

Joint Strategic Planning Committee (JSPC)
The objectives of the JSPC are to work from a cross-industry perspective to ensure that EPCglobal strategies and work plans reflect the most current priorities of each industry engaged with EPCglobal. Members are comprised of the chairpersons of the Action Groups and leadership of EPCglobal.


For more information about the groups and how to get involved


If your company is a subscriber to EPCglobal and you would like more information, login to the Subscriber’s Area and go to the EPCglobal All Subscribers Group. No login? Click setup login.

If your company is not a subscriber to EPCglobal and you would like more information, click here.