• European Parliament and Council

The European Parliament is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. It has 785 Members representing all citizens from the 27 Member States of the European Union. The Members are elected once every five years by the 492 Million entitled to vote citizens. The European Parliament has an active role in the European legislation. Many new European laws are made jointly by Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which represents the Member States. The work in each sector is done by specialised committees.

The STOA (Scientific Technology Options Assessment) is the Parliament's own Scientific and Technological Options Assessment unit. STOA is an official organ of the European Parliament, but its work is carried out in partnership with external experts. In the field of RFID STOA currently cares about the topic "RFID in the everyday life of Europeans: A citizen's perspective on Ambient Intelligence".

www.es.europa.eu

• ITU

The International Telecommunication Union has its headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland. It is an international organisation where governments and the private sector meet each other to discuss and co-ordinate global telecom networks and services. The members of ITU are coming from different sectors: telecommunication policy-makers and regulators, network operators, equipment manufacturers, hardware and software developers, regional standards-making organisations and financing institutions. ITU’s activities, policies and strategic direction are determined and shaped by the industry it serves. The organisation is divided in three different sectors:

· Radiocommunication (ITU-R),

· Telecommunication Standardisation (ITU-T) and

· Telecommunication Development (ITU-D)

The activities of these three groups cover many aspects of telecommunication, from setting standards that facilitate seamless interworking of equipment and systems on a global basis to adopting operational procedures for the vast and growing array of wireless services and designing programmes to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the developing world.

• ITU-R

The ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union – Radiocommunication) is a subgroup of the ITU. This group is responsible for the management of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits which are increasingly in demand from a large number of services such as fixed, mobile, broadcasting, amateur, space research, meteorology, global positioning systems, environmental monitoring and communication services that ensure safety of life on land, at sea and in the skies. Technical characteristics of terrestrial and space-based wireless services and systems are analysed by the ITU-R and operational procedures are developed. Also important technical studies which serve as a basis for the regulatory decisions are made by the ITU-R.

www.itu.int/ITU-R