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Planning Committee
Report
-Toward the Establishment of an Activity Plan for FY2006-
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The planning committee has been meeting
to consider the formulation of an “Activity Plan for
FY2006”. At the fifth planning committee (held on January
23, 2006), the “Theme of Activities in FY2006 (draft)”
suggested by the secretariat was examined, while at the sixth
planning committee (held on February 23, 2006), and based
on the evaluation of prospective activity results for FY2005,
further discussion of the “Activity Plan for FY2006
(draft)” was undertaken.
In the future, based on the final
examination at the seventh planning committee (scheduled to
be held on March 6, 2006), the “Budget Balance for FY2006
(draft)” will be deliberated and approved together with
the “Activity Plan for FY2006 (draft)” by the
second board of directors (scheduled to be held on March 28,
2006).
We welcome ECOM members to raise any
frank opinions or suggestions concerning ECOM activities in
reference to information from ECOM, information on the ECOM
website or ECOM News, etc. In addition, the contents of the
activity plan for FY2006, etc. are expected to be released
in ECOM News and other sources, so please consult them.
For Next Generation ECOM, which has
commenced its activities for the three-year period (FY2005-2008),
the time has come to sum up its first year. The undertakings
of working groups are approaching their climax such as compiling
result reports, while research directors are now in the home
stretch of the end of this fiscal year. Regarding the timing
of delivery of the result reports (printed material) of each
working group and their release on the website, etc., ECOM
members will be notified separately.
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Progress Report
on the “International RFID Tag Utilization Promotion WG” |
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Mr. Kazuhiko Wakaizumi, Research
Director (Special Committee on RFID Tags/Traceability) of ECOM,
reports on the progress of the “International RFID Tag
Utilization Promotion WG”.
The International RFID Tag Utilization
Promotion WG carries out activities to promote the international
utilization of RFID tags by examining the systems which enable
reading of the information on tags in any goods-(product)-receiving
country, regardless of where it is written. This is based on
the premise of the international transfer and circulation of
RFID tag-attached goods which will accompany industrial globalization
and the overseas transfer of production bases.
In order to realize global information-sharing
by RFID tags, it is important to standardize the specifications
of RFID hardware. Since the ISO (International Organization
for Standardization) has been working on such standardization
and made some progress, we are able to rely on this body for
this task. On the other hand, regarding names, meanings (definitions)
and formats of data elements written in RFID tags, ANSI MH10.8.2
prescribes standards for all high-volume AIDC (Automatic Identification
and Data Capture) media including RFID tags and two-dimensional
symbols (two-dimensional barcodes). However, since its visibility
in the industries of each country including Japan is low, countries
are defining their own data elements as they introduce RFID
tags.
In addition, after examining the reports
of the projects chosen as pilot tests conducted by the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for FY2004, it has become
clear that there are no cases where an industry uses RFID tags
only for product/goods identification, as they tend to write
optional information in the tags and use them like data carriers.
Since the memory capacity of RFID tags is limited by factors
such as cost and technology, the necessity of a linkage between
RFID tags and electronic data such as databases and EDI (Electronic
Data Interchange) is being pointed out, in order to complement
RFID tags which are attached to products/goods and thus move
around.
In consideration of this situation,
the WG has recognized the necessity of preparing common names,
meanings (definitions), formats of data elements among countries
and industries, and is undertaking the following activities
to promote the international utilization of RFID tags:
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Grasping the current situation of the
standards of data elements which can be written in RFID tags
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A comparative review of the current standards
and data elements used in the pilot tests conducted by METI
for FY2004
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A comparative review of data elements
specified in EDI standards (UN/EDIFACT and ebXML) and those
written in AIDC media
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A comparative review of information concerning
the needs of industries in writing to RFID tags obtained from
a survey in FY2005, and the data elements written in AIDC
media.
At the time of writing, 1. to 3. were
about to be completed and we have just commenced 4. and a summary.
As a result of the above activities,
we will extract the requirements, such as data elements written
in AIDC media and additions and modifications to data elements
specified in EDI standards, and will make appropriate proposals
in cooperation with international standardization organizations.
*This project is jointly implemented
by the Japan Information Processing Development Corporation
/ Electronic Commerce Promotion Center and the Next Generation
Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, as one of the
projects commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry.
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Outline of the “Second
ECOM Executive Special Seminar” |
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The above mentioned seminar for board
members was held at Tokyo Kaikan, Kasumigaseki Building (Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo) on January 19, 2006. On the day, Mr. Risaburo Nezu, Senior
Managing Director of Fujitsu Research Institute, gave a lecture
under the title of “Pay More Attention to the U.S.A.!”
The outline of the lecture is as follows.
Today’s theme is
“Pay More Attention to the U.S.A.!” You may wonder
why I have chosen such a strange theme. It is because we should
become more interested in what is going on in the United States
in order to understand the environment surrounding Japan. In other
words, it is not until we understand the United States that we
will understand the world: we need to “pay more attention
to the U.S.A.” to understand the world.
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 Japan’s
economic growth rate |
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In the postwar years of spectacular economic
growth, Japan’s economy continued to grow at a rate exceeding
10%. After the oil shock hit Japan in 1973, the economy remained
stable in the 1980s. At the end of the 1980s, the economic bubble
collapsed and we experienced a long period of stagnation - the
“lost decade”. During these years, how did Japan get
along with the United States? Honestly speaking, the United States
was a great big brother until the 1970s; Japan asked the United
States “what to do” when it did not know how to cope
with problems, and the United States generously provided answers
by telling Japan “what to do”. In a sense, Japan earnestly
put all its energy into learning about U.S. methods. In the late
1970s, however, Japan began to surpass the United States, little
by little, especially in the manufacturing industry. In the 1980s,
the United States, as the former big brother, looked very irresponsible
and weak. In the 1990s, the bubble economy collapsed and Japan
entered an extended period of stagnation, during which it devoted
almost all its energy to coping with domestic problems and had
no time to pay attention to the United States. In 2003-2005, Japan
finally saw prospects for resolving its problems and was able
to look at the world again. Average GDP growth rates were around
1.5% in the 1990s and very few people think that the rate will
return to its previous level (approximately 4%); the consensus
is that Japan’s potential growth rate will be approximately
2% from now on. In planning corporate strategies, Japanese companies
need to take this low-growth risk into consideration at some level
and should be aware of the fact that the period of high economic
growth is over.
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| Productivity
of major countries in the world |
Last November (2005), the Chairman of the Policy
Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party made a very interesting
remark: “For many years, the growth rate of productivity
in the United States has been 2-3%, but that of Japan has only
been 1.5%. Why hasn’t Japanese productivity grown so much?
I hope that this theme will be studied by a think tank that will
soon be established.” I think that he made a very good comment.
It is a very welcome situation that people in charge of making
and implementing policies are interested in the productivity problem.
The growth rate of productivity in Japan, which continued to be
around 4% from 1980 to the early 1990s, has recently dropped to
approximately 1.5%. Meanwhile, the growth rate of productivity
in the United States has been increasing since 2000; it is now
around 3%. If the difference becomes constant, the economic disparity
between Japan and the United States will grow wider and wider.
In the 1980s, Japan probably surpassed the United States by drastically
catching up with its big brother. In the 1990s, however, the trend
was again reversed. Likewise, in European countries, discussions
on the economic disparity between Europe and the United States
have been held. In 2000, Europe set a goal of “catching
up with the United States by 2010”. Although, judging from
what EU-related parties have recently been saying, they have realized
”it is already impossible to achieve that goal” and
it seems that Europe has been left behind by the United States.
They cannot do anything if they do not discuss again how to catch
up with the United States from the viewpoint of all kinds of reforms
including the “further promotion of research and development”
and “further restructuring of industrial and market structures”.
What has finally become clear in the 21st century is that both
Japan and Europe have been left behind by the United States. In
recent years, Japan and Europe have started to recognize that
they are losing out in the competition over technological innovation.
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| Labor
productivity of OECD member countries |
Based on actual purchasing power parity, Japan’s
labor productivity is ranked 19th ($56,608) among the 30 OECD
member countries which is quite low among developed countries.
Japan’s labor productivity is not bad in the manufacturing
industry, but Japan has a problem with productivity in the service
industry, which is drastically falling behind the global standard.
Ireland and the United States boast higher productivity in the
manufacturing industry than that of Japan. In my opinion, Japan
can only boast of really high labor productivity in automobiles,
some IT products and machine tools in the manufacturing industry.
It cannot compete with the United States in other areas and that
is why overall labor productivity is low.
Ireland’s labor
productivity stands out from the rest and I think that IT firms
have some kind of business hubs in the country. If you consult
a globe, you will see that Ireland, which geographically lies
between Europe and the United States, is a gateway from the United
States to Europe. There are all kinds of hubs in the country,
most of which are business hubs of IT firms. Until the 1970s,
Ireland was a devastated country in Europe which lived solely
on the fishing industry and very small stock-farming. The Irish
government, however, promoted intensive IT education to positively
develop IT human resources. IT firms from all over the world made
investments in the country and it has become an enormous base
for the global IT industry. In a sense, its industrial policy
has achieved great success.
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| Factor-by-factor
contribution to economic growth |
Japan’s GDP has recently been dropping.
With near-zero population growth, labor input (population) will
not increase at all in the future. Therefore, population growth
will hardly contribute to an increase in the economic growth rate,
meaning that productivity will be the only remaining factor contributing
to economic growth. Growth in productivity is due to the following
two reasons: technology development and capital accumulation.
Japan has owed its productivity growth to capital accumulation
including intensive capital investment and the distribution of
personal computers to all employees. On the contrary, the ratio
of technological development contributing to productivity growth
has been decreasing.
The rate of population
growth in the United States is approximately 1%. In contrast to
Japan, capital stock does not contribute a great deal to productivity
which is instead highly dependent on pure technological development.
The economic growth rate of the United States is twice as high
as that of Japan. The difference between the two countries lies
in the fact that in the United States, economic growth is no longer
supported by physical equipment, but rather by other assets. Precisely
what, then, are these other assets? They are so-called intangible
or invisible assets, or intellectual capital, to which the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry has recently started to pay attention.
Most of the other assets are embodied and invisible. Assets such
as brands, software, R&D and business models are not usually
included in balance sheets, but they now determine corporate competitiveness.
The importance of technological development, which is realized
by enhancing human capabilities, is rapidly increasing. Therefore,
we need to change corporate strategies so that our investment
activities can strengthen these invisible (intangible) assets.
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| Floundering
productivity of Japan |
The driving force for economic growth
should be shifted from the manufacturing industry to the service
industry. It can be interpreted in many ways and an important
point is that the manufacturing industry itself has started to
include more and more service elements. As a matter of fact, Korean
and Chinese manufacturing industries have already started to shrink,
at least from the viewpoint of employment. If we assume the employment
level of 1992 to be 100, employment in the Japanese manufacturing
industry has gone into the most terrible decline among developed
countries. Interestingly, employment is temporarily improving
in the United States mostly due to the IT business. The IT industry
in the United States remained quite strong until the first half
of the 1990s and employment also increased, although it decreased
in subsequent years. Basically, in developed countries, employment
in the manufacturing industry has decreased by approximately 20%
during this decade.
It is said that “China
is becoming the world’s giant production site”. But
actually, even in China, employment in the manufacturing industry
decreased by 15% between 1992 and 2004. I, myself, thought at
first that this figure might be a miscalculation, but in China,
somewhat differently from other countries, there are many inefficient
state-run manufacturing companies from which it seems quite a
lot of people have been fired. Basically, in most countries of
the world, productivity has been improving and the absorbing power
of employment has been dropping in the manufacturing industry.
Therefore, it will become necessary to make money in other areas.
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| High
profitability of U.S. companies |
There are many ways to measure the earnings
of Japanese companies, but what I would like you to know is that
none of calculation results are high. This is because the cost
of capital is at the world’s lowest level in Japan. There
is a difference of approximately 4% in the standard rate of bond
interest between Japan (1.6%) and the United States (5.5%), caused
by excessive savings and a lack of effective investment opportunities.
The Japanese economy has been in this situation for nearly twenty
years. In the high economic growth era, Japanese interest rates
were high due to high demand for funds for corporate capital investment.
Following that era, the economic growth rate continued to drop
little by little and funds required for capital investment also
continued to decrease. As a result, Japanese interest rates have
become low like those of the U.K., a capital-exporting country
with excessive savings. You may ask what happens in a low-interest
situation. To put it bluntly, relatively cheap resources are wasted.
Imagine you invest in bonds and the interest rate is 1.6%. Bank
deposit rates are lower, meaning that investing in corporate stocks
only makes sense if you can earn higher returns than this. In
my opinion, it is why comparatively low corporate profitability
was accepted in Japan. As for future prospects, I think that the
Japanese cost of capital will again be gradually adjusted to the
international level. With the gradual progression of the aging
society, investors will have no other choice but to consider the
profitability of their investments. If you purchase cheap 10-year
treasury notes, the rate of yield is 4.5%. Through the outflow
of monies to foreign countries, Japanese interest rates will surely
be adjusted once more in line with global levels and companies
unable to ensure profitability will most likely drop out of the
market.
If factors such as information,
knowledge and creativity are to assume more importance in determining
corporate competitiveness in the future knowledge society, we
have to think more seriously about the necessity of acquiring
top-level human resources from all over the world. To be honest,
it will be a must to globally acquire human resources, not only
by bringing them to Japan, but by going abroad to secure them
if necessary. I hear that Japanese companies are unable to fully
acquire high-level human resources in China as such people all
go to the United States. We need to seriously consider how to
secure human resources.
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| Changes
in Japanese corporate legal systems |
Japan experienced all kinds of changes
in the 1980s and 1990s. The changes that I will now point out
associated with Japanese corporate legal systems, nearly all
occurred in the United States 10 to 20 years ago. America is
a place where intelligent people from all over the world gather
and through their efforts, all manner of new concepts and ideas
are produced. We need to become interested in this movement
of people. We will be able to understand the international situation
by watching the United States and its strategies toward China.
Please keep yourselves interested in the United States.
(Dictated by the Secretariat of ECOM)
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Profile of the Lecturer:
Mr. Risaburo Nezu,
Senior Managing Director of Fujitsu Research Institute
Director of Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry |
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Outline of Lectures
at the “Eighth ECOM Seminar”
-How to Expand the Utilization of Electronic Applications- |
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On January 25 (Wednesday), 2006, the
monthly ECOM seminar was held under the abovementioned theme at
the Kikai Shinko Kaikan Building (Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo).
With “How to Expand the Utilization of Electronic Applications”
as the common theme, four lecturers gave presentations and a panel
discussion with intellectuals was held following the opening lecture
on the current situation and future challenges of e-Governments.
Before the seminar, Mr. Robert T. Lebel, Senior Advisor of the
Québec Tax Agency, announced the situation of the electronic
tax filing system in Canada as a successful example of an electronic
application at the press conference, and gave interviews (right
photo). Lecture materials are available on the website for ECOM
members (http://kaiin.ecom.jp/).
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In addition, the
Tokyo Certified Public Tax Accountants’ Association held
a seminar on the day before the ECOM seminar on January 24 (Tuesday),
with the cooperation of ECOM. Approximately 200 people attended
the seminar including executives of certified tax accountant associations
from neighboring prefectures, and officials from municipalities,
taxation bureaus, etc. Firstly, Mr. Kazuo Adachi, Research Director
of ECOM, reported on the survey of the current status of Japan
conducted by the e-Government & Business Collaboration WG.
Mr. Lebel then gave a lecture on the electronic filing system
in Québec. He offered valuable pointers on the issues Japan
faces and participants were deeply impressed with his presentation.
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Opening Lecture “The Current Status and Future Challenges
of e-Governments” |
Mr. Adachi Kazuo
Research Director, e-Government & Business Collaboration WG
Next Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan |
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I would like to introduce what the WG has been examining
in its activities toward the realization of “Useful e-Governments”,
in clarifying the problems and future direction of e-Government
utilization. The informatization of society as a whole was launched
with the “Basic Guidelines on the Promotion of an Advanced
Information and Telecommunications Society” in February,
1995, and the objective of “making Japan the world's most
advanced IT nation within five years” in the “e-Japan
Strategy” is progressing. When you look at the best IT environment
in the world and speedy services at inexpensive prices, it can
be said that the development of social infrastructures for informatization
has almost been completed following the “e-Japan Strategy”.
The number of targeted procedures which are
promoted as online e-Government services is put at 175, which
accounts for 60% of the application and notification procedures
of the central government. However, in fact, the average utilization
rate that ECOM has estimated is only 7.58%. Though IT infrastructure
for the whole of society has been developing, the utilization
rate remains extremely low. At the end of 2005, IT Strategy Headquarters
set a goal to “expand the utilization rate of electronic
applications to more than 50% by 2010.” The current situation
indicates that this goal is an extremely high hurdle.
In the last five years, as activities
of the e-Government WG, ECOM has been conducting research surveys
and examining how to establish useful e-Governments from the perspective
and stance of users and summarizing the results as proposals.
The major challenge in the future is to expand the utilization
rate in the midst of the steady advancement of e-Governments and
e-Municipalities. Consequently, we conducted an awareness survey
amongst the general public in order to objectively understand
users’ evaluation of electronic applications.
The survey results show high user expectations
toward e-Governments and e-Municipalities for the following reasons:
you can be saved the trouble of having to visit administrative
agencies; you can undertake procedures at times that suit you,
etc. The great majority of services that users are actually eager
to use are “applications and notifications”. Operational
problems consist of many cases where you have to pay for services,
the need to send supporting documents such as documentary evidence
separately by mail, etc., so systems in which all procedures can
be completed online are desired by a majority of users. Meanwhile,
other opinions relate to the limited number of available services;
the ambiguity of available online services; uncertainty over the
advantages of online services; and it being easier to visit agencies,
etc. We have set up a hypothesis, that “the expansion of
corporate users can be a driving force to diffuse electronic applications”,
and are examining two themes as killer applications to expand
the number of corporate users: “The efficiency of administrative
operations for retirement procedures” and “The diffusion
problems of electronic tax filing and payment systems”.
In today’s lectures, the progress of IT in governments and
successful examples of electronic applications and activities
carried out under these two themes will be discussed.
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Keynote Speech: “e-Government Construction Plan
in Japan” |
Mr. Kensuke Ichihara
Director, Information Project Office, Commerce and Information
Policy Bureau
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry |
The informatization of administration
shifted into high gear with the “Basic Guidelines Toward
the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications
Society” (approved by Cabinet in 1994) and the “Basic
Guidelines Toward an Advanced Information Society” (approved
in February, 1995, by the Advanced Information and Telecommunications
Society Promotion Headquarters and revised in November, 1998).
In addition, it is positioned as one of the critical policies
in “e-Japan Strategy” and the “e-Japan Priority
Policy Program” which were established based on the Information
Technology Basic Law (enforced in January, 2001). The “e-Government
Construction Plan” (approved in July, 2003, by the CIO
Liaison Meeting and revised in June, 2004) has been decided
and IT utilization in administration, and operations and systems
suitable for IT are under review.
As activities to improve public convenience
and services in the “e-Government Construction Plan”,
the following are being carried out: (1) the development and
enhancement of an administrative portal site; (2) the promotion
of one-stop services by e-Gov; (3) the promotion of online utilization.
Additionally, and after organizing and systematizing operational
processes and technologies by EA (Enterprise Architecture)*
which originated in the United States, the design of operations/systems
which should be realized and a transition plan were decided
to be created as the operation/system optimization program.
To begin with, current operations, procedures, data formats
will be analyzed and organized, and policy/operation systems,
data, application process and technology will then be specified
through evaluation of the establishment/implementation of the
plans and the status of implementation.
The first step of optimization is to
classify the national vision and mission in the form of missions
and policies of each ministry, and develop them into mid- and
long-term targets and the operational goals of each department.
The next step is to systematize the operations/systems of entire
government administrative services, specifying common and divergent
operations/systems in ministries which are subject to optimization,
and promoting the establishment of optimization plans, system
development and their introduction predominantly by the ministries
in charge.
In the operations/system optimization
plan for five operations of the Cabinet Secretariat (approved
by the CIO Liaison Meeting on September 15, 2004), the following
were decided to be implemented as basic principles: (1) the
digitization of settlement and automation of various entry tasks;
(2) the rationalization of procurement and contract procedures;
(3) the digitization of payment; (4) the simplification of standardizations
of settlement strata and business processing; and (5) the uniform
management of information. To implement these, the plan specifies
new system development and the revision of regulations, etc.
in ministries and the transition to new operations/systems.
The “IT New Reform Strategy”
(January 19, 2006, IT Strategic Headquarters) looking to 2010
has been announced. As one of the activities to promote e-Governments,
concrete measures will be examined in future with the aim of
realizing the most convenient and efficient e-Government in
the world, a 50% online application rate and small and efficient
governments.
(*) EA Portal Site of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(METI): http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/ea/index.html
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Keynote Speech 2
“Introduction of the Electronic Tax
Filing System at the Tax Agency in Québec” |
Mr. Robert T. Lebel
Senior Advisor of Québec Tax Agency, Québec, Canada
Canadian governments
consist of three strata: the federal government that covers the
entire nation; provincial and territorial governments; and municipal
or local governments. The tax system in Canada and Japan are different:
there is income, corporate and sales taxes that go to the federal
and provincial governments, and fixed asset tax and fees for services
including water, etc. that go to municipal governments. The major
difference with Japan is that Japanese tax offices are under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, but the Tax Agency and
the Ministry of Finance exist in Québec with tax offices
belonging to the Tax Agency. The Tax Agency in Québec collects
66 billion dollars annually, receiving 22 million payment slips
and 300,000 summaries from 280,000 corporations; 4.5 million calls,
700,000 visitors to tax offices and 570,000 letters from 5.7 million
individuals. Approximately 40% of applications by individuals
are processed electronically.
We call tax payers, including individuals,
corporations and self-employed workers, “clients”.
The system of electronic applications is used by clients and their
tax-related partners (agents, financial institutions, etc.) and
the electronic application system consists of several portal sites.
Anyone can access the portal sites and learn about the tax mechanism
and procedures. With this information, people decide on actions
such as consulting, filing, asking questions, employing agents
and paying tax. The basic concept of governments is to replace
systems with new ones and to reduce the burden on clients. There
are different demands from clients, individuals and corporations,
so it is not necessary to “do everything the same way”.
Since tax-related information is especially hard to understand,
there is a policy to divide the information into parts and to
make the sites “easy to search, easy to find and easy to
see”. It is also important that clients can complete all
procedures within our services. If it is something that you can
file, but cannot pay, the system becomes complex and we lose clients.
One-stop services where you can do everything from filing to payment
are an important concept. As far as possible, it is our objective
(by way of the indoor management principal) to synchronize with
company practices and we respect their decisions.
In Québec, the basic principal
is to grant access rights to individuals to authenticate (identity
verification) application procedures. Traditionally, Canada has
had a strict personal information protection act and there has
been a need to uphold two laws: federal and provincial laws. Therefore,
there are three authentication levels according to the quality
of information and contents of information exchange. The lowest
level is for one-way transactional services. When users try to
access the website of the Tax Agency or to change their registered
addresses, authentication is not required and identification is
verified by matching registered information in the database. The
second level is for annual services including personal tax income
returns. As in the case of the lowest level, only when users try
to access the Tax Agency website, returns are accepted by a social
insurance number and a temporary access code which is changed
annually and sent by mail. The highest level is for two-way transactional
services between users and the Tax Agency; in other words, case
where information flows from the Tax Agency to users. This level
requires an identification code and a password. At this level,
you can consult with Tax Agency staff and receive information
or answers from them. Even at the highest level, only an identification
code and password are necessary to verify identity and we have
found from past experience that an identification code and password
are sufficient. Regarding procedures to obtain an identification
code and password, individuals use annual access codes and numbers
on the previous fiscal year’s filing certificate for tax
payments. Businesses register online and contract documents are
then sent. The person in charge signs the documents, sends them
back and an identification code and password are allocated. The
contract documents confirm that information exchanged by use of
the identification code and password is legally valid.
In Québec, electronic applications
have been available to agents since 1994 and to individuals since
1999. In FY2004, 40% of the total population (2 million) used
electronic applications and we would like to increase this figure
in the future. At present, nearly 70% of people prepare their
tax returns using software, but 30% of people do not file the
returns electronically even though they use software. We therefore
accept paper application forms which have two-dimensional bar
codes. One staff member was once only able to process 120 forms
per day, but with the bar codes, they can now process some 380
forms per hour.
Finally, I would like to emphasize the
following point. Conventionally, we offered tax information in
a one-sided manner and forced people to file returns with the
threat of fines. On the other hand, electronic applications are
only an option, so we can’t force their use. Therefore,
it is very important to find a way to make people use them from
a marketing perspective.
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| Case
Example
“Report on Company Survey Results
and One-Stop Portal Service of Retirement Procedures” |
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Mr. Fumihiro Murakami
Senior Project Manager, Next Generation Infrastructure Group
Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
ECOM’s e-Government
& Business Collaboration WG has established a sub-working
group 1 (SWG1) for retirement procedures which has commenced activities.
Firstly, the aim of the survey is to find out what points should
be looked at to increase the utilization rate, as while the number
of procedures for applications and notifications which can be
processed online has been increasing, the utilization rate remains
low.
In particular, though there are a small
number of opportunities for individuals to become involved with
governments, there is a huge amount of administrative procedures
companies have to undertake on behalf of their employees. Therefore,
shifting your focus to companies will lead to an acceleration
of the utilization rate and a reduction of the burden on companies.
As approximately 3.4 million baby boomers will reach retirement
age (60 years old) from 2007, the problem of increasing the amount
of procedures with as many as seven types of documents will emerge.
By solving this problem, SWG is trying to expand the utilization
of e-Government.
As a preliminary survey, we sent surveys
by e-mail to ECOM corporate members in October, 2005, and received
responses from 29 companies. Based on the results, we conducted
surveys of general companies and baby boomers, and received responses
from 1,050 people in charge of retirement procedures and 410 workers
aged from 55 to 64. The results of the preliminary survey of ECOM
members show that the average time companies spend on retirement
procedures for one retiree is two hours and 35 minutes. There
are 3.4 million full-time workers in the baby-boomer generation,
so it will take 7.74 million hours to complete the retirement
procedures for these workers around the time they retire (2007-2009).
This means a tremendous amount of labor costs will be required.
From the survey of general companies, we also discovered why companies
find employee-related procedures a burden and the reasons why
that burden is large.
The survey results again show that the
need for online administrative procedures is high among both companies
and individuals. In particular, company demand for online services
is high due to inefficiency on many fronts. They repeat the same
procedures every year such as paperwork for employees and documentation
being submitted to scores of municipalities and agencies, and
even though internal systems are digitized, documents remain in
paper form. On the other hand, individuals are asking for not
only online services, but also for consultation and documentation
support within companies by making it possible to conduct retirement
procedures while they are still employed. But despite such strong
demands and requirements for online services, their use is still
limited. As reasons for this, an insufficiency in the understanding
of users’ needs, the proliferation of online services according
to service provider convenience and services that are difficult
to use can be offered. One-stop services that can process all
necessary procedures might be another key factor in promoting
utilization.
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Case
Example
“Report on Survey Results of Companies’
Needs at Tax Filing and Proposals to Diffuse Electronic
Tax Filing Service” |
Mr. Hiromi Matsuyama
Director, Enterprise Architecture Support Dept, Software &
Services Technology Group Fujitsu Limited
ECOM’s e-Government & Business
Collaboration WG has established a sub-working group 2 (SWG2)
for the promotion of e-Tax and has commenced activities. Hearings
were conducted with software developers in 2004 in order to
examine the current issues of electronic tax filing and payment
systems. They pointed out the following: users are not aware
of electronic applications; the small number of Basic Resident
Register cardholders; the specification revisions of e-Tax software
are behind and the inadequacy of system design as a social system.
The following were pointed out in the survey of ECOM members
(61 companies): no advantages in using them; supporting documents
have to be sent by mail separately; authentication methods are
too complex and have not been adapted to the consolidated accounting
system. In order to work toward the resolution of these issues,
we held discussions with tax accountants where the problems
of electronic signatures, supporting documents and duplicate
copies of application forms were found in regard to electronic
application procedures.
Based on the outcome
of the investigation, a survey on electronic tax filing and payment
systems was conducted amongst financial and accounting personnel
between the ages of 20 and 69 (1,050 companies responded). According
to the survey results, companies with less than thirty employees
are more likely to outsource tax filing-related operations and
approximately 40% of companies with more than 1,000 employees
spend more than a month on tax-related operations. The following
top the list of bottlenecks associated with electronic applications:
the complexity and trouble of filling out application forms, the
organization and submission of documentary evidence and correct
understanding of the contents of applications. In addition, more
than 80% of people are aware of e-Tax including those who have
heard of the name, but have no interest in it. 70% of the 20%
of people who have studied e-Tax and know about it have no plans
to use it for a while. The following top the list of sought-after
improvements: simplification of the authentication mechanism;
facilitation of the procedures to post documentary evidence; and
publicizing the clear advantages of electronic tax filing systems.
The survey shows that the main reason
for misunderstanding the burdens on tax payers and the contents
of applications is the complexity of the application procedures.
As a solution, we are examining a coordinated tax service (draft).
The demand for a proxy application service is especially high
among companies with less than thirty employees. To increase the
use of electronic tax filing and payment systems, we will conduct
further investigations through hearings at tax offices (national
tax office, municipalities), hearings with tax accountants, establishing
business models for service providers, streamlining organizations,
manpower planning, system developments (user service ASP, auditing
systems, extensions of e-Tax) , establishing service fee structures,
etc.
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Panel
Discussion
“Toward the Implementation of User-Friendly
and Convenient e-Governments” |
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Coordinator
 Mr.
Masafumi Imai,
General Manager, Network Application Division,
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
Panelists
Takashi
Moritake,
Director of Japan Federation of Gyoseishoshi
Lawyer’s Associations
Mr.
Fumihiro Murakami,
Senior Project Manager, Next Generation Infrastructure
Group, Mitsubishi Research Institute,
Inc.
Mr.
Toshiaki Saito,
The Vice Chairman, Information System Committee,
Tokyo Certified Public Tax Accountant’s
Association
Mr.
Hiromi Matsuyama,
Director, Enterprise Architecture Support Dept,
Software & Services Technology Group, Fujitsu
Limited
Mr.
Adachi Kazuo,
Research Director, Next Generation Electronic
Commerce Promotion Council of Japan
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(Mr. Imai)
We would like to talk about “Toward
the Implementation of User-Friendly and Convenient e-Governments”
as the theme for today’s panel discussion. In the “IT
New Reform Strategy” announced on January 19, 2006, a concrete
target of a “50% online application rate by 2010”
was suggested with the catch phrase, “the world’s
most convenient and efficient e-Government”. This means
we have to beat Québec, whose system was introduced today
in the lecture, by 2010. The promotion of utilization and operational
improvements should be carried out from the perspective of users.
Based on the lectures we have had today, let us proceed with the
discussion.
(Mr. Moritake)
Retirement procedures are spread among
different departments in a company and there are various costs
that the company has to bear. It is, of course, important to integrate
all the portals and sections into one for these procedures, but
I also think it is necessary to have a portal site for how to
live in old age. After retirement, you lose your position and
title, so a portal to support retirees mentally is required. In
particular, in terms of social insurance, as soon as you retire
from a company, the insurance expires. Therefore, various procedures
should be performed before retirement on paid holidays, including
medical check ups for families. A visit to an administrative scrivener’s
office in preparing to access one-stop services is another necessity
I believe.
(Mr. Murakami)
Recently, portal sites for mental care
and social network services are gaining in importance. There are
portal sites for elderly people and for making connections among
people after retirement. Japanese governments tend to make everything
by themselves including portals for electronic applications. Governments
are usually not good at creating services, so it is better to
turn it over to the private sector.
(Mr. Saito)
I have been interested in the e-Japan
Strategy and promotion of e-Governments from the early stage.
However, I have been skeptical about the concept, “disintermediation
equals rationalization” in the e-Japan Strategy. I believe
the method of incorporating the functions of intermediates in
real society into systems is the key to success.
e-Tax is a system which uses PKI (Public
Key Infrastructure). In this case, PKI is used only for non-repudiation
and not for authentication. The non-repudiation function is more
for receivers (tax offices). Is PKI really necessary? Who is going
to pay the educational expenses of the systems, including promotion
of PKI? Why aren’t duplicate copies of electronic applications
available? Additional system improvements of the current e-Tax
from the perspective of users are necessary.
(Mr. Matsuyama)
When I visited Canada to conduct a survey
on PKI three years ago, people from the federal and provincial
governments were always talking with the phrase “for citizens”.
As an IT vendor, we have to make what we are told to make. It
is extremely difficult for us to express our opinions. I think
it is a realistic step for an organization like ECOM to summarize
various opinions and make proposals in some form.
(Mr. Adachi)
I got the impression from the lectures
at this seminar that services haven’t spread among people
due to the various problems of e-Government. After the lecture
about retirement procedures and the mention of a one-stop service
for various procedures, a reduction of company operations, retirees
being able to retire without anxiety, making a public personal
authentication card instead of an employee card and the use of
the card after retirement as your ID card, I was more convinced
that a win-win relationship is possible. In order to realize win-win
relationships, marketing is necessary and groups like us, including
governments and the private sector, have to investigate further.
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Outline of the “Ninth
ECOM Seminar”
-Act on the Protection of Personal Information and Attribute
Authentication- |
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On January
27 (Friday), 2006, the monthly ECOM seminar was held under the
above mentioned theme at the Kikai Shinko Kaikan Building (Shibakoen,
Minato-ku, Tokyo). Under the common theme of “Protection
of Personal Information”, three lecturers gave presentations
on objectives of attribute authentication, technologies, trends
and problems of utilization.
Lecture materials
are released on the website for ECOM members (http://kaiin.ecom.jp/).
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Lecture
1
“Act on the Protection of Personal
Information and Attribute Authentication” |
Mr. Yoji Maeda
Research Director (Security WG)
Next Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan
In the current information network society,
and for the purpose of controlling access to information it
is necessary to confirm roles and authorities by making use
of not only personal authentication, but also personal information,
and site administrators need to handle various kinds. The Act
on the Protection of Personal Information was enforced in April
2005. With the development of information technology, everyone
is able to make use of the Internet and more and more personal
information is being collected and used. But, at the same time,
with the occurrence of large-scale leaks of personal information,
cold-calls, DM and nuisance e-mails, etc., the “appropriate
handling of personal information” has become a grave social
concern. Under the enforced Act on the Protection of Personal
Information, business persons handling personal information
are obliged to take all kinds of management measures and are
bearing heavier burdens. On the other hand, there is a latent
expectation on the part of users for the supply of better products
and services that meet their needs in accordance with personal
information, even in exchange for such data.
Authentication
for controlling access to information is classified into personal
authentication and attribute authentication. Personal authentication
means identity verification based on ID/passwords, IC cards,
biometric information (fingerprints, faces, eyes, etc.) and
other similar data. Attribute authentication refers to the verification
of the accuracy of identity attribute information (name, address,
telephone number, sex, school or company name, title, qualification,
preferences, etc.) that is needed to determine whether services
will be provided or not. The following methods exist for attribute
authentication: the writing of attribute information in public
key certificates, the use of attribute certificates in which
attribute information is newly written, and management based
on databases. If the attribute authentication method based on
public key certificates is adopted, attribute information will
be made known to the general public because attributes and attribute
values are shown in certificates, and it will be necessary to
reissue public key certificates when attributes and attribute
values are changed. On the other hand, it is highly possible
to make use of PKI-related software that is commercially available
and it is relatively easy to construct these systems. The attribute
authentication based on attribute certificates (AC) has the
following advantages: the period of validity of attributes can
be clearly set and controlled; attributes can be easily administered
in a decentralized manner by means of attribute authentication
transfers between attribute certificate authorities; the prevention
of the falsification of attributes and attribute values is guaranteed
by digital signatures. However, there is also a disadvantage:
it costs a great deal to construct systems because standardization
and international standardization have not been sufficiently
promoted. Attribute authentication based on database management,
which includes methods such as the storage of attribute data
in databases or directory servers, facilitates the centralized
control of the addition of attributes and changes in attribute
values. On the other hand, it lacks interoperability because
methods for exchanging attributes and attribute values and management
methods have not been standardized.
It
is now expected that attribute authentication will be necessary
to control access to information, but it has not been fully
examined in many areas except in medical services and so forth.
I think that it is necessary to further examine the use of attribute
information and interoperability in consideration of the enforced
Act on the Protection of Personal Information.
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Lecture
2
“The Latest Trend of Attribute Authentication
in the Medical Field” |
Mr. Hideyuki Miyohara
Chair of Security Committee
Japanese Association of Healthcare Information Systems Industry
(JAHIS)
WG4 (in charge of security) of ISO/TC215
(health informatics), which is a representative standardization
organization in the area of medical information, is examining
standardization in this area, especially in relation to security.
HL7 Security TC is also examining security-related standardization
as an organization (HL7) for examining standardization in the
exchange of medical information, which consists of approximately
30 countries centered around the United States. The reason for
examining attribute authentication in the medical field is that,
if we get sick in foreign countries, overseas medical institutions
need to gain access to our medical information.
WG4 of ISO/TC215 is
examining ISO/TS 22600 PMAC (privilege management and access
control) as attribute authentication. PMAC is a standard for
enabling access controls based on authority management between
domains (e.g. Japan and the United States) with different policies
(e.g. qualifications of doctors). PMAC is classified into framework
(part 1), modeling (part 2), and implementation (part 3); parts
1 and 2 have already been released and part 3 is now being formulated.
The purpose of PMAC is to enable information exchange among
domains with different security policies in the area of healthcare
and to work as a bridge by concluding policy agreements. It
also aims to map structural roles that are independently defined
within domains into functional roles and to enable authority
management in other domains.
With regard to the
examination of attribute authentication by HL7 (health level
seven) Security TC, RBAC (role based access control) is being
investigated as a standard for controlling access based on roles
for controlling access in a domain of a medical information
system. RBAC is a standard for controlling access (ANSI/INCITS
359-2004) by means of role-based authority management that is
being promoted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), and is registered with the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI). The RBAC draft standard of HL7 has adopted
a scenario-driven type as a role definition method. It has been
prepared based on actual role definition examples in hospitals
for U.S. veterans.
In the United States,
the following efforts have been made toward the implementation
of attribute authentication: identity and access management
(IAM), the application of RBAC, permission tables, and use of
the OASIS of RBAC. IAM contains the concepts of directory service,
single sign-on and access control, while RBAC is being adopted
within the concept of the privilege management infrastructure
(PMI) of IAM. As for implementation based on the OASIS of PMI,
basic and functional roles are defined in XACML (eXtensible
Access Control Markup Language), which is a policy description
language. In addition, access privileges and resource information
are described in SPML (Service Provisioning Markup Language),
which is a specification for exchanging provisioning information,
and requests and responses are described in SAML (Security Assertion
Markup Language), which is a security information description
language. The U.S. researchers aim to construct efficient systems
by adopting these OASIS standards and by making use of the products
and tools of the vendors who support them.
 |
In Japan, for the purpose
of promoting healthcare PKI (HPKI), the following efforts have
been made: examination by the Investigative Committee on Medical
Information Network Infrastructures, the establishment of CPs
(certification policies) and compliance audit rules by the Ministry
of Health, Labour and Welfare, the separation of signatures
for HPKI and other purposes (for certification and encryption),
and the development of nationally uniform rules for signature
purposes, etc. HPKI will be developed as part of social infrastructures
in Japan in a manner consistent with international standards
and in line with the New IT Reform Strategies because, with
HPKI, it is possible to simultaneously confirm both identity
and attributes by examining a certificate, and to confirm both
national qualifications (doctors’ signatures or signatures
and seals are required for clinical record provision letters,
in other words, letters of introduction) and managers of medical
institutions (confirm if they are responsible for issuing electronic
receipts). It may be too early to establish nationally uniform
rules for attribute authentication because of differences in
role definitions of individual domains that cooperate regionally
with one another. I think that it is necessary to start with
consensus building of a framework to construct national-level
attribute authentication infrastructures, the mapping of structural
and functional roles, and policy development in Japan for exchanging
medical information.
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Lecture
3
“Protection of Personal Information and
Attribute Authentication Provider at Websites” |
Mr. Masayuki Chiba
Research Director, Information Security Research Group
Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.
Internet users register all kinds of
personal attribute information on websites when they begin to
use services. When they register data, they directly enter all
kinds of personal information as attribute information - such
as name, address, telephone number, sex, date of birth, e-mail
address, card number, password, occupation, family structure
- on the websites that they want to use (voluntary notification).
Under the current web-screen input method (attribute delivery
method), users are forced to provide all kinds of personal information
on individual websites from which they want to receive services.
Site administrators also bear risks in relation to the authenticity
of information that has been entered. Public key certificates
and attribute certificates can be used to determine the authenticity
of Internet user attributes. However, there are problems with
these methods: it takes a lot of time to register with certification
authorities and it is difficult to handle attributes that are
easily and dynamically changed. Risks to both users and websites
will be reduced if we construct a system to check for necessary
qualifications in relation to attributes and services and if
the checked results are only provided to “third parties
who safely manage all kinds of correct (authentic) attributes
of users on the Internet”, instead of the current system
in which users provide their attributes directly to individual
corporate websites.
By developing infrastructures
for sharing attribute information and letting such third-party
agencies use those infrastructures, the correct (authentic)
attributes of users in actual society will be safely and easily
handled on the Internet and as a result, new Internet services
may be created. The infrastructures for sharing attribute information
need to be equipped with the following functions: (1) a data
registration and management function for confirming user attributes
and registering (accepting) them for online use; (2) a data
reference and provision system function for managing registered
data, providing data reference services to users, and providing
data to online sites; and (3) a data utilization function for
statistically processing attribute data that is accumulated
from the infrastructures and creating new added values including
marketing data. Agencies that are equipped with both the data
registration and management function and the data reference
and provision function are called “personal attribute
providers”. The attribute information providers are useful
for identity confirmation in relation to auctions on portal
sites and the submission of messages, for the conditional retrieval
of skills and qualifications to find partners in matching businesses,
for profile exchanges in communication services, and for other
purposes. In order for such providers to become a reality, it
is important to establish common management guidelines and to
start with feasible areas.
In my opinion, if cooperation
among information systems that are managed by individual attribute
information providers is based on the specifications of Liberty
Alliance for system operation, it will not be necessary to formulate
large-scale specifications. Presumably, exchanges between users
and service sites (permissions of and requests for the provision
of attribute information) can be coped with based on PKI technologies.
The Liberty Alliance Project (http://www.projectliberty.org/jp/),
which is being promoted by a group that consists of companies/organizations
in a wide range of areas, aims to realize the world that consumers
and companies can participate in electronic commerce while maintaining
privacy and security. Specifically, the project provides open
specifications for handling consumer identity information in
consideration of security and privacy to enable cooperation
among different online services. To confirm the authenticity
of user attributes, different methods are adopted according
to the business categories and characters of attribute information
providers, so it is not necessary to use the same method. However,
it is necessary to clarify attribute-by-attribute identification
methods and identifiers for providers. With regard to the reliability
of attributes that are registered on the Internet and the handling
of attribute information by sites, it is also necessary to grade
the reliability of attributes into various levels based on services
and identification methods.
The details were reported
in the “Examination into Personal Attribute Providers:
Infrastructure for Using Attribute Information for Personal
Information Protection” (February 2005), a FY2004 ECOM
activity report. In consideration of the principles of the Act
on the Protection of Personal Information, such as clarification
of purposes, restrictions on use, data content, security, disclosure,
individual participation and responsibility, attribute information
providers need to possess a range of functions that cover the
following purposes: confirmation of purposes of use of user
attributes on e-business service sites, notification of purposes
of use, confirmation of approvals for use, restrictions on use,
confirmation of the accuracy of registered attributes, and responses
to claims (inquiries). It is also necessary to examine the following
future problems: the monitoring of safety measures taken by
providers that register attributes, auditing methods, the implementation
of firm safety measures, attribute registration with multiple
agencies and aggregation functions, the effectiveness of registering
one attribute with multiple agencies and so forth. Furthermore,
there are sensitive issues including data disclosure, data provision
ranges and permission methods in the area of medical information,
etc. It is also necessary to solve problems including dealing
with e-mail bombing and a function for suspending use.
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Outline of the “RFID
Tag Diffusion Promotion Seminar”
-Utilization of RFID tags toward the Enhancement of Inter-Industrial
Competitiveness- |
|
With the cooperation of the Next
Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, the
Japan Information Processing Development Corporation/Electronic
Commerce Promotion Center (JIPDEC/ECPC) and the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) jointly held an “RFID
Tags Diffusion Promotion Seminar”.
The seminars were held at three venues
- Sapporo (January 31, 2006: SAPPORO GARDEN PALACE), Nagoya
(February 7, 2006: Sakae Gas Building) and Fukuoka (February
10, 2006: ACROS Fukuoka) - and many people attended. Mr. Masato
Tamori, Research Director (Special Committee on RFID Tags/Traceability)
of ECOM reports on the outline of the seminars.
 |
1. The Objective of the Seminars
The seminars aimed to promote the introduction
and implementation of RFID tags as part of the FY2005 RFID Tag
System Development Survey (infrastructure development of inter-company
information sharing).
JIPDEC/ECPC and ECOM have been actively
promoting the diffusion of RFID tags in forums, seminars, etc.
Given the fact that the visibility of RFID tags has been rapidly
increasing across entire industries and regions, however, this
time we paid attention to regions other than the Tokyo area
so that more people could attend.
2. Framework of the Seminar Program
The focus of the seminars was the report
of activities for the FY2005 RFID Tag System Development Survey
(infrastructure development of inter-company information sharing).
The results of the same survey for FY2004 were also reported.
3. Points of Each Lecture (name of venue)
Lecture 1: “Measures
of the METI regarding RFID Tag Diffusion Promotion”
Introduction of the
strategic policies of the METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry) toward the diffusion of RFID tags. Two strategic issues
were focused on: “international standardization”
and “price lowering”. Regarding the former, an outline
of the standardization of product codes and technical standards
(communications protocol) was explained. Regarding the latter,
an outline of the “HIBIKI project”, which develops
inexpensive RFID tags, was presented.
Meanwhile, as issues that should be
improved for the environment in which to diffuse RFID tags,
”frequency”, “privacy”, “international
policies” and “pilot projects” were raised
and their outlines explained.
Lecture 2: “Progress on the HIBIKI
Project for the Realization of 5 Yen Tags”
Regarding the strategic issue “price
lowering” in lecture 1, the “HIBIKI Project”,
which is the METI’s measure of developing inexpensive
and high-quality RFID tags, was explained from various perspectives:
IC chip specifications/capabilities, objectives and contents
of research & development of the project, the development
schedule, reader/writer specifications.
Lecture 3: “Analysis
of the Results of the RFID Tag Pilot Test in FY2004”
Regarding the improvement issue “pilot
project” in lecture 1, outlines of the seven projects
of the RFID tag pilot tests in FY2004 were explained. The issues
of each project were analyzed and while common issues across
industries are still being extracted, the progress of this task
was also reported.
Secondly, examples of RFID tag introduction
in Japan, as well as the features and current issues of each
example were explained.
Lecture 4: “Efforts toward the Promotion
of RFID Tag Utilization”
Regarding the improvement issue “privacy”
in lecture 1, a definition of privacy, privacy-related problems
with RFID tags and their countermeasures were explained using
familiar examples. In addition, regarding the strategic issue
“international standardization” in lecture 1, the
necessity of standardization, the targets of international standardization
and the standards of identifiers were explained.
Lecture 5-(1): “Outline of the FY2005
RFID Tag Pilot Test”
Regarding the improvement issue “pilot
test” in lecture 1, an outline and the current progress
of eight ongoing FY2005 RFID tag pilot test projects were explained.
Lecture 5-(2): “Introduction
of the FY2005 RFID Tag Pilot Tests”
One of the eight “FY2005 RFID
tag pilot test” projects in lecture 5-(1) was raised and
more details and deeper issues were reported.
(Sapporo) “RFID Tag Pilot Project
for the Establishment of Future Storage Services”
The progress of the Japanese version of the “Future Store
Project” was introduced. It demonstrates a system to provide
merchandise information to consumers and an inventory management
system using RFID tags in five business categories: department
stores, fashion chain stores, general merchandising stores,
supermarkets and convenience stores.
(Nagoya) “Progress
of ASEAN Returnable Container Pilot Project using RFID Tags”
The abovementioned project, which aims to realize the management
of production status and physical distribution by attaching
RFID tags to auto parts, returnable containers and containers
at production bases (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand) across
borders, was introduced.
(Fukuoka) “Progress of Autonomous Service
Robot Project using RFID Tags at Shopping Malls”
The testing field was a shopping mall. The test was to establish
the value of a service robot using RFID tags. Specifically,
two uses of the robot are planned: accompanying people shopping
and remote control. In the lecture, a movie was played showing
the progress of the pilot test which had started the day before.
4. Conclusion/Impression
On the day, not only the people from
vendor companies, but also a lot of people from user companies
attended the seminars. From looking at the people listening
to the lectures with keen interest and the many detailed comments
in the questionnaires, we got a real sense of the high level
of interest in RFID tags. Moreover, we received many requests
to hold diffusion seminars with advanced themes such as “RFID
Tags”. We reconfirmed the great necessity of promotion
activities in different regions.
Finally, JIPDEC/ECPC will compile a
report on activity results such as common issues in introducing
and implementing RFID tags, the standardization of methods to
present merchandise information and improvement measures for
the RFID tag’s social acceptability. We will also put
together a guide book which will serve as a guideline for introducing
and implementing RFID tags. The report is scheduled to be issued
in April, 2006. Please refer to ECOM’s website (http://www.ecom.jp/)
for details.
*This project is jointly implemented
by the Japan Information Processing Development Corporation
/ Electronic Commerce Promotion Center and the Next Generation
Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, as one of the
projects commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry.
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From the Secretary-General |
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This time last year, we were very busy
summarizing the results of the final year, preparing for the dissolution
of the former ECOM, establishing Next Generation ECOM and acquiring
new members, but looking back, there are also fond memories. Forty
members were added to the initial number of members and we now
have about 180 members including board members, regular A and
B members and special members. We would like more people to know
about the results of our activities in this fiscal year. With
more understanding and support, we would like to ask for more
participation from companies and organizations.
The ADR project for internet shopping
dispute consultation, which was conducted as a pilot test by the
METI, is about to end this March. The plan from FY2006 will be
announced in the next ECOM News. The project can end without any
troubles and with fruitful results having performed more than
5,000 consultations. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation
to all of the people involved with it.
(Hamanaka)
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ECOM News No. 11
Issue Date: February 28, 2006
Issuer: Next Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council
of Japan
Kikai Shinko Kaikan Bldg 3F
3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-0011, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3436-7500, Fax: +81-3-3436-7570
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