Traceability and individual freedoms

In just a few years, traceability has become a major legal issue.

Whether we're talking about traceability in food, finance, healthcare, security or electronics, the question is always the same: what trace do we have? And to do what with it?

What is traceability and what is a trace? We need to be able to distinguish between traceability from a technical point of view and traceability in the legal sphere and, ultimately, check whether both are on the same level.

Traceability is a neologism derived from the English word traceability.

Traceability is related to the notions of "trace", "trace" and "tracing", which imply the use of elements to mark and identify an object or an actor.

ISO 9000:2015 defines it as "the ability to trace the history, implementation or location of an object". Various requirements follow from this standard. In particular, companies and organizations are required to plan their actions in response to risks and quality objectives, and to evaluate their performance.

The ISO definition of traceability states that traceability can be linked to the origin of materials and components, production history, distribution and location of the product or service after delivery.

The aim is to identify a tangible (e.g. an object) or intangible (e.g. data) asset, a service or a person, and to associate it with the events that have transformed it over time, events that can themselves be identified and thus traced.

Traceability is "plural" in the sense of usage, combining the following aspects:

• identification: traceability makes it possible to differentiate a good, a person or a group from others and to recognize it within a whole;

• authentication: this approach ensures that a previously "certified" good or person has an authentic signature; authentication involves a trusted third party who manages the secrets enabling certification;

• location: traceability places an asset or a person in space and time (such as GPS tracking);

• security: the reliability and security of information are essential elements of a traceability solution; altering information can destabilize a production process, resulting in a loss of confidence in the traceability solution.

These aspects of traceability, or what some refer to as "traceabilistics", should enable a global approach that combines the use of information support and capture technologies, thus linking traceability and technologies.

In legal terms, the term "traceability" can be found in...