Iasi: preot “ortodox” si ceremonial eretic “cavaleresc”
June 15th, 2009
Lansat acum citeva ore, portalul eRomania contine o mentiune despre BOSVR:
Biserica Ortodoxă de Stil Vechi din România a luat fiinţă în anul 1924, când Biserica Ortodoxă Română a introdus calendarul gregorian (iulian îndreptat), fapt care a determinat un grup de preoţi şi credincioşi să serbeze în continuare sărbătorile după vechiul calendar (iulian), astfel luând naştere mişcarea stilistă în rândul românilor.
Cel mai cunoscut oponent al introducerii noului calendar era ieromonahul Glicherie Tănase. Acesta a fost nevoit să părasească Mănăstirea Neamţ – Schitul Pocrov şi să construiască alte lăcaşe de cult pentru a putea sluji după calendarul vechi. Ulterior el va deveni primul mitropolit al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române de stil vechi şi o nouă ierarhie va fi creată.
Biserica Ortodoxă de Stil Vechi din România are o mitropolie autonomă cu sediul la Slătioara în comuna Râşca, judeţul Suceava.
Această biserică este considerată necanonică şi schismatică de către celelalte Biserici Ortodoxe Autocefale, validitatea acesteia (a clericilor şi mirenilor, deopotrivă) nefiind recunoscută nici de Bisericile Ortodoxe Autocefale ce folosesc calendarul iulian.
Sfantul Glicherie nu a fost primul mitropolit al BOSVR, ci IPS Galaction Cordun.
Trebuie sa remarc observatia autorilor, potrivit carora BOSVR “este considerata necanonica si schismatica de celelalte Biserici Ortodoxe Autocefale”. Portalul gazduieste de asemenea articole despre romano-catolici, reformati, uniati si luterani, despre care insa nu mai avem sa aflam ca sint socotiti de Ortodoxie eretici, necanonici, schismatici si despre a caror “validitate” (“a clericilor si mirenilor deopotriva”) nu ni se spune o iota. Dimpotrivă. Daca autorul articolului e un BOR-ist, macar asta ar trebui sa-l puna pe ginduri. In plus, ce cauta o astfel de manipulare, din categoria “pentru unii muma, pentru altii ciuma”, pe un site guvernamental?
Gheorghe VanauJune 13, 2009, New York Times: The Saturday Profile
In Finland, a Man of Politics, Without His Cloth
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
HELSINKI, Finland
By conventional lights, the Rev. Mitro Repo’s candidacy for the European
Parliament never should have succeeded. As a Finnish Orthodox priest, he was
bucking his superiors, who have strict rules about the mixing of politics and
piety. As a Social Democrat, he was bucking the political tides sweeping Europe
after the financial crisis.
But last Sunday Father Repo, 50, the son and grandson of priests, was elected as
an independent candidate on the Social Democratic ticket as one of Finland’s 13
deputies in the 376-seat Parliament. It was a bittersweet victory in one
respect: along the way, the bishops of the church forbade him to conduct
religious services or wear the robe or pectoral cross or any other symbols of
his priesthood. “They are accusing me of a crime,” he said of the church
officials during the campaign. “I think it is an honor to do what I do.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Teoctist: Ecumenism, European Union, Vatican
May 29th, 2009
Serviciu de tip religios: Papistasi la Patriarhia BOR
May 24th, 2009
WCC: Ecumenism is a way of life
May 22nd, 2009
Sister Pina Sandu says that in her Orthodox monastery, in the mountains of Romania, they practise “touristic spirituality”. With a resort built up around the monastery, “like it or not” the tourists “hear the bells, hear the services three times a day… They hear, they feel, they know that something is happening.” As a result, their curiosity leads them into the yard and into the church – “small, sure steps towards something beautiful.”
Sister Pina and five other sisters – two each from Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant orders – are providing a similar subtle but radical witness at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey outside of Geneva, Switzerland, for students and visitors alike.
The sisters live together, coordinate the worship and prayer life at the Ecumenical Institute, participate in classes – and embody a sense of “ecumenical spirituality” in daily life.
See the rest of By Sara Speicher’s article here, as well as a gallery of photos taken by Peter Williams here
Gheorghe VanauHoly Synod in Resistance and Holy Synod of the True Orthodox Christians: Cessation of Informal Dialogue
May 22nd, 2009
The Holy Synod in Resistance and the Holy Synod of the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece under Archbishop Chrysostomos [Kiouses]
The Cessation of Informal Dialogue
Informatory Introduction, Observations, and Documents
† Bishop Cyprian of Oreoi
Acting President of the Holy Synod Phyle, Attica
May 18, 2009 (Old Style) Holy 318 God-Bearing Fathers
Informatory Introduction
1. The Holy Synod in Resistance, by the Grace of God and with the aid of the Theotokos, has since 1985 been shepherding those pious Orthodox Christians who are by principle anti-ecumenists and who follow the traditional Church Calendar, thereby constituting the Ecclesiastical Community of the Old Calendarist Anti-Ecumenists.
2. The Orthodox Community in Resistance is assuredly ecclesial in nature, since it has as the visible center and head of its Eucharistic Synaxes [Assemblies—trans.] Orthodox Bishops who possess indisputably canonical and valid Consecrations and Apostolic Succession. This point has been additionally confirmed by their Eucharistic communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which is ubiquitously recognized. The Bishops preside at Synaxes, preach the word of God, and offer the Eucharist as “Icons of Christ” the Great High Priest and as those presiding “in the place of God,” as St. Ignatios of Antioch puts it (cf. Patrologia Græca, Vol. V, cols. 668A, 853A).
3. The Orthodox in resistance, along with all of the Old Calendarist anti-ecumenists, can be characterized with theological exactitude as an Orthodox Church, since Bishops embody and express in place and time the Catholic Church, that is, the entire Church.
• Where the whole Christ is embodied and where there is partaken the whole of Christ, there the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is actualized and revealed as a Theandric organism, wherein the Holy Trinity dwells, according to the Saints: “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church,” and “the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop” (St. Ignatios of Antioch, cf. Patrologia Græca, Vol. V, col. 713B, and St. Cyprian of Carthage, “Epistle LXVI,” §8. Cf. Ephesians 4:5-6 and I Corinthians 10:15-16: The Body of Christ as an Ecclesiastical and Mysteriological [Sacramental—trans.] Synaxis).
4. Within the domain of the Old Calendar Church in Greece, since 1984—with regard specifically to the Orthodox in resistance—there has existed an estrangement and division (though not in essence a schism), inasmuch as in that year Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle lodged a “Canonical Charge” against the Synod (under [Metropolitan—trans.] Antonios of Attica and Megara) to which he briefly belonged and broke communion therewith “for reasons of faith and righteousness,” on the basis of Canon XXXI of the Holy Apostles and Canon XV of the First-Second Synod (see the chronicle of these events in Ἅγιος Κυπριανός, No. 191 [November 1984], pp. 377-407).
5. Given the foregoing fundamental theological and historical data, our Synod in Resistance, in accordance with Resolution IX of its Thirty-Fourth Regular Annual Meeting (October 4, 2007 [Old Style]) commenced, on February 16, 2008 (Old Style), an informal dialogue with the Holy Synod of the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece under Archbishop Chrysostomos [Kiouses], in order to promote a ministry of reconciliation.
6. The two Synods were represented by two Episcopal Committees, each comprised of three members, which convened in seven meetings (I, February 16, 2008 [Old Style], in Megara–VII, November 28, 2008 [Old Style], in Piræus). Unofficial minutes were kept separately by each committee.
7. The members of our Holy Synod received precise notification of the exchanges at these meetings through reports compiled by the Secretary of the Synod, His Grace, Bishop Klemes of Gardikion, and approved by our Standing Holy Synod (Report I, February 20, 2008 [Old Style]–Report VIII, December 2, 2008 [Old Style]).
8. At the last meeting (VII, November 28, 2008 [Old Style]), it was decisively resolved that a detailed response should be given by our Holy Synod to the “Synodal Letter of the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece ‘To the Orthodox Community in Resistance’” (Protocol No. 3-1141 [September 9/22, 2008]), containing ten “points” regarded by its compiler, His Grace, Bishop Photios of Marathon, as “very important and nonnegotiable” (for this “Synodal Letter,” see the attached documents, §III.1).
9. Our Holy Synod, by way of its three-member Committee, and with the approval of the Standing Synod, responded to the aforementioned “Synodal Letter of the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece” through a “Synodal Epistle” (Protocol No. 527 [December 17, 2008 (Old Style)]), in which, inter alia, our observations on the “points” made by the other side are enumerated in the form of “positions” and it is stated, in conclusion, that “we are not suspending informal dialogue, but are addressing an appeal for a magnanimous waiver, on your part, of what you consider ‘nonnegotiable points,’ in order to open the way for the unity that we desire” (for this “Synodal Letter,” see the attached documents, §III.2).
10. On February 15, 2009 (Old Style), an “Epistle of Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Athens and All Greece” (Protocol No. 480 [February 10/23, 2009]) was delivered to our Secretary by Bishop Photios of Marathon. Through this “Epistle,” we were notified of the decision of his Holy Synod that ripe “conditions for full rapprochement” do not exist at present and that, insofar as we do not, in essence, “have the same common Faith,” we cannot “speak about any unity of Faith between us” (for this “Archiepiscopal Epistle,” see the attached documents, §III.3).
11. Finally, on April 30, 2009, a document “from the Holy Synod” entitled “Communiqué” was posted on the website of the Church of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece. Through this document it is made known that “under the present conditions, the necessary presuppositions for the continuation of dialogue with the ‘Orthodox Community in Resistance’ do not exist,” since “it has been determined that we do not have identical views on matters of ecclesiology” (for this “Communiqué,” see the attached documents, §III.4).
Christian group claims progress on a common Easter
May 20th, 2009
GENEVA (AP) — Christianity’s largest ecumenical movement expressed hope Thursday that churches were moving closer to a common Easter for the world’s Christians, despite a historical debate nearly as old as the religion.
Catholic and Protestant congregations will celebrate their belief in Jesus’ resurrection on the same day as Orthodox churches in 2010 and 2011 because of a coincidence in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The common holiday has happened three times this decade.
But the World Council of Churches says consensus is emerging that these should not just be occasional occurrences.
At a recent meeting in Lviv, Ukraine, theologians representing nearly the breadth of Christianity agreed in principle on a strategy for all the faithful to continue observing their feast together.
“It’s not a problem of principle, of dogma or of doctrine,” said Juan Michel, spokesman for the council, whose 350 Protestant, Orthodox and other churches represent more than 560 million Christians. It cooperates with the Roman Catholic Church, which is not a member.
“It’s more of a pastoral issue for some churches,” said Michel. “There are concerns how the faithful will feel if there is a change in the traditional way of calculating the date.”
The confusion over Easter’s historical date arose in the early days of Christianity as the faith spread and different groups interpreted the four Gospels in different ways.
According to Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples was the Jewish Passover meal, while John’s Gospel says that Jesus died on the feast of Passover itself.
Christianity’s leading authorities first sought to establish a common date in 325 at the Council of Nicaea, determining it as the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox.
The problem before the advent of modern astronomy was calculating the equinox. Orthodox churches use March 21 in the Julian calendar, but since the 16th century the Western date has been derived in the Gregorian calendar. The resulting difference can be up to five weeks apart.
The council said theologians from the Vatican and various Orthodox and Protestant churches endorsed a compromise on May 15 that Easter should be held for all Christians using an equinox based on accurate astronomical data.
Under the plan the unified Easter usually falls as it would under the Gregorian calendar used by Catholics and Protestants, said Dagmar Heller, an ecumenical professor in Switzerland heading the council’s faith and order commission.
In the next 15 years, the only time Western churches would have to change Easter is in 2019 from April 21 to March 24. The bigger adjustment would be for the Orthodox Church, which has experienced several schisms in its history over the question of dates.
“There are of course some fundamentalist Orthodox who say ‘The Julian calendar is our tradition and it was used in Jesus’ lifetime so we cannot change,’” Heller said, adding that some Eastern theologians might fear more breaks in their church as a result of a date change.
“And, of course, it’s an issue because the astronomical data is closer to the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced by a pope,” she said, referring to Pope Gregory XIII’s reform of the calendar in 1582. It only slowly replaced the calendar named for Julius Caesar, who introduced it in 46 B.C.
Some Orthodox representatives at the meeting appeared to back the plan. French Orthodox theologian Antoine Arjakovsky acknowledged that the astronomy was closer to the Gregorian calendar, but noted that Catholic and Protestant churches were also compromising by “accepting that the date of Easter should be established on the basis of a cosmic calendar rather than by a fixed date.”
The Vatican was represented in Lviv by the Rev. Milan Zust, an official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Heller said the proposed Easter calculation would be discussed by higher level officials from different denominations.
Christian groups have been trying for a century to establish a common Easter. In the 1920s some proposed a fixed Sunday as the date, but others opposed losing the theological link of the first Easter with Passover — which Jews still celebrate according to a lunar calendar.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Gheorghe VanauHieromartyr Nectarius, Archbishop of Yaransk
May 17th, 2009
via Vladimir Moss
Bishop Nectarius, in the world Nestor Konstantinovich Trezvinsky, was born
in 1889 in the family of a priest in the village of Yatsek in
Vasilkovsky uyezd, Kiev province. At the age of three he was orphaned, and was
cared for by Protopriest Vishinsky of the local church, who later handed the boy
over to his son-in-law, the priest Trezvinsky, from whom Nestor received
his surname.
In 1901 Nestor entered the Kiev theological seminary, graduating in 1908.
Then he served as a novice in a monastery, and then in the church of the
village of Yatsek. In 1911 he entered in the Kiev Theological Academy,
graduating in 1915 (according to another source, 1917). In 1912 (according to
another source, 1914) he was tonsured into the mantia in the Kiev Caves
Lavra with the name of Nectarius. In the autumn of 1915 he joined the army as
the priest of the First Turkestan rifle regiment.
On December 13, 1917 Fr. Nectarius was ordained to the priesthood,
serving in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and was raised to rank of archimandrite
in 1918. In 1919, because of a false accusation he was imprisoned in the
“Crosses” prison. From 1920 to 1921 he was rector of the cathedral in Yamburg.
On September 8, 1921 he was arrested in connection with “the affair of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra”, and a month later was sentenced to one year of
hard labour. In January, 1922 he was amnestied and sent to the Kiev-Caves
Lavra, where he remained in retirement until 1923. (According to another
source, he returned to Petrograd in the autumn of 1922.) In February, 1924
Bishop Benedict appointed him dean of the monasteries and podvoryes of Petrograd.
According to one source, on June 3/16, 1924 Patriarch Tikhon consecrated
him Bishop of Vitebsk. But according to another, he was made Bishop of
Velizhsk, a vicariate of the Polotsk diocese, and temporary administrator of
the Polotsk-Vitebsk diocese until 1925. However, the authorities extracted
from him a promise not to leave Petrograd, so he could not visit his see. In
December, 1924 he was appointed bishop of Yaransk, a vicariate of the Vyatka
diocese. At that time Yaransk was in the hands of the renovationist
heretics. However, the faithful children of the Orthodox Church sent a member
of the parish council of the Dormition church, Y.A. Chernyshev, to Patriarch
Tikhon to ask him to give them their own bishop, and he sent them Bishop
Nectarius.
A common date for Easter: the 8th of April 2012?
May 16th, 2009
A COMMON DATE FOR EASTER IS POSSIBLE
The hope that all Christians will be able to celebrate Easter on the same day in
the future was reaffirmed by an international ecumenical seminar organized by
the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in
Lviv, 15 May.
The problem is just about as old as the church itself: As Christianity
started to spread around the world, Christians came to differing results on when
to commemorate Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, due to the different
reports in the four gospels on these events.
Attempts to establish a common date for Easter began with the Council of Nicaea
in the year 325. It established that the date of Easter would be the first
Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. However, it did not fix
the methods to be used to calculate the timing of the full moon or the vernal
equinox.
Nowadays the Orthodox churches use the 21 March of the Julian calendar as the
date of the equinox, while the churches of the Western tradition – that is the
Protestant and Catholic churches – base their calculations on the Gregorian
calendar. The resulting gap between the two Easter dates can be as much as five
weeks.
All participants at the seminar in Lviv, which included Orthodox, Roman Catholic
and Protestant theologians from a variety of European countries, endorsed a
compromise proposed at a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Aleppo,
Syria, in 1997. The proposal was to keep the Nicaea rule but calculate the
equinox and full moon using the accurate astronomical data available today,
rather than those used many years ago.
Concretely, participants at the seminar expressed the hope that the years 2010
and 2011, when the coincidence of the calendars will produce a common Easter
date, would serve as a period during which all Christians would join their
efforts “to make such coincidence not to be an exception but rather a rule” and
prepare for an Easter date based on exact astronomical reckoning and celebrated
by all Christians on 8 April 2012.
However, the seminar entitled “A common date for Easter is possible” did not
turn a blind eye to what participants considered to be “the main problem”: “not
the calculations, but the complex relations and missing of trust among different
Christian denominations because of long divisions.”
French Orthodox theologian Prof. Antoine Arjakovsky, director of the
Institute of Ecumenical Studies, pointed out: “Whilst the astronomic
reckoning of the Nicean rule comes closer to the Gregorian calendar than to the
ancient Julian one, the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches did take a step
towards the Orthodox churches in Aleppo, accepting that the date of Easter
should be established on the base of a cosmic calendar rather than by a fixed
date as had been proposed prior to the inter-Orthodox meeting in Chambésy in
1977.”
Other speakers at the ecumenical seminar were Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller,
professor at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey and executive secretary of the WCC
Faith and Order Commission, Jesuit Father Milan Zust, an official of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Prof. Konstantin Sigov,
director of Saint Clement Centre in Kiev, Ukraine.
Further to the students of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies – a
consortium between the Ukrainian Catholic University, the National
University of Lviv and several other European universities – the seminar had
gathered representatives of the city’s major denominations: the Ukrainian
Orthodox Churches of the patriarchates of Moscow and Kiev as well as the
Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, the Greek and Roman Catholic
Churches, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Baptist and the Evangelical Church.
Frequently asked questions about the date of Easter
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3169
Proposals from the Aleppo consultation
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=2678
More information about the seminar (Ukrainian Catholic University website)
http://www.ecumenicalstudies.org.ua/eng/ies_activity/one.easter/
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox,
Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in
over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church.
The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in
Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
PS Pahomie: Macelul de la Cucova
May 15th, 2009
Ecumenist Public Prayer for May 24th served in Rome
May 14th, 2009
by Zornitsa Gavrilova
Correspondent of The Standart
Rome
For the first time ever an (Bulgarian) Orthodox and a Catholic priests participated together on the public prayer for May 24th, the Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Rome yesterday. Monsignor Hristo Proykov and Metropolitan of Rousse, Neofit served the special prayer at San Clemente basilica which keeps the relics of St Cyril. Bulgaria?s President Georgi Parvanov and his wife Zorka were the VIPs at the ceremony. The Bulgarian first couple was on an official visit in Rome for the annual audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Dozens of Bulgarians living in Rome arrived for the prayer. When it was over everybody in the church sang together the Slav Orthodox hymn Mnogoya Leta (Many Years to Live) and the Bulgarian song for May 24th Varvi Narode Vazrodeni (Forward, Revived People).
Later, Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov visited Santa Maria Maggiore basilica where centuries ago St Cyril received acknowledgement for the Slavic script.Together with visitors from all over the world, Georgi Parvanov prayed in the church.
Gheorghe VanauUE si cipurile, ultimele “recomandari”
May 12th, 2009
Iata un articol despre ultima miscare prin invaluire a UE: un set nou de recomandari care se refera la “respectarea vietii private“. Este, banuiesc, limpede ca premisa centrala a UE este ca implementarea acestei tehnologii merge mai departe cu un ritm de crestere substantial: se vorbeste de o piata mondiala care va creste de 5 ori in urmatori zece ani:
Cipuri mici cu potențial mare: noile recomandări ale UE asigură respectarea vieții private de către codurile de bare ale secolului XXI
Europenii ar trebui să poată controla cipurile inteligente – o piață mondială care se preconizează că va crește de cinci ori în următorii zece ani – fiind totuși în același timp capabili să le utilizeze cu ușurință pentru simplificarea vieții de zi cu zi. Există deja peste 6 miliarde de cipuri inteligente, dispozitive microelectronice care pot fi integrate într-o diversitate de obiecte de uz cotidian, de la frigidere la cartelele de autobuz. Cu ajutorul tehnologiei de identificare prin frecvență radio (Radio Frequency Identification – RFID), cipurile pot prelucra automat date atunci când sunt apropiate de dispozitive de „citire” care le activează, le recepționează semnalul radio și fac schimb de date cu ele. Sunt în cartelele pe care le utilizați pentru a intra în birou și în cardurile inteligente cu care vă plătiți taxele de autostradă. Comisia Europeană a adoptat astăzi un set de recomandări prin care se asigură faptul că toți cei implicați în proiectarea sau exploatarea de tehnologii bazate pe cipuri inteligente respectă dreptul fundamental al persoanelor la viață privată și la protecția datelor cu caracter personal, cuprins în Carta drepturilor fundamentale a Uniunii Europene proclamată la 14 decembrie 2007.
„Cipurile inteligente, o tehnologie promițătoare pentru viitor, ne pot ușura viața în multe feluri. Vorbim de obiecte banale care devin deodată inteligente, conectându-se la o rețea și făcând schimb de informații. Gândiți-vă la frigidere inteligente care vă anunță că laptele este expirat sau la ambalaje inteligente pentru alimente, care îi avertizează pe părinți cu privire la posibile alergii”, a declarat Viviane Reding, comisarul UE pentru societatea informațională și media. „Utilizarea de mici cipuri inteligente pentru a permite comunicarea între obiecte prezintă un clar potențial economic. Dar europenii nu trebuie să fie luați niciodată prin surprindere de noile evoluții tehnologice. De aceea, Comisia a adoptat astăzi recomandări ferme adresate industriei de profil. Consumatorii europeni trebuie să aibă încredere că, dacă vine vorba de datele lor personale, viața lor privată va rămâne la adăpost chiar și într-un mediu tehnologic în schimbare. Prin urmare, Comisia dorește ca tehnologia RFID să permită consumatorilor să controleze securitatea datelor lor personale, acesta fiind cel mai bun mod de a asigura succesul său economic. În definitiv, cota Europei pe piața mondială a cipurilor inteligente va atinge 35% în următorii opt ani.”
Cipurile inteligente (sau dispozitivele de identificare radio) pot avea și au deja un impact enorm asupra activității întreprinderilor, asupra serviciilor publice și a produselor de consum, de la eficientizarea reciclării și a serviciilor de sănătate la reducerea timpului de așteptare pentru plata taxelor de autostradă și pentru recuperarea bagajelor în aeroporturi.
Pentru a se asigura că Europa este pregătită pentru aceste schimbări, Comisia a prezentat astăzi următoarele principii vizând protejarea vieții private și a datelor cu caracter personal în cursul utilizării cipurilor inteligente:
* Consumatorii ar trebui să poată decide dacă produsele pe care le cumpără din magazine folosesc sau nu cipuri inteligente. La cumpărarea unui produs cu cipuri inteligente, acestea ar trebui dezactivate automat, imediat și gratuit la punctul de vânzare, cu excepția cazului în care consumatorul optează pentru păstrarea lor în funcțiune și cere în mod explicit acest lucru. Se pot acorda exceptări, de exemplu pentru a se evita impunerea unor sarcini inutile comercianților cu amănuntul, însă numai după ce se evaluează impactul cipului asupra vieții private.
* Companiile sau autoritățile publice care utilizează cipuri inteligente ar trebui să ofere consumatorilor informații simple și clare, din care aceștia să înțeleagă dacă datele lor cu caracter personal vor fi utilizate, ce tip de date se colectează (cum ar fi numele, adresa, data nașterii) și în ce scop sunt colectate acestea. De asemenea, acestea ar trebui să eticheteze în mod clar dispozitivele care „citesc” informațiile stocate în cipurile inteligente, pentru ca acestea să poată fi identificate, și să pună la dispoziție un punct de contact de unde cetățenii să poată obține mai multe informații.
* Asociațiile și organizațiile din domeniul comerțului cu amănuntul ar trebui să atragă atenția consumatorilor asupra produselor care conțin cipuri inteligente, prin adoptarea unui semn comun la nivel european care să indice prezența unui cip inteligent într-un produs.
* Înainte de a utiliza cipuri inteligente, companiile și autoritățile publice ar trebui să realizeze evaluări ale impactului în ceea ce privește protecția vieții private și a datelor. Aceste evaluări, supervizate de autoritățile naționale însărcinate cu protecția datelor, ar trebui să asigure faptul că datele cu caracter personal sunt în siguranță și bine protejate.
În 2008 s-au vândut, la nivel mondial, 2,2 miliarde de dispozitive RFID, cum ar fi cele utilizate pentru plata taxelor de autostradă sau pentru identificarea containerelor de transport, dintre care aproximativ o treime s-au vândut în Europa. Potrivit estimărilor, piața mondială a dispozitivelor RFID s-a ridicat la 4 miliarde EUR în 2008 și urmează să crească până la circa 20 miliarde EUR până în 2018.
Context:
În 2006, Comisia Europeană a lansat o consultare publică (IP/06/289) cu privire la realizarea și utilizarea de cipuri inteligente (sau de tehnologii de identificare prin frecvență radio). Pe baza acestei consultări, Comisia a adoptat ulterior, în martie 2007, o comunicare (IP/07/332) în care arăta că publicul așteaptă măsuri suplimentare de protecție a vieții private și a datelor. Recomandarea adoptată astăzi, a cărei elaborare s-a bazat pe consultarea tuturor părților interesate, inclusiv furnizorii și utilizatorii acestei tehnologii, organismele de standardizare, organizațiile consumatorilor, grupurile din cadrul societății civile și sindicatele, constituie un răspuns la aceste așteptări și vizează crearea de condiții echitabile pentru industria europeană de profil, respectând în același timp dreptul la viață privată al persoanelor. Statele membre au acum la dispoziție doi ani pentru a informa Comisia cu privire la măsurile pe care intenționează să le ia pentru a asigura îndeplinirea obiectivelor din recomandare. În termen de trei ani, Comisia va prezenta un raport cu privire la implementarea recomandării, inclusiv o analiză a impactului acesteia asupra companiilor și a autorităților publice care utilizează cipuri inteligente, precum și asupra cetățenilor.
Recomandarea poate fi consultată la:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/index_en.htm
Sursa: Europa.eu
Gheorghe Vanau
