I suspect its for inventory control, but you never know with EU stuff. Also RFID chips for inventory control don't have a 30 meter range, but neither dare they limited to a 2-3 in range. Its more like 30 inches, depending on conditions.
If this is a chip other than for inventory control then it could have extensive range. Again with EU laws you never know.
The more expensive the chip the more expensive the item. I would think they would use the cheapest chip possible unless they are forced to do something else by law.
Anyone concerned can to a few things.
1) Not buy
2) Destroy the chip, or pry it off - this is a very easy operation.
I also would bet the the US importers would have an issue with this as well and would force some sort of corrective action.
I guess I always figure that if someone (a government or company) wants to track you bad enough they can. Heck East Germany had 1 person for every three people in the country on the payroll just to rat on people's activities & they had no tech to help.
As a software systems architect I am always amazed that people use Facebook; they go out of their way to track you. Microsoft, Apple and Google's not much better, but there are ways to largely stymie them.