A Near Field Communication, NFC, system comprising a proximity coupling device (18, 30) and NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags, for use in near field communication, adapted to identify the presence and type of said NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags (24, 25, 29) present in a radio frequency field, wherein: said proximity coupling device comprising: a processor adapted to run machine readable code to implement an NFC tag identification program whereby a near field communication module of the proximity coupling device is adapted to; generate the radio frequency field to transmit a poll request signal; and to; receive a poll response signal from each of any of said NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags (24, 25, 29) in range of the radio frequency field; the poll response signals of the NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags comprising a common bit sequence, wherein all bits of the common bit sequence are set to a first value for NFC type 1 tags, and all bits except one bit of the common bit sequence are set to the first value, and the one excepted bit is set to a second value, for type 2 NFC tags; wherein the proximity coupling device is adapted to respond to a collision in only one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 1 tag read program, and to respond to a collision in more than one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 2 tag read program. said proximity coupling device comprising: a processor adapted to run machine readable code to implement an NFC tag identification program whereby a near field communication module of the proximity coupling device is adapted to; generate the radio frequency field to transmit a poll request signal; and to; receive a poll response signal from each of any of said NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags (24, 25, 29) in range of the radio frequency field; the poll response signals of the NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags comprising a common bit sequence, wherein all bits of the common bit sequence are set to a first value for NFC type 1 tags, and all bits except one bit of the common bit sequence are set to the first value, and the one excepted bit is set to a second value, for type 2 NFC tags; wherein the proximity coupling device is adapted to respond to a collision in only one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 1 tag read program, and to respond to a collision in more than one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 2 tag read program. a processor adapted to run machine readable code to implement an NFC tag identification program whereby a near field communication module of the proximity coupling device is adapted to; generate the radio frequency field to transmit a poll request signal; and to; receive a poll response signal from each of any of said NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags (24, 25, 29) in range of the radio frequency field; the poll response signals of the NFC type 1 and NFC type 2 tags comprising a common bit sequence, wherein all bits of the common bit sequence are set to a first value for NFC type 1 tags, and all bits except one bit of the common bit sequence are set to the first value, and the one excepted bit is set to a second value, for type 2 NFC tags; wherein the proximity coupling device is adapted to respond to a collision in only one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 1 tag read program, and to respond to a collision in more than one bit of the common bit sequence of the received poll response signals to implement an NFC type 2 tag read program.