Formation of GS1
Formation of GS1 came in 2005, when EAN International and the U.S. Uniform Code Council merged into a single global standards organization, GS1, with 101 member organizations, and the Uniform Code Council became GS1 US.
What happened and why it matters
GS1 unified the bodies behind the UPC and EAN barcodes, so one organization now manages the product, case and shipment identifiers used throughout retail supply chains. Brands license company prefixes from GS1 member organizations to create GTINs for their products, and the same system supplies serial shipping container codes for GS1-128 carton labels and the EPC numbers encoded in RFID tags. The merger followed years of cooperation, including a shared chief executive from 2004. For fulfillment operators, GS1 standards are what retailers check when they require valid GTINs on items, GS1-128 labels on cartons and advance ship notices that reference those codes.
People
Related events
Sources
- How we got here (GS1) gs1.org
- GS1 Annual Report 2003/2004 (GS1) gs1.org