ediverse

Type to search across standards, messages, tools and glossary.

ediverse Explore the platform

Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

— 01

Foundations

— 02

Standards

— 03

Flagship messages

— 04

Tools

GS1 Italy: barcode and traceability ecosystem

GS1 Italy (formerly Indicod-ECR) is Italy's industry standardisation organisation, founded in 1978. It manages GS1 identifiers — GTIN, GLN, SSCC — for Italian enterprises, maintains the EANCOM 2002 standard, and drives the national EPCIS adoption and GS1 Digital Link effort for fine-grained traceability.

History: Indicod-ECR → GS1 Italy

  • 1977: Foundation of Indicod (Istituto Nazionale Distribuzione Codici). Italy adopts the EAN-13 barcode.
  • 1980-2000: Indicod manages the national EAN code database, hosts logistics working groups with retail.
  • 2002: Merger with ECR Italia (Efficient Consumer Response) → Indicod-ECR. Expansion to retailer-supplier best practices (catalogues, promo, supply chain).
  • 2010: Global GS1 reorganisation, Indicod-ECR becomes GS1 Italy, integral part of the GS1 Global Office network (Brussels).
  • 2015-2020: EPCIS, RFID, GS1 Digital Link pilots, SdI integration for GLN ↔ partita IVA consistency.
  • 2024: Full EPCIS 2.0 adoption (October 2023), joint pilots PEPPOL Italia / GS1 Italy.

GTIN, GLN, SSCC: the three IDs

IdentifierFormatUse
GTIN-13 (ex-EAN-13) 13 digits: country prefix (80-83) + company ID + product ID + checksum Unit-level retail product barcode. Present on every Italian food package.
GTIN-14 14 digits: pack level indicator + GTIN-13 Identifies packagings (carton, mixed pallet).
GLN (Global Location Number) 13 digits, format close to GTIN Identifies a company, a site, a department within a site. Stable reference in EANCOM flows (NAD+BY/SU/DP).
SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code) 18 digits: extension prefix + company ID + serial + checksum Identifies each unique logistics pallet. Used in DESADV for track-and-trace.
SGTIN GTIN + serial number Unique identification of each individual instance of a product (EPCIS track-and-trace).
GRAI / GIAI Returnable asset / fixed asset identifiers Deposit bottles, containers, industrial equipment.

EPCIS: Italy traceability 2024-2026

EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services, GS1 Standard since 2007, EPCIS 2.0 October 2023) traces the life cycle of a product (who, what, when, where, why) via ObjectEvent / AggregationEvent / TransactionEvent events. GS1 Italy drives EPCIS adoption on three axes:

  1. Pharma and medical devices — MEF/Ministero della Salute pilot since 2022 for OBQ serialisation (One-Barcode Quality), aligned with the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD 2011/62/EU).
  2. Food and meat — bovine, sheep, pork traceability per batch and slaughterhouse. Coop Italia leader, followed by Esselunga, Conad and Carrefour Italia since 2024.
  3. Textile and fashion — EPCIS 2.0 + EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) 2026 pilots at Salvatore Ferragamo, Armani, Prada, Diesel for eco-design traceability.
xml epcis-shipping-event.xml 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<epcis:EPCISDocument xmlns:epcis="urn:epcglobal:epcis:xsd:1"
                    creationDate="2026-05-19T10:00:00Z"
                    schemaVersion="2.0">
  <EPCISBody>
    <EventList>
      <ObjectEvent>
        <eventTime>2026-05-19T10:00:00Z</eventTime>
        <eventTimeZoneOffset>+02:00</eventTimeZoneOffset>
        <epcList>
          <epc>urn:epc:id:sgtin:8001120.004001.1</epc>
        </epcList>
        <action>ADD</action>
        <bizStep>urn:epcglobal:cbv:bizstep:shipping</bizStep>
        <disposition>urn:epcglobal:cbv:disp:in_transit</disposition>
        <readPoint><id>urn:epc:id:sgln:8001120.00001.0</id></readPoint>
      </ObjectEvent>
    </EventList>
  </EPCISBody>
</epcis:EPCISDocument>

GS1 Digital Link (W3C-friendly URI standard) encodes a GTIN + metadata in a resolvable URL. Italian adoption driven by GS1 Italy on three fronts:

  • Consumer QR codes — since 2024, present on Mulino Bianco (Barilla), Ferrero, Lavazza, Nestlé Italia. Scan → online product information.
  • GS1 Sunrise 2027 — global program transitioning barcodes to a universal QR. GS1 Italy is the European pilot for Mulino Bianco since 2025.
  • Pharma + medical devices — bridge between EPCIS and the FMD QR code, in coherence with AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco).
  • National resolver — GS1 Italy runs gs1it.org/resolver/, resolving Digital Link URLs to JSON-LD.

ECR Italia Best Practices

The ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) brand survives as a dedicated retail-supplier alignment department inside GS1 Italy, under the ECR Italia name. Flagship publications:

  • Linee Guida EDIFACT EANCOM 2002 S4 e S5 — Italian adaptation of the standard.
  • Manuale di interscambio dati — best practices on NAD, BGM, DTM, qualifiers to use, error handling.
  • Quaderni ECR — ~30-strong thematic guide collection on promo, assortment, automatic replenishment, cold chain.
  • Osservatorio Digital Retail — annual joint study with Politecnico di Milano. 2024: ~€12 billion Italian digital retail revenue.
  • ECR Award Italia — annual award for the best retailer-supplier collaborations on digital or supply chain projects.

GS1 Italy and the PA (B2G)

GS1 Italy partners with the AdE and AgID on two fronts:

  • GLN ↔ Codice IPA mapping — for Italian administrations using GS1, GS1 Italy maintains a lookup table between their historical GLN and their official Codice IPA.
  • FatturaPA + GS1 codes — The CodiceArticolo/CodiceTipo tag in FatturaPA can carry a GTIN (value "EAN" or "GTIN"). Practice standardised by GS1 Italy in 2021 and adopted in the CIUS Italia 2024.
  • EPCIS for public procurement — Health pilots (CONSIP, AIFA) for tracing medicines supplied to public hospitals.
  • PEPPOL Bridge — joint 2024-2026 pilot with PEPPOL Italia to use the GS1 GLN as PEPPOL Participant ID alongside partita IVA.