“Digitalisation is about using data generated from business activity to optimise the whole business process.”
Stuart Nash
Minister for Small Business, Revenue, Fisheries and Police, New Zealand
“The Digital Customs initiative aims to replace paper-based Customs procedures with electronic operations, thus creating a more efficient and modern customs environment in tune with global developments.”
Kunio Mikuriya
Secretary General, World Customs Organization
“We want every citizen, every employee, every business to stand a fair chance to reap the benefits of digitalisation.”
Margrethe Vestager
Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age
“We believe a digitised food system is likely to be a stronger, more agile, and resilient food system.”
Frank Yiannas
Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy & Response, U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Quality Data
Without quality data that can be trusted and shared, digital transformation is simply not possible.
GS1 open standards provide the tools to improve data quality and collaborative commerce, making sure data is complete, consistent and compliant with regulations.
Regulations such as EU 1169 aim to ensure consumers make informed food buying decisions at the point-of-sale or online, by providing product information about quality, nutritional value, ingredients—and sometimes, country of origin. Our standards help industries comply with regulations and ensure that quality data benefits the consumer experience.
E-Invoicing
The European Commission and EU countries introduced a standard for e-invoicing in response to the many formats used across the region. This lack of consistency caused unnecessary complexity and high costs for businesses and public entities.
GS1 EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) provides global standards for electronic business messaging that allow automation of business transactions commonly occurring across the entire supply chain. GS1 is collaborating with regulators, organisations and companies to respond to their needs through a common language for business.
E-commerce
Consumers and regulators want real-time product updates leveraging “beyond the label” data such as product origin and ingredients. Each product needs to be represented accurately and consistently in potentially thousands of different places online.
GS1 standards enable the management and communication of product data, helping regulators and business stakeholders alike to better respond to consumer needs.
Digital health
GS1 is constantly exploring digital innovation in healthcare, leveraging e-leaflets, e-prescriptions, Electronic Health Records (EHR) and mobile applications for drug identification. We also leverage new technologies such as blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, analytics and medical data clouds. GS1 undertakes relevant standards development activities and supports the regulations of authorities worldwide, where necessary.
Traceability
Traceability has become a key enabler for trust and safety in the supply chain — between consumers and brands — as well as between manufacturers and their suppliers.
More than ever, regulators, industry and consumers call for transparency, traceability and circularity all along the supply chain. In food recalls, it is critical to quickly and efficiently identify contaminated food and remove it from both online and digital shelves. Food safety regulators are recalling about twice as many products vs. a decade ago—and as the number of recalls rises, so do questions about food safety.
Digital Customs
Customs require ever increasing quantities of information in electronic formats to perform their tasks effectively and efficiently. Customs IT systems need unique and unambiguous identification of products, shipments, consignments, transport units, locations and economic operators. Global data standards, like those provided by GS1, enable real-world solutions to meet today’s system requirements.
At WCO the focus on Digital Customs is signalling that the Customs community has aspirations to “further develop digital solutions and services, making life easier for the trading community, other border agencies and Customs officers, and to further adopt enabling technologies... to help increase operational performance, and to facilitate the reinvention of the way we do business.”
Public Policy Case Studies
Learn more about the positive impact of GS1 standards on regulations
GS1 Innovation Board report
Research and insights to help navigate a changing world