GS1 standards
A global language for efficient business. Over 1 million companies worldwide use GS1 standards to increase the efficiency of their business
Every company does things differently which is what makes you stand out from your competitors. But when it comes to communicating with companies you do business with, wouldn’t it be great if we all spoke the same language? This is where GS1 standards come in…
GS1 standards make it easy to do business globally using a unique set of identification numbers for products, companies, locations, services, assets, logistics units or customers. No matter where in the world a business is based or what language you use, trading partners can always understand one another using GS1 standards.
The GS1 standards work for all industries, from manufacturing and retail to healthcare and foodservice, and can increase your business efficiency by:
- reducing costs
- saving time
- preventing errors
How to use our standards
To make sure that our standards are used correctly, we need a clear set of rules that our members can follow. The rules for GS1 bar codes and the data they represent can be found in our General Specifications document.
This document sets out all the standard identification numbers and how they should be used. It also describes how and where to print bar codes on things like product packaging and pallet labels.
If you want to add extra information to your identification numbers read our 
General Specifications (Member access only).
Become a member of GS1 UK