The GS1 Traceability Standard is a business process standard describing the traceability process independently from the choice of enabling technologies. It defines minimum requirements for companies of all sizes across industry sectors and corresponding GS1 Standards used within information management tools.

The Standard maximises the use of globally established and implemented GS1 System tools that uniquely identify any “traceable item”, describe the creation of accurate records of transactions, and provide for fast data communication about the traceable item between trading partners.

It meets the core legislative and business need to cost-efficiently trace back (one step down) and track forward (one step up) at any point along the whole length of the supply chain, no matter how many trading partners and business process steps are involved and how many national borders have been crossed.

Traceability is the ability to trace the history, application or location of that which is under consideration. (ISO 9001: 2000)

Increasingly, the ability to trace materials and products up and down the supply chain has become an integral part of doing business. One traditional use has been to identify and locate unsafe foods or pharmaceuticals and remove them from commerce.

Later, track and trace systems have been used to validate the presence or absence of attributes important to consumers (e.g., organic foods, non-allergenic cosmetics). Traceability has also become one tool in fighting product counterfeiting and protecting brands. Most recently, traceability of foods has become a regulatory requirement to protect against bioterrorism.

Traceability can be used for these specific objectives as well as a tool to assess other business systems and tools such as:

• Quality Management
• Risk Management
• Information Management
• Logistical Flows
• Commercial Advantage
• Evaluation of Management Demands

Safety, security and traceability are currently at the forefront of both government regulations and industry concerns around the world. As a result, numerous irreconcilable track and trace solutions have been proposed to the national, regional and global supply chain participants.

The cost of diverse government regulations, proprietary service offerings and incompatible commercial solutions to the consumers, companies and the global supply chain called for defining traceability as a business process, which is supported by voluntary business standards that are accepted around the world.

To further develop our capability to assist consumers, businesses and governments worldwide, GS1 has defined traceability as a business process and produced a Global Traceability Standard, which links it to enabling technologies and relevant GS1 System tools.

GS1 has succeeded in producing a global business agreement on generic requirements and a common way to describe the traceability process, while taking into account differences imposed by diverse legislative and business requirements and diverging expectations in terms of enabling technologies.

While businesses recognize the value of traceability, they do not want multiple, potentially conflicting, traceability systems, and they do not want to increase costs unnecessarily. Businesses also recognize that an individual company is only one partner in the supply chain, and that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So they want a system that could easily be adopted by just about everyone in the supply chain.

All of us are consumers and all of us expect the products we purchase to be safe, perform well and deliver consistent quality. The GS1 Traceability Standard will help companies meet those expectations. When used with other quality and safety systems, the Standard will identify materials and products making it easier to get the right materials and products to the next step in the supply chain. And if a problem arises, the application of this Standard will make it easier to locate unsafe or defective products, remove them from or keep them out of the supply chain, thus reducing consumption or use of unsafe or defective products.

The Standard is a high level description of the traceability process enabling and promoting supply chain collaboration. At the same time, it allows each company to design its own traceability system in terms of width, depth and precision in accordance to its own commercial objectives.

By defining a shared minimum requirement and showing what action is required from trading partners, the GS1 Traceability Standard enables maximum interoperability between traceability systems across the whole supply chain whilst accommodating specific commercial, industry sector or legislative requirements.

It serves as a foundational standard to be used as a starting point for identifying the unique requirements of each actor in the supply chain. This framework will ensure a common approach and understanding of key principles by businesses and governments around the world.