GS1 Digital Link
What Is a GTIN, and How Do You Get One for a DPP?
What a Global Trade Item Number is, how to obtain one, which lengths exist and how a GTIN becomes the identifier behind a Digital Product Passport.
A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the GS1 system's product number — the 8, 12, 13 or 14-digit identity behind retail barcodes. Its importance for the Digital Product Passport is simple: a GTIN bridges directly into the identifier schemes EN 18219 accepts.
How to obtain a GTIN
- Join your national GS1 organisation and obtain a GS1 Company Prefix (GCP).
- Allocate numbers to your products within your prefix capacity.
- Manage those numbers uniquely in your own product system (ERP/PLM).
Prefix length determines how many products you can number — packages range from 100 to 100,000 items.
When do you need a new GTIN?
| Change | New GTIN? |
|---|---|
| Colour or size | Yes |
| Pack quantity | Yes |
| Formulation change visible to the consumer | Yes |
| Brand change | Yes |
| Production batch only | No (use the batch field) |
| Serial number only | No (use the serial field) |
This distinction maps directly onto DPP granularity. See choosing granularity.
From GTIN to passport identifier
GS1 Digital Link turns a GTIN into a web-addressable URI:
https://id.examplebrand.com/01/08691234567890Application identifiers add batch and serial: /10/LOT2026A, /21/SN00042. See GS1 Digital Link and EN 18219.
Common mistakes
- Reusing a GTIN: giving an old product's number to a new one breaks passport history and the persistence duty.
- Inconsistent formats: 13-digit GTINs losing a leading zero in spreadsheets is a classic error. Store them as text.
- Using internal codes instead: internal product codes are not globally unique and cannot serve as identifiers.
- Collapsing variants into one GTIN: every consumer-visible variant needs its own.
Can you do it without a GTIN?
Yes. EN 18219 also accepts IEC 61406 identification links, W3C DIDs and ISO/IEC 15459 identifiers. But for a manufacturer selling into retail, a GTIN is the most practical identity that works at the till and in the passport. See IEC 61406 and DIDs.
Frequently asked questions
As a contract manufacturer, who gets the GTIN?
The party placing the product on the market under its own brand — usually the brand owner.
Will my existing barcode change?
No. The same GTIN is used in the classic barcode and the Digital Link URI; labels often carry both during transition.
A marketplace insists on its own code. Is that a problem?
Marketplace internal codes serve commercial purposes and do not replace a passport identifier. Manage the two in parallel.
