ref.gs1.org

The Global Language of Business

Release 1.7.0, Ratified Aug 2026

GS1 Digital Link Standard: URI Syntax

Enabling consistent representation of GS1 identification keys within web addresses to link to online information and services

This section and its subsections are informative

GS1 defines a wide range of identifiers that underpin the supply chain and retail industry across the world. This document assumes the reader is familiar with these and the concept of GS1 Application Identifiers. If not, please see information on GS1 identification keys [GS1 ID Keys] and the GS1 General Specifications [GENSPECS] for further background.

This work has been motivated by a number of trends. For example: the desire among retailers to move to 2D barcodes that can carry more information than just the GTIN; the problems of multiple barcodes causing scanning errors through conflicts which suggests a need for a single but multipurpose barcode; the growing expectation among consumers that more information is available online about the products they’re considering buying; the brand owner concept of the pack as a media channel linking to multimedia experiences, and more.

As a result of this standard, it is possible to represent GS1 identification keys consistently within Web addresses as well as within barcodes containing Web addresses, such that a single identification approach can support both product identification for supply chain applications and a link to online material for consumer and business partner interactions. It’s this dual functionality and enormous flexibility that is currently not possible when, for example, Brand Owners embed an unstructured Web page address in QR Code symbology.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, the term ‘QR Code symbology’ refers to the widely used ISO/IEC 18004 QR Code symbology, excluding the GS1 QR Code that recognises the FNC1 character. ‘QR Code’ is a registered trademark of Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Denso Corporation. Both the ISO/IEC 18004 QR Code symbology and GS1 QR Code follow the encoding scheme described in ISO/IEC 18004 Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture techniques — QR Code bar code symbology specification, 3rd edition 2015-02-01.

The scope of the work accommodates all Tier 1 and Tier 2 GS1 identifiers and GS1 identifier extensions (e.g., serial number, batch number, consumer product variant) and other relevant attributes as the same technologies are equally applicable to SSCCs, GLNs, GIAIs, GRAIs, GSRNs etc. While the syntax can support Tier 2 GS1 identifiers, it is up to the Tier 2 Issuing Agencies to determine whether it’s fit for their use. For Tier 3 GS1 identifiers, GS1 welcomes bilateral discussions with Issuing Agencies to see where alignment is possible.

This GS1 standard references a number of third-party standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

This document includes a lot of examples of GS1 Digital Link URIs such as:

https://example.org/414/{gln}/254/{glnExtension}

https://example.org/01/{gtin} {?exp }

The use of the monospace font indicates that the text has meaning for computers. Further, these examples follow the convention used in [RFC 6570]. The places where the values of variables should be inserted are written in braces, so, for example, {gtin} means "insert GTIN value here". All other text in the URI is a literal string to be used as written. As explained in [RFC 2606] and [RFC 6761], the domains example.com, example.org and example.net are second-level domain names reserved by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in documentation. These should be understood as a placeholder for any registered second-level domain name.

Note: The example GS1 Digital Link URIs provided throughout this document are not configured to redirect to a demonstration Web page.

This section is informative

This section provides some clarification about what a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is, how URIs relate to Uniform Resource Names (URNs) and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), as well as providing an explanation of the main structural elements within a Web URI.

A Venn Diagram with Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) as the outermost set within which is a single subset: Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). Six subsets of URIs are shown (URLs, FTP URIs, URNs, mailto and tel URIs). Of most importance is the Web URIs (URIs with the http scheme) and within that, a subset that is GS1 Digital Link URIs which are Web URIs that follow a specific format.
Figure 3-1: URNs and URLs are also URIs

Figure 3-1 shows a Venn diagram in which we see that Uniform Resource Identifier is the broad term that includes Uniform Resource Names (URNs) and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) as well as URIs with various protocols including http or https, ftp, mailto, tel etc. This means that every URL and every URN is also a URI, since URI is the broader umbrella term. Furthermore, Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) are an even broader category that support characters from the Universal Character Set/Unicode, whereas URIs only support the ASCII character set. IRIs are defined in [IRIs]. GS1 Digital Link URIs are a subset of Web URIs that conform to this GS1 technical standard.

Figure 3-2 shows another Venn diagram. This time, it shows two capabilities:

  1. The capability to easily resolve to resources (e.g., information) on the Web.
  2. The capability to provide a globally unambiguous name for anything, whether or not the thing exists only on the Web or in the real world.

The first capability is usually associated with URLs and Web addresses.

The second capability is usually associated with URNs.

Web URIs exist at the intersection of these two capabilities; in terms of their syntax, they look like URLs because they specify http or https as their protocol - and they can be configured to behave like URLs in terms of supporting Web requests via the http/https Web protocol. However, they are also a perfectly valid way of assigning a globally unambiguous name for anything, whether in the real world or online. Note that 'globally unambiguous' does not mean globally unique; two different things should have distinct URIs in any situation where we want to be able to distinguish between them. However, there may be many URIs that all refer to the same thing, even within the same URI namespace or domain name. It is also possible to use Linked Data [Linked Data] to make an assertion between two URIs to formally express that they both refer to the same thing, even if the URIs are different strings.

.

A Venn Diagram. URLs and Web URIs are grouped together as having the capability to resolver to resources on the Web. Web URIs and URNs are grouped as having the capability to provide a globally unambiguous name for anything, whether or not the thing exists in the real world. GS1 Digital Link URIs are a subset of Web URIs.
Figure 3-2: A Web URI can act both as a globally unambiguous name for something, as well as providing an easy way to retrieve Web resources (e.g., information) relating to the identified thing

Figure 3-3 provides a brief overview of the internal structural elements of a Web URI:

The structure of a Web URI {scheme}://{hostname}/{path/information}?{query string}#{fragment ID}
Figure 3-3: Internal structure of a Web URI

Figure 3-3 shows the structural elements of a Web URI. The scheme indicates the protocol and (at the time of writing) is always http:// or https:// (use of HTTPS is more secure and is therefore recommended as best practice). The hostname is typically a registered Internet domain name or a subdomain of such a registered domain name. Following the domain name, the remainder of the Web URI is case sensitive. The URI path information consists of a number of strings separated by the forward slash character. Although this is just a string, it is often used by the Linked Datacommunity and in REST interfaces [REST] to represent a collection of resources organised in a conceptually hierarchical way, with the broadest (most general, least specific) category appearing towards the left of the URI path information and with the narrowest (most specific) category appearing towards the right of the URI path information.

This design pattern provides a hint to humans that related Web URIs may exist and can be formed by successively truncating the Web URI path information from right to left, removing each successive segment preceded by its forward slash ( "/" ) character. These related Web URIs may provide information about an object at a broader, more general, less specific granularity.

However, this is only a legible hint to humans. Computer software would typically treat the entire URI (at least up to the fragment identifier) as an opaque indivisible string and would not attempt such truncation. Instead, they will look for explicit links to related URIs, ideally expressed with semantic annotation, using Linked Data properties [Linked Data]. These aspects – the machine-processable semantics or meaning of a GS1 Digital Link URI – are explored and defined in detail in GS1 Digital Link Standard [DL-Legacy].

The query string enables multiple key=value pairs to be sent to a Web resource. The URI query string appears after the URI path information and consists of everything between the "?" at the end of the path information and the end of the URI or the "#" symbol indicating the start of the fragment identifier. Within the URI query string, key=value pairs may be concatenated using & or ; as a delimiter.

The URI fragment identifier is optional and appears after the query string (if present) and preceded by the "#" character. The URI fragment identifier is typically used to provide a link to an internal subsection of an information resource. The Linked Data community do make use of URIs with fragment identifiers, although the fragment identifier is not useful for passing key=value pairs. Importantly, fragment identifiers are not sent to the server but are handled entirely within the client.

Web URIs provide essentially two options for expressing the values of GS1 Application Identifiers - either within the URI path information or within the URI query string. The URI path information is the most appropriate place for expressing a simple GS1 identifier as a primary identification key, and an ordered set of optional GS1 identifier extensions as key qualifiers, used in conjunction with the simple GS1 identifier to form a compound GS1 identifier that is used to retrieve information about something at a finer level of granularity (e.g. traceability data about an serialised GTIN, batch/lot-level master data). The query string is appropriate for GS1 informative data, which are descriptive data attributes of the identified resource that have no intrinsic hierarchy, such as expiry date, weight etc., as well as being a natural extension point for any additional arbitrary key=value pairs that cannot be expressed using GS1 Application Identifiers (see section 4.10.1 ); for example, the query string could include a key=value pair to indicate a specific stakeholder role or a specific action or activity or type of service to be accessed. It should be noted that no key=value pair should be repeated with the same primary identification key in the URI query string. If a primary identification key is repeated, the last defined value for that primary identification key takes precedence over any previously defined value.

This section is normative

The use of GS1 Digital Link URIs in data carriers is governed by the GS1 General Specifications [GENSPECS]. That document defines the full GS1 system from the semantics of individual GS1 Application Identifiers and their permitted values, through to data carrier positioning and human-readable information and much more besides.

The following subsections supplement the GS1 General Specifications [GENSPECS] as they pertain specifically to GS1 Digital Link.

This standard defers entirely to the GS1 General Specifications [GENSPECS] for rules concerning human-readable interpretation.

The glossary lists the terms and definitions that are applied in this document. Please refer to the ref.gs1.org/glossary for the online version.

Term Abbreviation /Acronym Definition
brand owner The organisation that owns the specifications of a trade item, regardless of where and by whom it is manufactured. The brand owner is normally responsible for the management of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
canonical GS1 Digital Link URI The definitive GS1 Digital Link URI for a given resource, that always begins with the scheme "HTTPS" and the domain "id.gs1.org.”. If present, the URI query string does not contain any arbitrary key=value pairs, only key=value pairs defined by the GS1 Digital Link URI as data attributes, sorted in lexical, not numeric order of the GS1 Application Identifier.
compound GS1 identifier Two or more data elements that combine a simple GS1 identifier and GS1 identifier extension(s), that identifies entities at sub-class level or instance level, where no subset of those data elements taken by themselves would do so.
consumer Often considered as the "recipient" of the supply chain in the past, today’s consumer is an active part of the supply chain and expects more data, with higher accuracy, and greater ease.
consumer product variant CPV An alphanumeric attribute of a GTIN assigned to a retail consumer trade item variant for its lifetime.
data attribute The GS1 Application Identifier and its associated data element value that usually represents GS1 informative data within a GS1 Digital Link URI and is always expressed in the URI query string as a key=value pair. When there is more than one GS1 identifier in a GS1 Digital Link URI, one of the GS1 identifiers (with or without a GS1 identifier extension) is expressed the URI path as a primary identification key, while the others are expressed in the URI query string as a data attribute.
dereference In the context of URIs, the use of an appropriate access mechanism (e.g. Web request) to perform an action on the URI's resource (e.g. to retrieve an information representation via HTTP GET or to send data to a resource via an HTTP POST operation). Dereferencing a URI is often considered synonymous with making a Web request or 'looking up' a URI on the Web.
domain name A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS). Any name registered in the DNS is a domain name. Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. Domain names provide an abstraction layer that separates a registered name for an organisation or activity from the actual internet addresses (IP addresses) that provide its associated information services such as its Website, its e-mail server etc. The system that connects the domain names with the corresponding IP addresses is the Domain Name System (DNS).
GS1 Application Identifier GS1 AI The field of two or more digits at the beginning of an element string that uniquely defines its format and meaning.
GS1 Application Identifier data field The data used in a business application defined by one GS1 Application Identifier.
GS1 Digital Link URI A Web URI syntax for expressing GS1 identifiers and GS1 informative data in a format using GS1 Application Identifiers and GS1 Application Identifier data fields as specified in the GS1 Digital Link standard.
GS1 element string A syntax for expressing GS1 identifier keys and attributes in a format using GS1 Application Identifiers and GS1 Application Identifier data fields.
GS1 identification key GS1 key Numeric or alphanumeric strings that incorporate a GS1 Prefix, GS1 Company Prefix or GS1-8 Prefix and are the basis of the unique GS1 identifiers defined for use in an area of GS1 system application such as trade, logistics, or asset management. They may identify a class of entities (e.g., a trade item) or an instance of an entity (e.g., a logistic unit). The term GS1 identification key is for broad communications such as for marketing, licensing, policy etc.
GS1 identifier Data element(s) that expresses a GS1 identification key with or without a GS1 identifier extension, to identify an entity and connect to information about that entity. The term GS1 identifier is for greater precision at the technical level, such as for GS1 standards, GS1 guidelines and end-user implementations.
GS1 identifier extension Data element that can be used with a simple GS1 identifier to form a compound GS1 identifier.
GS1 informative data A data element that provides information about an entity identified with a GS1 identifier, such as a use by date, its weight, or country of origin code, for the purpose of informing or completing an action or decision.
key qualifier The GS1 Application Identifier and its associated data element value that represents a GS1 identifier extension within a GS1 Digital Link URI. It is used together with a primary identification key as a compound GS1 identifier and is always expressed in the URI path in a defined sequence, ordered by level of identification granularity e.g., from class level to instance level.
key=value pair A representation of data in which a key and its associated value are expressed as a pair, within the URI query string. In GS1 Digital Link URIs, GS1 Application Identifiers are expressed as the “key”, also known as a parameter, and their associated data element values are expressed as the “value” when defined as a data attribute (which are usually, but not always, GS1 informative data) e.g., an expiry date (17) with a value of “221225” expressed as 17=221225. The URI query string also accommodates arbitrary key=value pairs, also known as extension parameters, which express data elements that do not use GS1 Application Identifiers e.g., “linkType=gs1:traceability”, “utm_source=newsletter” etc. Multiple key=value pairs can be included in the URI query string, separated by the & character.
parsing The process of analysing the structure of a sentence or URI structure in order to extract relevant information from it. Note that within the context of EPC URN structures, parsing refers to the ability to extract structural components within the EPC structure, e.g. for the purpose of matching against EPC URN patterns.
primary identification key The GS1 Application Identifier and its associated data element value that represents a simple GS1 identifier within a GS1 Digital Link URI and is always expressed in the URI path.
QR Code symbology A two-dimensional barcode symbology consisting of square modules arranged in a square pattern. The symbology is characterised by a unique finder pattern located at three corners of the symbol. QR Code symbols are read by two-dimensional imaging scanners or vision systems.
reference GS1 Digital Link URI A GS1 Digital Link URI that uses the id.gs1.org domain
resolver The term ‘resolver’ is not unique to GS1. It is the name for any service that accepts an identifier as input and passes the request about the identified item to information about it. In the GS1 context, a resolver connects a GS1-identified item to one or more online resources that are directly related to it. The item may be identified at any level of granularity, and the resources may be either human or machine readable. Examples include product information pages, instruction manuals, patient leaflets and clinical data, product data, service APIs, marketing experiences and more. GS1 resolvers are defined in the GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard.
retailer An organisation engaged in the sale and distribution of products to consumers. Also includes online retailers/e-tailers
subdomain A subdomain is a domain that is part of a main domain. Although example.com is a subdomain of the top-level domain (.com), we most often think of a subdomain as the part of the hostname that precedes the registered domain name. For example, the registered domain name gs1.org has one subdomain ('www') [ as in www.gs1.org] that is used for its Website. It also has a subdomain (‘id’) [ as in id.gs1.org] that is used for Web-based data services for GS1.
Uniform Resource Identifier URI A string of characters used to identify a resource. The resource may be an information resource such as a Web page or a thing in the real world, such as a physical object, person or location. URIs refer to the superset of Uniform Resource Names (URNs), Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and Web URIs (which can function both as globally unambiguous names, while also behaving like URLs by enabling intuitive retrieval of related information via the Web).
Uniform Resource Locator URL A specific type of URI colloquially known as Web address. A URL is a URI starting with http or https.
URI fragment identifier The fragment identifier component of a URI allows indirect identification of a secondary resource by reference to a primary resource and additional identifying information. The identified secondary resource may be some portion or subset of the primary resource, some view on representations of the primary resource, or some other resource defined or described by those representations. A fragment identifier component is indicated by the presence of an octothorpe/hash/number sign ("#") character and terminated by the end of the URI. A typical use of a URI fragment identifier is to provide a direct link to a specific section within a very long Web document such as https://www.w3.org/TR/dwbp/#DataIdentifiers
URI path information A path consists of a sequence of path segments separated by a slash ("/") character. A path is always defined for a URI, though the defined path may be empty (zero length). The path component contains data, usually organized in hierarchical form, that, along with data in the non-hierarchical query component, serves to identify a resource within the scope of the URI's scheme and naming authority (if any). The path is terminated by the first question mark ("?") or number sign ("#") character, or by the end of the URI.
URI query string The query component contains non-hierarchical data that, along with data in the path component, serves to identify a resource within the scope of the URI's scheme and naming authority (if any). The query component is indicated by the first question mark ("?") character and terminated by a number sign ("#") character or by the end of the URI.

The single GS1 Digital Link standard version 1.1 [DL 1.1] has been split into four separate documents:

GS1 Digital Link Standard: URI syntax (this document)

GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard (formerly, GS1 Digital Link Standard: Resolution)

GS1 Digital Link Standard: Compression and decompression

GS1 Digital Link Standard: Semantics

The canonical version of a GS1 Digital Link URI, section 4.12 , is now defined as using HTTPS and the key=value pairs in the query string are now sorted in lexical order of the AIs.

AIs in the 410-416 range, except 414 and 417, have been removed from the list of primary identification keys ( section 4.3 ).

The ABNF grammar has been updated to support new AIs in the range 4300-4326 introduced in the GS1 General Specifications as a result of GS1 Scan4Transport.

AIs 3950 – 3953 added

ABNF for extension parameters made more precise to match normative text

All primary identification keys can be included in the query string to accommodate situations where a single URI needs to carry more than one primary identification key ( section 4.10 ).

Convenience alphas deprecation notice (previously section 4.1 , 4.13)

New paragraph emphasising that GS1 Digital Link URIs do not have to, and SHALL NOT be assumed to, point to a resolver ( section 2 ).

Updated introduction.

Example GS1 identifiers changed to use the 952 prefix.

AIDC Considerations section added, including regular expressions for determining strings that definitely are not, or plausibly are, GS1 Digital Link URIs.

A number of minor inaccuracies were detected in how the URI syntax reflected the definition of GS1 identifiers. The purpose of the update to this version (1.2.1) was simply to correct these errors. The identifiers affected are:

  • The final component of GCN, GDTI and GRAI are all optional (previous versions of the GS1 Digital Link URI Syntax suggested at least one serialisation character was required).
  • The final component of GCN is all optional (previous versions of the GS1 Digital Link URI Syntax suggested at least one serialisation character was required).
  • GMN now X..25 in line with changes in the GenSpecs between versions 19 and 21.
  • Harvest date (7007) now accepts 6 or 12 digits but not intermediate numbers of digits.
  • New AI 715, National Healthcare Reimbursement Number – USA NDC, added
  • AIs 90, 240, 241, 242, 243, 250, 251, 400, 403, 8102 corrected all updated to allow CHAR, previously they were shown in GS1 Digital Link as being DIGIT only.
  • AI 723s now 2*XCHAR 1*28XCHAR (previously it had been written as 2*30XCHAR)
  • AI 8008 changed from 8DIGIT 1*4DIGIT to 8DIGIT [2DIGIT] [2DIGIT] which then tolerates 8 digits, 10 digits (if minutes are specified) or 12 digits (if minutes and seconds are specified) but does not tolerate 9 digits or 11 digits.
  • It was recognised that locNoParameter is redundant because we also have glnParameter that expresses exactly the same thing.
  • AI 415, Pay To, reinstated as a primary identification key (see, in particular, section 4.3 )
  • Convenience alphas, deprecated in version 1.2.0, and explained in section 4.1 , have now been removed so that, for example, ‘gtin’ cannot be used instead of ‘01’ in the path. This change is reflected throughout the document, starting with section 4.3 .
  • Primary identification key format for AI 01, GTIN, updated to be expressed as a 14-digit format, meaning GTIN-8, GTIN-12 and GTIN-13 SHALL always be prefixed with leading zeroes serving as filler digits.
  • All new implementations of the GS1 Digital Link standard: URI Syntax SHALL express GTIN as a 14-digit string.
  • Updated references and links to related GS1 Digital Link standards documents.
  • Upper case scheme enabled, to align with RFC 3896.
  • ABNF syntax for GRAI [AI (8003)] corrected to align with GS1 General Specifications, use of "0" as pad character, not as part of GRAI value.
  • Improved consistency of ABNF grammar expressions for data attributes.
  • Missing GS1 Application Identifiers and new character set ZSYMBOL and ZCHAR added to align with GS1 General Specifications, release 24.0
  • Regular expressions updated to align with upper case scheme being enabled in release 1.5.0
  • Section 5.7 title changed from "Best before date" to "Expiration date", to align with the GS1 Digital Link URI examples using Expiration date [AI (17)]
  • Clarification that example GS1 Digital Link URIs are not configured to any demonstration Web pages
  • New references to ISO/IEC 18975 added
  • "refNo-comp" corrected to be mandatory for "payTo-path"
  • Data attributes added to align with new GS1 Application Identifiers approved for GS1 General Specifications, release 25.0
  • Updated note regarding intentional omission of GS1 AIs as data attributes
  • ABNF for primary identification keys used as data attributes corrected
  • Clarification on key=value pairs used as extension parameters - only the key (not the value) SHALL NOT be all numeric, to avoid conflict with current and future GS1 Application Identifiers
  • Data attributes added to align with new GS1 Application Identifiers approved for GS1 General Specifications, release 26.0
  • Terminology harmonised with the GS1 General Specifications, release 26.0, and WR 26-103 Glossary improvements
  • Editorial changes for sections related to semantics and compression, to align with GS1 Digital Link Standard release 1.1.4 [DL-Legacy] and GS1 Digital Link URI: Compression Technical Standard for EPC binary strings release 1.0.0 [DL-CompressionEPC]
    • New regular expression RE3 added to match a compressed or partially compressed GS1 Digital Link URI using the ‘eh’ or ‘ex’ flags as defined by GS1 Digital Link URI: Compression Technical Standard for EPC binary strings release 1.0.0 [DL-CompressionEPC]
  • GS1 Barcode Syntax Resource added as an additional validation tool for recognising GS1 Digital Link URIs, to align with GS1 Digital Link URI: Compression Technical Standard for EPC binary strings [DL-CompressionEPC] release 1.0.0 and GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard [DL-Resolution] release 1.2.0

References

[IRIs]
[IRIs]Internationalized Resource Identifiers ( IRIs ), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3987
[ISO/IEC 18975]
[ISO/IEC 18975] ISO/IEC 18975 :2024 Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture techniques — Encoding and resolving identifiers over HTTP, International Organization for Standardization / International Electrotechnical Commission Joint Technical Committee 1 / Subcommittee 31 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/ SC 31) https://www.iso.org/standard/85540.html
[Linked Data]
[Linked Data] Linked Data , Tim Berners-Lee personal view only https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData
[PercentEncoding]
[PercentEncoding]Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax- section 2 .1 Percent-Encoding, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-2.1
[REST]
[REST] REST (Representational State Transfer), Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer
[RFC 2606]
[RFC 2606]Reserved Top Level Domain Name System (DNS) Names, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2606
[RFC 3986]
[RFC 3986]Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986
[RFC 5234]
[RFC 5234]Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5234
[RFC 6570]
[RFC 6570]URI Template, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6570
[RFC 6596]
[RFC 6596]The Canonical Link Relation, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6596
[RFC 6761]
[RFC 6761]Special-Use Domain Names, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6761
[RFC 7405]
[RFC 7405]Case-Sensitive String Support in ABNF, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7405
[RFC 8615]
[RFC 8615]Well-Known Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) , Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8615
[BSR]
[BSR]GS1 Barcode Syntax Resource https://ref.gs1.org/tools/gs1-barcode-syntax-resource/
[DL1]
[DL1]GS1 Digital link (originally titled GS1 Web URI Structure), version 1.0 https://ref.gs1.org/standards/digital-link/1.0.0/
[DL 1.1]
[DL 1.1]GS1 Digital Link, version 1.1 https://ref.gs1.org/standards/digital-link/1.1.0/
[DL-CompressionEPC]
[DL-CompressionEPC]GS1 Digital Link URI: Compression Technical Standard for EPC binary strings, latest version https://ref.gs1.org/standards/digital-link/compression/
[DL-Legacy]
[DL-Legacy]GS1 Digital Link, version 1.1.4 https://ref.gs1.org/standards/digital-link/1.1.4/
[DL-Resolution]
[DL-Resolution]GS1-Conformant Resolver Standard, latest version https://ref.gs1.org/standards/resolver/
[GENSPECS]
[GENSPECS]GS1 General Specifications, latest version https://ref.gs1.org/standards/genspecs/
[GS1 ID Keys]
[GS1 ID Keys]GS1 identification keys public landing page https://www.gs1.org/standards/id-keys
[TDS]
[TDS]GS1 EPC Tag Data Standard ( TDS ), latest version https://ref.gs1.org/standards/tds/
[TDT]
[TDT]GS1 EPC Tag Data Translation Standard ( TDT ), latest version https://ref.gs1.org/standards/tdt/
[WebVoc]
[WebVoc]The GS1 Web Vocabulary, latest version https://ref.gs1.org/voc/

Acknowledgements

Name Organisation
Sprague Ackley Napeequa Concepts LLC
Makoto Akutagawa GS1 Japan
Cherise Allison Sam's Club
David Almroth GS1 Sweden
Patrick Arijs COLRUYT GROUP NV
Karen Arkesteyn GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg
Joachim Arnold BASF SE
Koji Asano GS1 Japan
Paul Ashford ICCBBA
Jennifer Ashlin Alcon
Pascal Aulagnet Pfizer
Bo Bäckström Axfood Sverige AB
Jonas Batt GS1 Switzerland
Claude Baudry GS1 France
Jin Bei GS1 China
Robert Beideman GS1 Global Office
Dieter Beitz CSB-System SE
Benjamin Bekritsky Zebra Technologies Corporation
Zaid Ben Hmad DECATHLON
Dana Benson GS1 US
Andree Berg GS1 Germany
Yann Berthy Roquette Frères
Eleanor Betton Domino UK Limited
Mats Bjorkqvist GS1 Sweden
Dennis Black BD
Phillip Bocci Ecolab
Sven Böckelmann benelog GmbH & Co. KG
Zsolt Bocsi GS1 Hungary
Guido Boscher PINTSCH GmbH
Laure Breduillieard Brunet Nestlé
Megan Brewster Impinj, Inc
Chris Brown Printronix Auto ID
David Buckley GS1 Global Office
Heide Buhl GS1 Germany
Margarita Bykova GS1 Russia
Jaewook Byun Auto-ID Labs at KAIST
Elena Campdelacreu GS1 Spain
Emanuela Casalini GS1 Italy
Karolin Catela GS1 Sweden
Tony Ceder Charmingtrim
Anthony Chan GS1 Hong Kong, China
Christine Chang Solventum (previously 3M Healthcare)
Jeffrey Chen Printronix Auto ID
Raman Chhima GS1 New Zealand
Francesca Chiovenda GS1 Global Office
Marjolein Christiaanse GS1 Netherlands
James Chronowski GS1 US
Wladislaw Chudinovskykh GS1 Germany
Manuela Coroama Cosmetics Europe
Flavia Costa GS1 Brasil
Benjamin Couty GS1 France
Amanda Creane GS1 Ireland
Jeffrey Cree Ahold (USA)
Jay Crowley US Data Management, LLC (USDM)
Oscar Cruz GS1 Mexico
Bence Csordás GS1 Hungary
Chase Cunningham Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Tarryn Daniels GS1 South Africa
Kevin Dean Dolphin Data Development Ltd.
Sean Dennison GS1 Ireland
Eno Dhamo GS1 Canada
Peta Ding (lead editor) GS1 Global Office
Chris Diorio Impinj, Inc
Vincent Dong Domino China Limited
Xiaowen Dong GS1 China
Camille Dreyfuss GS1 France
Han Du GS1 China
Marcel Ducceschi GS1 Switzerland
Jt Dutta DHL
Linden Eagles GS1 New Zealand
Nordine Eddaoudi GS1 France
Alexis Elloso GS1 Australia
Fadi El-Turk GS1 UK
Tomas Eriksson Byggtrygg AB / XL-BYGG
Juliet Andrea Espinosa Martinez GS1 Colombia
Filipe Esteves GS1 Portugal
Dawn Fiorentino Izzi DoD Logistics AIT Standards Office
Piotr Frackowiak GS1 Poland
Lenci François ALSTOM Ltd
Guido Freijomil GS1 Argentina
Cameron Frith GS1 New Zealand
Nigel Fuller GS1 Australia
Andreas Füßler GS1 Germany
Stefan Gathmann GS1 Ireland
Haifa Gaza Auto-ID Labs at KAIST
Alexander Gerasimenko Mars, Inc.
Jean-Christophe Gilbert (co-chair) GS1 France
Vanessa Giulieri GS1 Italy
Oumy Gning GS1 Global Office
Chiang Fein Goh GS1 Malaysia
Nicole Golestani GS1 Canada
Alan Gormley GS1 Ireland
Heinz Graf GS1 Switzerland
Nadi (Scott) Gray GS1 Global Office
Christer Green SBJF Service AB
Jonathan Gregory GS1 US
Dominique Guinard Digimarc
Kai Hachmann Edeka Zentrale AG & Co. KG
David Hackbarth Procter & Gamble Co.
Michaela Hähn GS1 Germany
Elzbieta Halas GS1 Poland
Dominik Halbeisen GS1 Switzerland
Eileen Harpell GS1 Global Office
Mark Harrison (editor) Milecastle Media Limited
Gary Hartley GS1 New Zealand
Dave Harty Adents
Andrew Hearn GS1 Global Office
Luca Heinen Movilizer GmbH - A Honeywell Company
Natasha Helleur GS1 New Zealand
Olle Hellman GS1 Sweden
Karolina Hentze GS1 Denmark
Lindsay Hillman GS1 US
Leane Hinds Alcon
Duy Hoang Cong GS1 Vietnam
Rob Hoffman Hershey Company (The)
Frank Hogema GS1 Netherlands
Sandra Hohenecker GS1 Germany
Lars Kristen Holst Moelven Wood AB
Martin Hörberg ICA Sverige AB
Christine Horvath-Hanko GS1 Hungary
Agata Horzela GS1 Poland
Hitoshi Hoshino GS1 Japan
Tomi Ihalainen GS1 Finland
Marc Inderbitzin Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
José Ramón Islas GS1 Mexico
Gunnar Ivansson Learningwell AB
Yoshihiko Iwasaki GS1 Japan
Caroline James GS1 New Zealand
Guilda Javaheri Golden State Foods
Ed Jesus Chep
Han Jie GS1 China
Peter Johnson Procter & Gamble Co.
Peter Jönsson GS1 Sweden
Deborah Joplin GS1 New Zealand
Nora Kaci GS1 Global Office
Martin Kairu GS1 South Africa
Hitomi Kajita GS1 Japan
Nicole Kaller DuPont Healthcare
Iliada Karali GS1 Association Greece
Katalin Kecskés GS1 Hungary
Steven Keddie GS1 Global Office
Audrey Kelly GS1 Global Office
John Keogh Shantalla Inc
Kimmo Keravuori GS1 Finland
Mads Kibsgaard GS1 Denmark
Edmund Kienast Australian Digital Health Agency
Kazuna Kimura GS1 Japan
Sabine Klaeser GS1 Germany
Anna Klapper Videojet Technologies Suisse GmbH
Kasia Koblak-Smith DHL
Phyllis Koch The Schwan Food Company
Catherine Koetz Australian Digital Health Agency
Bojan Kovacic GS1 Slovenia
Zoltan Krazli GS1 Hungary
Alexey Krotkov GS1 Russia
Freddy Ladino Perdomo GS1 Colombia
Huyen Le GS1 Vietnam
Kevin Lee GS1 Korea
Lyndon Lee Tesco Stores Ltd.
Zhimin Li GS1 China
Ildikó Lieber GS1 Hungary
Ildikó Lieber Coe GS1 in Europe
Tina Lin GS1 Chinese Taipei
Nicolas Liou GS1 Chinese Taipei
Johan Lisemark Vida Wood AB
Yixuan Liu GS1 China
Wei Liu GS1 China
Xiaoyan Liu GS1 China
Wendy Logan International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA)
Huiru Lou GS1 China
Marisa Lu GS1 Chinese Taipei
Wayne Luk GS1 Hong Kong, China
Yan Luo GS1 China
Chatchanok Lupakchee GS1 Thailand
Xiaojiao Lv GS1 China
Ning Ma GS1 China
Ilka Machemer GS1 Germany
Fumi Maekawa GS1 Japan
Patrick Main Cook Medical Inc.
Ralph Maresco Procter & Gamble Co.
Timothy Marsh MCL
Ryan Mavin ACT Health
Mike Meakin DHL
Ned Mears GS1 US
Terje Menkerud GS1 Norway
Edward C Merrill GS1 Global Office
Joanne Metcalf Essity North America Inc
Holly Mitchell Seagull Scientific
Federico Mittersteiner GS1 Italy
Ephraim Mokheseng GS1 South Africa
Karen Moniz ICCBBA
Doug Moody PepsiCo, Inc.
Julie Moore Mead Westvaco
Andrew Morehead GS1 US
Gena Morgan GS1 US
Reiko Moritani GS1 Japan
Robert Moss FIP HPS
Nolwandle Mthiyane GS1 South Africa
Alice Mukaru GS1 Sweden
Dan Mullen GS1 Global Office
Paul Muller EM Microelectronic
Mori Naoko GS1 Japan
Nico Nardozi AbbVie S.r.l.
Safae Nassih GS1 France
Zubair Nazir GS1 Canada
Giada Necci GS1 Italy
Steven Nelson Tyson
Denis O'Brien GS1 Ireland
Marcelo Oliveira Sa GS1 Brasil
Hirra Oppal GS1 UK
Michel Ottiker (co-chair) GS1 Switzerland
Luisa Ovalle GS1 Colombia
Dimi Pachiyannis GS1 Australia
Michele Padayachee GS1 South Africa
Silverio Paixao GS1 Global Office
Alexander Pakhomov LLC "Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies"
Chensheng Pan GS1 China
Kyle Parker Mitas Corporation
Sergio Pastrana GS1 Mexico
Leonel Pava GS1 Colombia
John Pearce Axicon
James Perng GS1 Chinese Taipei
Sarina Pielaat GS1 Netherlands
Manfred Piller GS1 Austria
Neil Piper GS1 Global Office
Zhangli Pollet GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg
Josef Preishuber-Pflügl innobir e.U.
Albertus Pretorius Tonnjes ISI Patent Holding GmbH
Mathias Prost GS1 France
Matheus Quadros GS1 Brasil
Yuchen Ran GS1 China
Aruna Ravikumar GS1 Australia
Hajo Reissmann Hajo Reissmann Consulting
Eduardo Alberto Remigio Munguia GS1 Mexico
Craig Alan Repec GS1 Global Office
Nicolas Resier GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg
William Reynolds Camcode Global
Diane Riccardi Johnson & Johnson
Pharapa Romphothong GS1 Thailand
Pere Rosell Plajats GS1 Spain
Mats Rosén nShift
Don Roskowiak Target Corporation
Greg Rowe GS1 Global Office
Marco Ruberto GS1 Italy
Uwe Ruedel GS1 Switzerland
Michiel Ruighaver GS1 Australia
Liu Ruizhi GS1 China
Zbigniew Rusinek GS1 Poland
Bonnie Ryan GS1 Australia
John Ryu (facilitator) GS1 Global Office
Zbigniew Sagan Advanced Track and Trace
Hemant Sahgal IRIS Software - 1
Sofia Salcedo Logyca
Alexander Sanchez GS1 Mexico
George Sarantavgas GS1 Association Greece
Mayu Sasase GS1 Japan
Yuki Sato GS1 Japan
Sue Schmid GS1 Global Office
Lori Schrop GS1 Global Office
Eugen Sehorz GS1 Austria
Xinyu Shi GS1 China
Yu Shi Multi-Color Corporation
Yuko Shimizu GS1 Japan
Marcel Sieira GS1 Australia
Fernando Silveira GS1 Brasil
Steven Simske Colorado State University
Chumisa Sizathu GS1 South Africa
Jens Slama GS1 Germany
Brandi Smith GS1 US
Tania Snioch GS1 Global Office
Olga Soboleva GS1 Russia
Jim Springer EM Microelectronic
Roko Stanicic GS1 Slovenia
Andrew Steele GS1 Australia
Sylvia Stein GS1 Netherlands
Christa Suc GS1 UK
Georgette Suggs Sitation, LLC.
Diane Taillard GS1 Global Office
Hiromitsu Takai GS1 Japan
Taishi Takaoka GS1 Japan
Claude Tetelin GS1 Global Office
Sonya Thomas Sam's Club
Stefan Thomas GS1 Germany
Gina Tomassi PepsiCo, Inc.
Laurent Tonnelier mobiLead
Viet Tran GS1 Vietnam
Ed Treacy Produce Marketing Association (PMA)
Ralph Troeger GS1 Germany
Jangchup Tsechung Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
Alec Tubridy GS1 Australia
Jesse Tuominen Voyantic Ltd
Toshihide Ueda GS1 Japan
Reyhan Unsalan GS1 Global Office
Frits Van Den Bos GS1 Netherlands
Fiona Vanderlinde GS1 South Africa
Ray Vaughan Omron Microscan Systems Inc.
Rodrigo Vaz CPA Wernher von Braun
Cindy Velázquez GS1 Mexico
Audun Vennesland SINTEF
Andrew Verb Bar Code Graphics, Inc.
Charles-Francois Vermeesch SNCF Rolling Stock Department
Ricardo Verza Amaral Melo GS1 Brasil
Linda Vezzani GS1 Italy
Jaco Voorspuij CONAS BV
Vishnu Vyas DuPont Healthcare
Hanna Walczak GS1 Poland
Amber Walls Crimson Raft Consulting
Di Wang GS1 China
Wenyu Wang GS1 China
Jiayi Wang GS1 China
Lei Wang GS1 China
Chunguang Wang GS1 China
Lynn Wang GS1 China
Dayou Wang Zebra Technologies Corporation
Metinee Wanlayangkoon GS1 Thailand
Ethan Ward GS1 Australia
Baopheng Wei GS1 Laos
Wilfried Weigelt REA Elektronik GmbH
Kathy Welch Wegmans Food Markets
Tasha Wiehe GS1 Global Office
Kumoro Wijanarko GS1 Indonesia
Ola Wilhelmsson Norra Timber
Roman Winter GS1 Germany
Melanie Wishart GS1 Australia
George Wright IV Product Identification & Processing Systems
Xinmin Wu GS1 China
Juan Wu GS1 China
Huang Xin GS1 China
Ruoyun Yan GS1 China
Xie Yi GS1 China
Charles Young Solidsoft Reply
Shi Yu Beijing REN JU ZHI HUI Technology Co. Ltd.
Ying Yu GS1 China
Victor Zhang GS1 China
Yuan Zhang GS1 China
Li Zheng GS1 China
Bo Zhou GS1 China
Eric Zhuo GS1 Singapore
Sergio Zúñiga GS1 Mexico
亭杰 申 GS1 China
The Work Group recognises all individuals and companies who contributed to earlier versions. The Work Group recognises all individuals and companies who contributed to earlier versions.

Log of Changes

Release Date of Change Changed By Summary of Change
1.0 Aug 2019 Mark Harrison, Phil Archer, Dominique Guinard, Marie Petre & Greg Rowe Initial release developed on WR 17-000343. Originally published under the title GS1 Web URI Structure Standard
1.1 Feb 2020 Mark Harrison, Phil Archer Greg Rowe Updates based upon WR 18-231 which can be found in section 10
1.2 Jan 2021 Mark Harrison, Phil Archer, Dominique Guinard, Steven Keddie & Greg Rowe Updates based upon WR 20-127 which can be found in section 8
1.2.1 Feb 2022 Mark Harrison WR 21-429 bundles WR 21-185 /420/ 421/422. Reference change log 8.1
1.3.0 Nov 2022 Phil Archer & Peta Ding WR 22-255 (reinstating AI 415) and WR 22-247 (removal of deprecated convenience alphas). Reference change log 8.2
1.4.0 Apr 2023 Phil Archer & Peta Ding WR 23-016 & WR 23-124 primary key format updated to express all GTINs as 14-digit string. Reference change log 8.3
1.4.1 Jun 2023 Phil Archer & Peta Ding WR 23-125 SSCC examples corrected
1.5.0 Jun 2024 Mark Harrison & Peta Ding WR 24-063 bundles WR 23-357 / 23-353 / 23-324 / 23-317 / 23-318 / 24-113. Reference change log 8.4
1.6.0 Feb 2025 Mark Harrison, Phil Archer & Peta Ding WR 24-146 and WR 25-011 Reference change log 8.5
1.7.0 Jul 2026 Phil Archer, Peta Ding, Mark Harrison WR 26-180 and WR 26-260 Reference change log 8.6
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