What is a GTIN?

The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is a globally recognized unique identifier used to distinguish products throughout the supply chain. It plays a crucial role in ensuring seamless inventory management, product traceability, and accurate data synchronization.

While the term GTIN applies to codes assigned by GS1, it is also often used to refer to product identifiers assigned by HIBCC and ICCBBA. The FDA refers to these codes generically as Device Identifiers with types such as Primary, Packaging, and Unit of Use.

A product may be assigned multiple GTINs over its lifetime. Each GTIN follows a specific structure, comprising a package level, company prefix, item reference number, and check digit. This information is typically presented on product labels in both human-readable and machine-readable formats, such as barcodes, which can be Linear or 2 Dimensional.

Term	Description
GS1	GS1 is a global organization that develops standards to improve supply chain efficiency, like bar codes, enabling accurate product tracking and information sharing across industries.
HIBCC	Health Industry Business Communications Council is a nonprofit organization that develops standards for electronic communication in healthcare. It is known for the Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) standards, which help label and identify medical products, enhancing supply chain efficiency and patient safety.
ICCBBA	International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation manages the ISBT 128 standard. This global standard ensures safe identification and labeling of medical products of human origin, like blood and tissue, enhancing patient safety internationally.