Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)

What is Global Trade Item Number?

Global Trade Item Number is an identifier for trade items, administered and assigned worldwide by GS1 (Global Standards One). In principle, the GTIN serves to identify products and services worldwide without overlap by referring to business information stored in computer files - such as prices, conditions, suppliers, designations, product groupings or special numbering.

The GTIN is used wherever products that can be automatically recorded and processed need to be marked. As a rule, the GTIN is always made up of 13 purely numerical digits. It represents the new standard in product marking since it replaced the previously common EAN (European Article Number) in 2009.

In summary, the GTIN is an individual number with international validity that serves to identify products or for looking up product information in a database.