GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)

As the name implies, the GTIN helps automate the trading process – basically buying and selling. GTINs are therefore assigned to any item (product or service) that may be priced, or ordered, or invoiced at any point in any supply chain. The GTIN is then used to to retrieve pre-defined information about the item. The key benefit is that information about the item can be retrieved about the product from the GTIN whether it is read in a GS1 BarCodes symbol, exchanged via a GS1 eCom message or accessed from the Global Data Synchronisation Network.

For help implementing GTINs, visit our GTIN Allocation Rules.

There are four ways to construct a GTIN:

• GTIN-14 data structure
  
  

  Indicator	GTIN of the items contained (without check digit)												Check Digit
  N1	N2	N3	N4	N5	N6	N7	N8	N9	N10	N11	N12	N13	N14

  
  
• GTIN-13 data structure
  
  

  GS1 Company Prefix >                < Item Reference												Check Digit
  N1	N2	N3	N4	N5	N6	N7	N8	N9	N10	N11	N12	N13

  
  
• GTIN-12 data structure
  
  

  GS1 Company Prefix >                < Item Reference											Check Digit
  N1	N2	N3	N4	N5	N6	N7	N8	N9	N10	N11	N12

  
  
• GTIN-8 data structure (GTIN-8s are normally assigned one-by-one)
  
  

  GS1-8 Prefix >              < Item Reference							Check Digit
  N1	N2	N3	N4	N5	N6	N7	N8

The following table summarises GTIN attributes:

For a more detailed overview on the benefits of GTIN see GTIN Executive Summary.

Information about other keys

• GLN - Global Location Number
• SSCC – Serial Shipping Container Code
• GRAI – Global Returnable Asset Identifier
• GIAI – Global Individual Asset Identifier
• GSRN – Global Service Relation Number
• GDTI – Global Document Type Identifier