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Product identifiers: why they matter and where an AD ID fits

A product needs one identifier that stays the same. GS1 is the best way to get one.

How the two sites fit, and what an AD ID is

ActivateDigital is the software a business uses to turn its product records and evidence into a passport and to approve it. dppcode.org is the public address where that approved passport is published and found. Both are run by SIGNALANALYTICS.AI LTD. An AD ID is an ActivateDigital identifier. It is not a GS1 number.

Why a consistent product identifier matters

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, (EU) 2024/1781, builds the digital product passport around one idea: each product carries a unique product identifier, a data carrier on or with the product holds it, and the passport is linked to the product through that carrier. Article 2 defines the two terms, unique product identifier and data carrier. Article 10 sets the requirements for the passport: it is connected to the product through a data carrier, and the identifier and the carrier meet the ISO/IEC 15459 series listed in Annex III, or equivalent European or international standards. No article names a numbering scheme.

A consistent identifier is what lets a shop, a repairer, a recycler and a customer all reach the same passport for the same product.

GS1 barcodes first

GS1 is the best, most consistent and most scalable option, and we recommend every brand gets GS1 barcodes. Shops and marketplaces ask for it: retailers, marketplaces and tills read a GTIN and nothing else. The same GTIN works in every country and every system, so the passport address never changes. Many brands have one already, and the passport simply uses it. Get GS1 barcodes from GS1 UK.

A step on the way to GS1: the AD ID

Some brands do not have GS1 barcodes yet. So that their passport can go live now, we provide the product with an AD ID. It is a step on the way to GS1 and not an alternative to it. An AD ID is 15 digits, built the way a GTIN is: a fixed issuer part (71) that marks it as ours, a company part of 6 digits given once to each brand, an item part of 6 digits for each product with its own number for each size or colour, and a check digit worked out in the GS1 way.

Example: 719999990000019 reads as 71 (issuer), 999999 (an example brand), 000001 (item 1, size S) and 9 (check digit). The same brand's sizes M and L are 719999990000026 and 719999990000033; its second product is 719999990000040; the second brand's first product is 719999980000012.

Its address is dppcode.org/a/ followed by the 15 digits, beside the GS1 form dppcode.org/01/ followed by the GTIN. Both open the product's passport in the same way. Every AD ID is kept in a register, and none is reused or changed. When a brand gets GS1 barcodes, its GTIN is linked to the same passport and the earlier /a/ address keeps working. Addresses issued earlier on /id/ keep working too.

What it is not: not a GS1 number, not a standard, not certified and not accepted by anyone. It is a step towards a GS1 barcode, and a GTIN is still what a retailer will ask for.