Overview of the GPC Standard and Horticultural Updates Wednesday, 08-October Ben Ensink, GS1 Netherlands Mike Mowad, GS1 GS1 Standards Spring Event Oct 2014 – Rome, Italy Building Standards to Deliver Business Value

GPC Overview Mike Mowad, GS1

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 What is GPC? 3 Gives buyers and sellers a common language for grouping (or categorising) products in the same way, everywhere in the world Rules-based, four-tier classification system for grouping products: Segment, Family, Class, and Brick (with attributes and attribute values). Improves the GDSN data accuracy and integrity, speeds up the supply chain's ability to react to consumer needs, and contributes to breaking down language barriers.

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 GPC Foundation and Hierarchy 4 Brick Attribute Values Brick AttributesBricksExample Milk and Milk Substitutes (Perishable) Milk and Milk Substitutes (Perishable) If Animal Level of Fat Claim Organic Claim Probiotic Claim Probiotic Claim Refrigeration Claim Refrigeration Claim No Yes Unidentified No Yes Unidentified No Yes Unidentified No Yes Unidentified Can be Refrigerated Must be Refrigerated Unidentified Can be Refrigerated Must be Refrigerated Unidentified Full Fat Low Fat Non Fat Unidentified Full Fat Low Fat Non Fat Unidentified Animal Milk Non Animal Milk Unidentified Animal Milk Non Animal Milk Unidentified

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 Why GPC? GTIN ITEM Reference Code A codified key - provides a unique, international and non ambiguous way to identify an item GPC Grouping GTINs into the same category (GPC bricks) following common rules in a specific goal Product CLASSIFICATION Code WHICH product is it?WHAT product is it? Each GTIN is electronically linked to a unique GPC brick code The GPC brick code is a mandatory data in GDSN

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 GPC adoption in GDSN 6 Since 2007, GPC adoption has grown in coverage and in implementation (in parallel with the use of GTINs) in GDS

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 GPC Translations 7 GPC is officially published in Oxford English and is currently translated to 13 other languages Italian Japanese Portuguese Russian Serbian Swedish Arabic Chinese Dutch Finnish French German Hungarian

© 2013 GS GS1 © 2014 GS1 GPC Releases GPC uses a “Consolidated Release” strategy to publish twice per year, (every June & December) Each GPC release is implemented into GDSN 6 months after publication 8 Jun 2012 Dec 2012 Jun 2013 Dec 2013 Jun 2014 Deployed into the GDSN GPC Jun-2012 Publication Deployed into the GDSN GPC Dec-2012 Publication GPC Jun-2013 Publication Deployed into the GDSN GPC Dec-2013 Publication Deployed into the GDSN

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 GPC Future Work Streams: Harmonisation of Tariff Codes (HTC) 9 Organisation for Economic Co-operation HTC typically used to determine the cost of goods that cross international borders - can also be used for traceability Opportunity for GPC to be leveraged to provide more granularity by providing contextual product information - useful for Government agencies and Customs MOU

© 2013 GS GS1 © 2014 GS1 Where Can I find the GPC Standards? Click here! 2. Click here!

© 2013 GS GS1 © 2014 GS1 Published Formats 11 Published in 2 formats: 1.Browser-Based 2.Schema (Excel & XML) Published in 2 formats: 1.Browser-Based 2.Schema (Excel & XML)

GPC Expansion into Horticultural Ben Ensink, GS1 Netherlands

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© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 The Horticulture Project 3 years of development Most work done by local standards body (Floricode  strategic partner GS1.NL) Quick on decision to use Taxonomy Quick on decision to leave out cultivars ( different cultivars in Holland) 17 Carolus Linnaeus ( )

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 What did we experience? Product specialists tend to over-classify Standards expertstend to under-classify Horticulture is a “Special” sector: 10’s of thousands different products Nature is diverse on it’s own Breeding by humans adds > 1000 cultivars each year Currently registered: 2000 Genus & 4000 Species 18

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 Problems encountered (1) 19 Application of “same product” –cut flower, plant, cut green (decoration) Colour –nature has so many nuances of colours! –which colour system best suits the purpose? –conversion tables RHS RGB Pantone GPC colours Taxonomy versus common names and synonyms + Genus & Species = Worldwide = Latin -/- Latin not familiar  One as description, other as definition =common names can be translated

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 Problems encountered (2) 20 Distinction between potted & garden plants? –In- / Out-door depends on geographical position –In stead use brick attributes (in-, out-door, both) –Split family “live plants” in 2 because >100 genus  GPC limit Too many different genus-species combinations –Direct efforts to ‘main stream’ products (world-turnover > 0,1 %) and create “others” for rest –Under populate enough to allow future expansions Only develop new families when business needs it Bulbs,Seeds,Trees  Later

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© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 Interested parties AFIFnet (Assoc. Flower Import Florida) US Dep. of Agriculture (fytosanitary import check) EU-Brussels & COPA/Cogeca (customs & statistics / alternative for GN codes Nomenclature) Union Fleurs (Association Floricultural Wholesale Org’s) Lei & Wageningen University (for Market Intelligence) Dutch Floricultural sector (Auction, Trade, Retail, Floricode, Fair-trade label “Max Havelaar” ) Brazilian Government 22

© 2013 GS1 © 2014 GS1 Learnings We encountered technical limits in numbering of GPC class codes and had to split up “Live Plants” into 2 classes Advice  In the future, look to expand the limits of the numbering assignment (if more sectors require it ) Technical limits required substantial rework later in the process Advice  Large GPC expansions needs to have a “technical limits” review early in the process Ensure that Global stakeholders are involved from the beginning Large GPC expansion projects should always have a follow-up learnings review as part of the process 23

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Contact Details Mike Mowad Director, Global Product Classification & Standards, GS1 T +1 (609) E Ben Ensink Product Specialist, GS1 Netherlands T +31 (0) | E