ISO/IEC 15459-1:2014

FINAL
INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
DRAFT
STANDARD FDIS
15459-1
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31
Information technology — Automatic
Secretariat: ANSI
identification and data capture
Voting begins on:
2014-06-03 techniques — Unique identification —
Voting terminates on:
Part 1:
2014-08-03
Individual transport units
Technologies de l’information — Identification automatique et
techniques de capture de données — Identification unique —
Partie 1: Unités de transport individuel
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ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
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©
NATIONAL REGULATIONS. ISO/IEC 2014

ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
© ISO/IEC 2014
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ii © ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved

ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Qualifiers for individual transport units . 1
5 Identity for individual transport units . 2
5.1 General . 2
5.2 Maximum number of characters permissible in an identity . 2
5.3 Permissible character sets in an identity . 2
6 Implementation of coding using AIDC media . 3
Annex A (informative) Unique identification for transport units . 4
Annex B (informative) Examples of identities for individual transport units.6
Bibliography . 8
© ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved iii

ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction
and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee
SC 31, Automatic identification and data capture techniques.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO/IEC 15459-1:2006), which has been
technically revised.
ISO/IEC 15459 consists of the following parts (as a result of the reconstruction of previously published
parts 1 to 8), under the general title Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture
techniques — Unique identification:
— Part 1: Individual transport units
— Part 2: Registration procedures
— Part 3: Common rules
— Part 4: Individual products and product packages
— Part 5: Individual returnable transport items (RTIs)
— Part 6: Groupings
iv © ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved

ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
Introduction
Unique identification can occur at many different levels, at item level, on the transport unit, on the
returnable transport item, at grouping levels, and elsewhere. Such entities are often handled by several
parties, both public and private, throughout their lifecycle. Each of these parties must be able to identify
and trace such distinct entities so that reference can be made to associated information such as quality
inspection data, the chemical substance contained, the batch or lot number of parts, components or raw
materials, etc.
The associated information is typically held in some kind of database. The information can be accessed
using EDI exchange or another appropriate access protocol, e.g. a directory access protocol.
There are considerable benefits if the identity of the entity is represented as a bar code or other AIDC
(Automatic Identification and Data Capture) media and attached to or made a constituent part of that
which is being uniquely identified so that
— it can be read electronically, thus minimizing errors;
— one identity can be used by all parties;
— each party can use the identity to look up its computer files to find the data associated with the
entity.
All AIDC technologies have the potential to encode an identity. It is expected that application standards,
using various automatic identification technologies, will be developed based upon the identity as a prime
key. These application standards, which can include additional rules for which level of identification
should be used, are often made available from the Issuing Agency.
The identity for individual transport units defined in this part of ISO/IEC 15459, and represented in
AIDC media attached to the unit, meets the needs defined in ISO/IEC 15459-3, Common rules.
© ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved v

FINAL DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
Information technology — Automatic identification and
data capture techniques — Unique identification —
Part 1:
Individual transport units
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 15459 specifies a unique string of characters for the identification of individual
transport units. The character string is intended to be represented in a bar code label or other AIDC
media attached to the entity to meet management needs. To address management needs, different types
of entities are recognized in the various parts of ISO/IEC 15459, which allows different requirements to
be met by the identities associated with each type.
The rules for the unique identification for individual transport units, to identify physical logistical
transfers, with the identity relevant for the duration of one or more items in the load being held or
transported as part of that load, are defined and supported by example.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 646, Information technology — ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange
ISO/IEC 15459-2, Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture techniques —
Unique identification — Part 2: Registration procedures
ISO/IEC 15459-3, Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture techniques —
Unique identification — Part 3: Common rules
ISO/IEC 19762-1, Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) techniques —
Harmonized vocabulary — Part 1: General terms relating to AIDC
ANS MH.10.8.2, Data Identifier and Application Identifier Standard
GS1 General Specifications, GS1
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 19762-1 and ISO/IEC 15459-3
apply.
4 Qualifiers for individual transport units
Each individual transport unit shall be unambiguously identified by a qualifier and a string as defined
in Clause 5 so that entities of this qualifier can be distinguished from other qualifiers, the string shall be
combined with a qualifier determined by the Issuing Agency.
The qualifier component of an identity for an individual transport unit may use any data format supported
by ISO/IEC 15434 or ISO/IEC 9834-1. What formats to be used are to be specified by the Issuing Agency
© ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved 1

ISO/IEC FDIS 15459-1:2014(E)
rules. For the purpose of this standard examples are not to be exhaustive, but rather representative of
the full suite of data qualifiers possible to use and relevant to this standard;
— GS1 Application Identifier 00
If this method is used to create the identity each unique identity issuer would select the appropriate
GS1 Application Identifier, conforming to the requirements of the GS1 General Specification, to act
as the qualifier of the identity.
— ASC MH 10 Data Identifiers J, 1J, 2J, 3J, 4J, 5J or 6J
If this method is used to create the identity each unique identity issuer would select the appropriate
ASC MH10 Data Identifier as required by the appropriate Issuing Agency to act as the qualifier of
the identity.
— When employing an ISO/IEC compliant high capacity AIDC data carrier an additional option is the
object identifiers;
— 1 0 15459 1: for a transport unit identity defined by the IAC. This is defined independent of,
and unlike the structures below, does not support mapping to GS1 Application Identifiers and
ASC MH 10 Data Identifiers.
— 1 0 15459 1 1: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to GS1 Application Identifier 00
— 1 0 15459 1 2: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier J
— 1 0 15459 1 3: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 1J
— 1 0 15459 1 4: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 2J
— 1 0 15459 1 5: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 3J
— 1 0 15459 1 6: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 4J
— 1 0 15459 1 7: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 5J
— 1 0 15459 1 8: for a transport unit qualifier equivalent to ASC MH10 Data Identifier 6J
5 Identity for individual transport units
5.1 General
An identity is assigned to an individual transport unit by an identity issuer. This shall be done in
accordance with the rules established by an authorized Issuing Agency as defined in ISO/IEC 15459-3
and ISO/IEC 15459-2.
5.2 Maximum number of characters permissible in an identity
The identity for individual transport units shall not contain more than 50 characters.
For efficient use within various AIDC data carrier systems, it is recommended that the number of
characters to be coded in a one line linear bar code symbol should not exceed 20 characters, and number
of characters should be kept as short as possible regardless of the permissible maximum of 50 characters.
5.3 Permissible character sets in an identity
The identity shall only contain upper-case alphabetic characters and numeric digits of the invariant
character set of ISO/IEC 646, see Annex A in ISO/IEC 15459-3.
NOTE An Issuing Agency is permitted to make additional restrictions on the repertoire for identities using
its IAC.
...