ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15459-8
First edition
2009-09-15


Information technology — Unique
identifiers —
Part 8:
Grouping of transport units
Technologies de l'information — Identificateurs uniques —
Partie 8: Regroupement des unités de transport





Reference number
ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2009

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ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009(E)
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ii © ISO/IEC 2009 – All rights reserved

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ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009(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.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
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.
ISO/IEC 15459-8 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 31, Automatic identification and data capture techniques.
ISO/IEC 15459 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Unique
identifiers:
⎯ Part 1: Unique identifiers for transport units
⎯ Part 2: Registration procedures
⎯ Part 3: Common rules for unique identifiers
⎯ Part 4: Individual items
⎯ Part 5: Unique identifier for returnable transport items (RTIs)
⎯ Part 6: Unique identifier for product groupings
⎯ Part 8: Grouping of transport units
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ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009(E)
Introduction
Unique identification can occur at many different levels in the supply chain: at the transport unit, at the item
level, and at the grouping level for transport units. Such distinct entities are often handled by several parties:
the sender, the receiver, one or more carriers, customs authorities, etc. Each of these parties must be able to
identify and trace the item so that reference can be made to associated information such as configuration,
maintenance history, address, order number, contents of the item, customs clearance, and advance shipment
notice.
The information is often held on computer systems, and can be exchanged between parties involved via EDI
(Electronic Data Interchange) and XML (eXtensible Markup Language) messages.
There are considerable benefits if the identity of the item is represented in bar code format 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 item;
⎯ the identifier is unique within the class and cannot appear on any other item of the class during the
lifetime of the item.
The unique identifier for grouping of transport units defined in this part of ISO/IEC 15459 might be represented
in a bar code label, two-dimensional symbol, radio-frequency identification tag, or other AIDC media and
associated with the grouping to meet these needs. An individual instance of an entity is aptly identified by a
unique identifier defined in other parts of ISO/IEC 15459. Where a unique identifier for the grouping is also
required, the provisions of this part of ISO/IEC 15459 apply. The unique identifier for groupings might be used
solely as a reference key and linked to the already existing identifier, marked using AIDC media on the
individual item. Any such relationship has to be communicated to the business partners accordingly.
All AIDC technologies have the potential to encode a unique identifier. It is expected that application
standards for items, using various automatic identification technologies, will be developed based upon the
unique identifier as a prime key. These application standards may be made available from the Issuing Agency.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 15459-8:2009(E)

Information technology — Unique identifiers —
Part 8:
Grouping of transport units
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 15459 specifies a unique, non-significant, string of characters for the unique identifier for
grouping of transport units. The character string might be represented in a bar code label or other AIDC media
associated with the items that make up the grouping to meet supply chain needs and regulatory needs
(e.g. customs clearance). An individual instance of an entity is aptly identified by a unique identifier defined in
other parts of ISO/IEC 15459. This relationship has to be communicated to the business partners according to
the business need and the unique identifier for the grouping might be used as a reference number only or
marked in addition to the existing identifier. To address management needs, different classes of items are
recognized in the various parts of ISO/IEC 15459, which allows different requirements to be met by the unique
identifiers associated with each class. This part of ISO/IEC 15459 defines the rules for the grouping of
transport units to identify the multiple physical units that make up a single shipment from a consignor and are
treated as a single logical grouping for customs and other shipping requirements.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC
...