ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15459-5
First edition
2007-06-15

Information technology — Unique
identifiers —
Part 5:
Unique identifier for returnable transport
items (RTIs)
Technologies de l'information — Identificateurs uniques —
Partie 5: Identificateur unique pour les entités de transport retournables




Reference number
ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2007

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ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007(E)
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ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007(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 15459-5 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: Unique identifiers for supply chain management
⎯ Part 5: Unique identifier for returnable transport items (RTIs)
⎯ Part 6: Unique identifier for product groupings
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ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007(E)
Introduction
Unique identification can occur at many different levels in the supply chain, at the transport unit, at the item
level, at the returnable transport item, and elsewhere. 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 address,
order number, contents of the item, weight, sender, batch or lot number, etc.
The information is often held on computer systems, and may 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 returnable transport item is represented in a radio
frequency identification (RFID) transponder, in bar code format, or in other automatic identification and data
capture (AIDC) media and attached to or made a constituent part of that which is being uniquely identified so
that
⎯ it can be read electronically, thus minimising 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 identify code is unique and cannot appear on any other item during the lifetime of the item.
The unique identifier of returnable transport items (RTIs) defined in this part of ISO/IEC 15459, and
represented in a bar code label, two-dimensional symbol, radio frequency identification tag or other AIDC
media attached to the RTI, meets these needs.
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 15459-5:2007(E)

Information technology — Unique identifiers —
Part 5:
Unique identifier for returnable transport items (RTIs)
1 Scope
This part of ISO/IEC 15459 specifies a unique, non-significant string of characters for the unique identification
of returnable transport items (RTIs). The character string is intended to be represented in a radio frequency
identification (RFID) transponder, bar code label or other automatic identification and data capture (AIDC)
media attached to the item to meet supply chain management needs. To address management needs
different classes of RTI are recognised in the various parts of ISO/IEC 15459, which allows different
requirements to be met by the unique identifiers associated with each class. The rules for the unique identifier
for RTIs, to identify the unique occurrence of an item, with the identity being relevant for the complete life
cycle of the item, are defined and supported by an example.
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 646, Information technology — ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange
ISO/IEC 15459-2, Information technology — Unique identifiers — Part 2: Registration procedures
ISO/IEC 15459-3, Information technology — Unique identifiers — Part 3: Common rules for unique identifiers
1)
ISO 17364, Supply chain applications of RFID — Returnable transport items (RTIs)
ISO/IEC 19762 (all parts), Information technology — Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC)
techniques — Harmonized vocabulary
ASC MH10.8.2, ASC M H 10 Data Identifiers and Application Identifiers
GS1 General Specifications, GS1

1) To be published.
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ISO/IEC 15459-5:2007(E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 19762 (all parts),
ISO/IEC 15459-2 and the following apply.
3.1
returnable transport item
RTI
all means to assemble goods for transportation, storage, handling and product protection in the supply chain
which are returned for further usage
NOTE 1 Examples of RTIs include pallets with and without cash deposits as well as all forms of reusable crates, trays,
boxes, roll pallets, barrels, trolleys, pallet collars and lids.
NOTE 2 The term “returnable transport item” is usually allocated to secondary and tertiary packaging. But in certain
circumstances also primary packaging may be considered as a form of RTI.
NOTE 3 Freight containers, trailers and other similar enclosed modules are not covered by the term “returnable
transport item”.
NOTE 4 Returnable transport equipment is considered to have the same definition within an electronic data
interchange environment.
4 Class identification
...