SIST EN 62507-1:2011

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-april-2011
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Requirements for identification systems enabling unambiguous information interchange -
Part 1: Principles and methods (IEC 62507-1:2010)
Identifikationssysteme zur Unterstützung eines eindeutigen Informationsaustauschs -
Anforderungen - Teil 1: Grundsätze und Methodik (IEC 62507-1:2010)
Conditions pour des systèmes d'identification permettant l'échange non ambigu de
l'information - Partie 1: Principes et méthodes (CEI 62507-1:2010)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 62507-1:2011
ICS:
35.240.01 Uporabniške rešitve Application of information
informacijske tehnike in technology in general
tehnologije na splošno
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD
EN 62507-1
NORME EUROPÉENNE
February 2011
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 01.140; 35.240
English version
Identification systems enabling unambiguous information interchange -
Requirements -
Part 1: Principles and methods
(IEC 62507-1:2010)
Systèmes d'identification permettant Anforderungen an Identifikationssysteme
l'échange non ambigu de l'information - zur Unterstützung eines eindeutigen
Exigences - Informationsaustauschs -
Partie 1: Principes et méthodes Teil 1: Grundsätze und Methodik
(CEI 62507-1:2010) (IEC 62507-1:2010)

This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2011-01-02. CENELEC members are bound to comply
with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard
the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified
to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B - 1000 Brussels

© 2011 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 62507-1:2011 E
Foreword
The text of document 3/1007/FDIS, future edition 1 of IEC 62507-1, prepared by IEC TC 3, Information
structures, documentation and graphical symbols, was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and
was approved by CENELEC as EN 62507-1 on 2011-01-02.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN and CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
(dop) 2011-10-02
national standard or by endorsement
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
(dow) 2014-01-02
with the EN have to be withdrawn
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 62507-1:2010 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards indicated:
IEC 81346-1 NOTE  Harmonized as EN 81346-1.
ISO 9000:2005 NOTE  Harmonized as EN ISO 9000:2005 (not modified).
__________
- 3 - EN 62507-1:2011
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications

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.

NOTE  When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant EN/HD
applies.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year

IEC 61360-1 - Standard data elements types with EN 61360-1 -
associated classification scheme
for electric items -
Part 1: Definitions - Principles and methods

IEC 81346-2 - Industrial systems, installations and EN 81346-2 -
equipment and industrial products -
Structuring principles and reference
designations -
Part 2: Classification of objects and codes for
classes
IEC 82045-1 - Document management - EN 82045-1 -
Part 1: Principles and methods

IEC 82045-2 - Document management - EN 82045-2 -
Part 2: Metadata elements and information
reference model
ISO/IEC 646 1991 Information technology - ISO 7-bit coded - -
character set for information interchange

ISO/IEC 6523-1 - Information technology - Structure for the - -
identification of organizations and organization
parts -
Part 1: Identification of organization
identification schemes
ISO/IEC 15418 - Information technology - Automatic - -
identification and data capture techniques -
GS1 Application Identifiers and ASC MH10
Data Identifiers and maintenance

ISO/IEC 15434 - Information technology - Syntax for high-- -
capacity automatic data capture (ADC) media

ISO/IEC 15459-1 - Information technology - Unique identification - -
of transport units -
Part 1: General
ISO/IEC 15459-2 - Information technology - Unique identifiers - - -
Part 2: Registration procedures

ISO/IEC 15459-4 - Information technology - Unique identifiers - - -
Part 4: Individual items
ISO/IEC 7064 - Information technology - Security techniques -- -
Check character systems
ISO 3166-1 - Codes for the representation of names of EN ISO 3166-1 -
countries and their subdivisions -
Part 1: Country codes
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year

ISO 10303-11 - Industrial automation systems and - -
integration - Product data representation and
exchange -
Part 11: Description methods: The EXPRESS
language reference manual
IEC 62507-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2010-11
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Identification systems enabling unambiguous information interchange –
Requirements –
Part 1: Principles and methods

Systèmes d’identification permettant l’échange non ambigu de l’information –
Exigences –
Partie 1: Principes et méthodes

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
XA
CODE PRIX
ICS 01.140; 35.240 ISBN 978-2-88912-227-1
– 2 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
CONTENTS
FOREW ORD . 4
1 Sc o pe . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 General . 10
4.1 Purpose of identification . 10
4.2 Referencing and traceability . 11
4.3 Permanence . 12
4.4 Kinds of objects . 13
4.5 Changes to an identified object. 14
4.6 Identification schemes . 14
4.7 Identifying attributes of an object . 15
4.8 Identification of an issuing domain . 15
4.9 Multiple identification of the same object . 17
4.10 Storage and use of identification numbers . 18
5 Documentation of an identification system . 18
6 Generation of identification numbers. 19
6.1 Principle methods . 19
6.1.1 General . 19
6.1.2 Method 1 . 19
6.1.3 Method 2 . 19
6.2 Construction of identification numbers . 20
6.2.1 General . 20
6.2.2 Issue (Registration) . 21
6.2.3 Identification number generators . 21
6.2.4 Validation . 22
7 Identification within a global context . 22
8 Representation and presentation of identification numbers. 22
8.1 Representation for use in computer systems . 22
8.2 Presentation for human readers . 23
8.2.1 General . 23
8.2.2 Presentation of concatenated identifiers for human readers . 23
8.2.3 Presentation of multiple identifiers for human readers . 24
8.3 Indication of sub domains . 24
8.4 Application of the domain identifier . 24
9 Recommendations with regard to organization changes . 25
10 Conformance . 25
Annex A (informative) Types of identification systems . 26
Annex B (normative) Reference information model . 30
Annex C (informative) Example of documentation of an identification system . 52
Annex D (informative) Invariant characters of ISO/IEC 646 . 54
Bibliography . 55

Figure 1 – Illustration of the referencing mechanism . 12

62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 3 –
Figure 2 – Relations among occurrences (identified by concatenated letter codes) of
types (identified by numbers) in a tree-like structure . 13
Figure 3 – Information model principle . 15
Figure 4 – Examples of identifying attributes for an object within a given domain . 15
Figure 5 – Illustration of domains . 16
Figure 6 – Organization-defined domain identification . 17
Figure 7 – Illustration of identification in multiple domains . 18
Figure 8 – Illustration of domain identification . 22

Table 1 – Use of identifiers in a product context . 13
Table 2 – Relations among domains, identifiers and identification numbers . 17
Table 3 – Number of possible identification numbers . 20

– 4 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
ENABLING UNAMBIGUOUS INFORMATION INTERCHANGE –
REQUIREMENTS –
Part 1: Principles and methods

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 62507-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 3:
Information structures, documentation and graphical symbols.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
3/1007/FDIS 3/1024/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 5 –
A list of all parts of the IEC 62507 series, published under the general title, Identification
systems enabling unambiguous information interchange – Requirements, can be found on the
IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct
understanding of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a
colour printer.
– 6 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
ENABLING UNAMBIGUOUS INFORMATION INTERCHANGE –
REQUIREMENTS –
Part 1: Principles and methods

1 Scope
This part of IEC 62507 specifies basic requirements for systems for the identification of
objects (such as products, “items”, documents, etc., excluding human individuals). It focuses
on assigning identifiers to an object for referencing purposes.
The classification of objects for any and whatever reason and the verification that an object is
really the object it claims to be, are excluded.
This standard includes recommendations for the human readable presentation of identifiers
and its machine readable representation, to be considered when constructing the identifiers
and identification numbers.
The standard includes also requirements for the application of identifiers in a computer
sensible form in accordance with such systems, and requirements for their interchange.
The specification of the physical file or transfer format (syntax) for a machine to machine
information interchange is not included, nor is the specification and transfer formats for the
implementation by a physical medium, e.g. file, bar code, Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID), used for information interchange and the identification labelling on an object included.
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.
IEC 61360-1, Standard data element types with associated classification scheme for electric
components – Part 1: Definitions – Principles and methods
IEC 81346-2, Industrial systems, installations and equipment and industrial products –
Structuring principles and reference designations – Part 2: Classification of objects and codes
for classes
IEC 82045-1, Document management – Part 1: Principles and methods
IEC 82045-2, Document management – Part 2: Metadata elements and information reference
model
ISO/IEC 646:1991, Information technology – IS0 7-bit coded character set for information
interchange
ISO/IEC 6523-1, Information technology – Structure for the identification of organizations and
organization parts –Part 1: Identification of organization identification schemes
ISO/IEC 15418, Information technology – Automatic identification and data capture
techniques – GS1 Application identifiers and ASC MH 10 data identifiers and maintenance

62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 7 –
ISO/IEC 15434, Information technology – Automatic identification and data capture
techniques – Syntax for high-capacity ADC media
ISO/IEC 15459-1, Information technology – Unique identifiers – Part 1: Unique identifiers for
transport units
ISO/IEC 15459-2, Information technology – Unique identifiers – Part 2: Registration
procedures
ISO/IEC 15459-4, Information technology – Unique identifiers – Part 4: Individual items
ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions –
Part 1: Country codes
ISO 7064, Information technology – Security techniques – Check character systems
ISO 10303-11, Industrial automation systems and integration – Product data representation
and exchange – Part 11: Description methods: The EXPRESS language reference manual
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
batch number
lot number
identification number assigned to a group of specimens considered as one object to identify
the specimens that are manufactured together under assumed identical conditions and in a
limited time interval
NOTE The batch number / lot number is normally assigned at the manufacturing of the object.
3.2
domain
distinguished part of an abstract or physical space where something exists
NOTE A domain can be e.g. an organization or a country or a part of it.
3.3
domain number
domain ID
identification number assigned to a domain
NOTE The assigned domain number can coincide with the organization number.
[IEC 82045-2 derived]
3.4
identification [activity]
act of associating identification numbers to an object
3.5
identification number
ID
string of characters representing the value of the identifier
NOTE 1 It is practice that although the term says “number” the string can contain other types of characters as
well.
NOTE 2 Note that the term “identifier” as being an attribute and the term ”identification number” as being the
value of that attribute are here considered different things, but they are often mixed in existing definitions.

– 8 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
NOTE 3 Identification numbers are often required to be unique (an object shall have one number only). This is an
unnecessary strong requirement, it is sufficient if they are unambiguous within a specified domain. An object may
have more than one identification number.
Furthermore, it is assumed in the definition that an organization may be responsible for more than one
identification number domain. This is a commonly occurring situation when organizations are merged, etc.
[IEC 82045-2 derived]
3.6
identification scheme
definition and description of the structure of identifiers
3.7
identification system
system of defined and documented rules and procedures within an organization aiming at the
unambiguous identification and retrieval of any object of interest by applying an identification
scheme
3.8
i dentifie r
attribute associated with an object to unambiguously identify it in a specified domain
NOTE In an identification system several types of identifiers may be required.
3.9
identity
established relation between an object and an identification number
3.10
issuing organization
organization being entrusted by a registration authority or of the management of an
organization to assign identification numbers in a given domain
[ISO 6523 derived]
3.11
metadata
meta information
information (irrespective of its form) used to describe a real or abstract object
[IEC 82045-1 derived]
3.12
object
entity treated in a process of development, implementation, usage and disposal
NOTE 1 The object may refer to a physical or non-physical “thing”, i.e. anything that might exist, exists or did
exist.
NOTE 2 The object has information associated to it.
[IEC 81346-1, 3.1]
3.13
object number
object ID
identification number assigned to an object
NOTE 1 The terms product number, item number, part number, article number, product identifying number,
traceability number (serial or batch) are sometimes used as synonyms to object number.

62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 9 –
NOTE 2 For products the identification number is normally assigned at the engineering of the object. Objects with
the same identification number are supposed to have the same “form, fit and function” and hence being
interchangeable.
3.14
object individual
specimen of an object type irrespective of where it is being used
3.15
object occurrence
use of an object type within a specified context (another object or system) irrespective of
which object individual that is being used
3.16
object type
class of objects having the same set of characteristic properties
3.17
organization
company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority or institution, or part or combination thereof,
whether incorporated or not, public or private, that has its own functions and administration
3.18
organization number
organization ID
identification number assigned to an organization
NOTE The assigned organization number can coincide with the domain number.
[ISO 6523-1 derived]
3.19
registration authority
organization responsible to receive and acknowledge applications from organizations wishing
to become an issuing organization in a given domain
[ISO 6523 derived]
3.20
serial number
identification number assigned to an individual specimen of objects or an object type
NOTE In most industrial applications a serial number is used for tracing the different individual specimen of a
product type during their life times, e.g. the individual cars manufactured of a specific car type.
In other cases the serial number is used as a running number in order to differentiate among different objects or
among different objects within a given domain.
3.21
traceability
ability to trace (identify and retrieve) the information on the stages that lead to a particular
point in a process
[ISO 9000 3.5.4 modified]
3.22
variant
object type derived from a basic (general) object type
NOTE Variants are intended to exist at the same time and require simultaneous management, while versions
follow each other sequentially in time. Versions can, however, also exist at the same time, depending on how older
versions are phased out.
– 10 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
3.23
version
identified state of an object to indicate changes in its life cycle, related to a given object
number for the type of object
NOTE 1 A document version is an identified state in the development of a document during its life cycle, identified
and recorded for retrieval purposes. The term document revision is normally used to indicate that the document
version is formally approved, see e.g. IEC 82045-1 and IEC 82045-2. This term is not used in this standard.
NOTE 2 A product version is an identified state in the development of a product type identified with regard to the
life cycle of a series of products.
[IEC 82045-2 derived]
3.24
version number
version ID
identification number assigned to a version
NOTE The object number of the related object serves as domain number for the version numbers.
[IEC 82045-2 derived]
4 General
4.1 Purpose of identification
The purpose of identification is to ensure unambiguous and precise referencing.
Referencing is a basic requirement for traceability.
An identifier is an attribute to an object serving for its identification.
An identification number is the value of the identifier; a string of characters supplying absolute
and unambiguous reference to the particular object (product, document, information object,
etc.), hence making it unique within a specified domain (or context).
The most important requirement for an identification number is that it shall be unambiguous
within a given domain based on the stipulated rules established in that domain.
NOTE 1 As for example identification numbers for products are presented on the products themselves, as well as
in the associated product documentation used for the maintenance of those products for their whole life-time,
product numbers are used as references for the life time of a product (ranging up to more than 100 years).
NOTE 2 In the case that changes to an object are identified through version management, object number serves
as domain number for the version numbers. If version management is not applied, entirely new object numbers
need to be assigned to changed objects in the relevant domain.
The specification of the domain, the kind of objects to be identified in it and the rules for the
construction of identification numbers in this domain is usually called an identification system.
The most important requirement for an identification system is that it shall be permanent.
NOTE 3 Examples of possible methods to handle necessary changes at the acquirement of companies are dealt
with in Clause 9.
These requirements for unambiguity and permanence have become even more emphasized,
because of the existing and increasing use of electronic information exchange in internal as
well as external trade.
62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 11 –
In connection with the design, engineering, realization, operation, maintenance and disposal,
i.e. the life-cycle of a product or system, it is necessary to employ a number of identification
systems for different purposes and for various kinds of objects, for example:
· product/part identification system used for the identification of types of products;
· (product/part) serial identification system used for the identification of product specimens;
· (product/part) lot/batch identification system used for the identification of sets of products
of the same type manufactured under identical conditions and in which therefore all
products are assumed to be equal;
· document identification systems for the identification of documents;
· quotation identification system for the identification of quotations/offers;
· order identification system used for identification of orders/contracts;
· asset identification systems used for the identification of assets plant management or
leasing business;
· etc.
Such identification systems are used to identify the objects within the domain(s) used within
an organization being responsible for them and thus associating the identified object to this
organization.
Another group of identification systems, often focusing on the facilitation of trade and
logistics, and for which usually international organizations are responsible, has the purpose to
identify objects from different sources, in order to allow global tracing, search and retrieval,
for example:
· trade item (article) identification systems;
· asset identification systems;
· book identification systems;
· banking account identification systems;
· serial publications identification systems;
· package identification systems containing one or more trade items;
· package identification systems of e.g. air carriers;
· identification systems for certificates;
· identification systems for public key infrastructures;
· identification systems for equipment connected to a network, etc.
A third group of identification systems has the purpose to associate the identified object
occurrences to the product / system / plant of which they are a part:
· reference designation system used for the identification of objects; and
· document designation system used for the identification of documents.
Annex A describes different types of identification systems and their requirements.
NOTE Examples of identification systems will be given in Part 2 of this standard (in preparation).
4.2 Referencing and traceability
An identification number makes it possible to refer to one specific object (or a group of
objects).
– 12 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
In order to fulfil the requirements for traceability an identification number shall refer to a
document or documentation or generally: A source of metadata for the object. The metadata
provides the relevant description. See Figure 1.
Identification number
links to
refers to
Physical
describes
or
Metadata
abstract
object
IEC  2410/10
.
Figure 1 – Illustration of the referencing mechanism
An identification number may also refer to information per se, without any associated object.
4.3 Permanence
The requirement for permanence of an identification system is primarily fulfilled by:
· the selection of a domain with permanence; secondly by
· stable rules for the generation of identification numbers within this domain; and finally
· a register permitting retrieval of the metadata of the identification number itself (when and
by whom was the number generated).
Internal and external structures of organizations being in charge of identification systems are
likely to change over time in order to meet external and internal business requirements. IT
system environments in which the identifiers are used may also change over time.
Nevertheless, an applied identification system shall ensure that one identification number can
never depict two different objects, and one object does not need to have more than one
identification number in the same domain.
Principally, information describing an established and used identification system shall not be
deleted.
Identification numbers shall not be reused, unless otherwise specified in the description of the
identification system, until nobody can be expected to refer to it; i.e. beyond the lifetime of the
item it was previously identifying.
NOTE International, regional or national laws, if existing, should have precedence.
An identification system shall therefore be independent from - seen in this time perspective –
the volatile internal organization of a company or other organization and from the used
computer system environment.
62507-1 Ó IEC:2010 – 13 –
4.4 Kinds of objects
A type is a class of objects having a set of characteristics in common. Depending on the
number of common characteristics a type can be from very generic to quite specific.
· Generic object types, for example as described in IEC 81346-2 and ISO/IEC 15418 where
the type is identified by a string of characters.
· Many kinds of products, for example motors, transformers or contactors, are designed as
a range of sizes with common characteristics. In such cases the identifier for the range as
a whole might be a type designation (type designator); for each size possibly a more
specific one (a variant of that type) could be required.
· Each product variant of a product series has its own identification number.
· The commercial packaging of products can introduce further types; packages containing
for example 1, 5 or 10 products need to be differentiated by different identification
numbers.
An individual (object) is one specimen of a product type irrespective of where it is being used.
Each of the produced specimens of the product type mentioned might need to be individually
identified. If it is not required, nor practically possible, to differentiate among the individuals,
identification of a lot or batch may be used instead.
NOTE The term individual (object) is in this standard not intended to include human individuals.
An occurrence of a type refers to the application of a type in a plant or system irrespective of
which individual it is.
Figure 2 illustrates the relations between types and occurrences of types. Table 1 provides
examples of identifiers of types, occurrences of types and of individuals in different contexts.
IEC  2411/10
NOTE The objects below the dash-dotted line are all objects identified as occurrences within “Network 999”. The
latter represents in this example a “top node” that can not be identified as an occurrence.
Figure 2 – Relations among occurrences (identified by concatenated letter codes) of
types (identified by numbers) in a tree-like structure
Table 1 – Use of identifiers in a product context
Origin/main use Types Occurrences of types Individuals
Development Type designation (Reference designation) Not applicable
Product number
Engineering Type designation Reference designation Plant number
Product number
– 14 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
Origin/main use Types Occurrences of types Individuals
Manufacturing Type designation Reference designation Serial number, batch
number, lot number
Product number Part reference
Marketing, sales and Type designation (Reference designation) Serial number, batch
shipment number, lot number,
Product number
package number,
transport number, order
number
Use and maintenance Type designation Reference designation Plant number, serial
number, asset number
Product number
4.5 Changes to an identified object
Objects subject to change shall be identified with the same object number as long as their
relevance is the same from a usage perspective. This is necessary in order to avoid
unnecessary changes in the context where they are referenced, thus avoiding the potential
“avalanches” of changes of identification numbers that would otherwise be a consequence.
In order to manage such changes within the context of a fixed identification number from other
perspectives than usage, a complete identification of the object shall, in addition to the
identification number include, at least one of the following:
· version number;
· serial number and/or lot/batch number; and/or
· production date, packaging date or expiration date.
4.6 Identification schemes
A detailed information model for reference purposes is provided in Annex B.
In the following clauses, the attributes are additionally described by simplified information
models.
The information models (entity-relation diagrams), given in Figure 4, Figure 6 and Figure 8
and shall be read as follows (see also Figure 3):
· from inside outwards starting with the 'ENTITY’ in bold capital letters;
· (related) entities are indicated by ellipses;
· relation between an entity and an (related) entity is indicated by the line between those
ellipses;
· text accompanying the line between an entity and an (related) entity describes the
relation;
· combination of a relation and an entity constitutes the attribute of a data element type;
· two figures separated by a dot indicate the occurrence of the attribute: the first digit
indicates the minimum number of occurrences, the second one, the maximum number of
occurrences;
· relations and the corresponding occurrence indications are on the same side of the
relation-line positioned;
· in the information models the name of the entities are given in capitals and the name of
the related entities in lower case letters.

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Entity: OBJECT
Relation: has
Related entity: identifier
Attribute: has an identifier
NOTE The attribute is composed of the Relation and the relevant entity
Cardinality: 1.1 (one and not more than one)
Figure 3 – Information model principle
4.7 Identifying attributes of an object

IEC  2413/10
Figure 4 – Examples of identifying attributes for an object within a given domain
An object has identifying attributes, see Figure 4. Each of these attributes has a value – the
corresponding identification number. The identification number belongs to a defined and
identified domain.
4.8 Identification of an issuing domain
A domain may be part of another domain and identified as part of that. The identification
number assigned in the more comprehensive domain shall be unambiguous within that and
serves as domain number (domain ID) for the partial domain, see Figure 5. The principles
described in Clause 6 apply.
– 16 – 62507-1 Ó IEC:2010
NOTE Subclause 6.1.2 can be applied if a registration authority for the larger domain exists. If no registration
authority is available 6.1.3 is applicable.

IEC  2414/10
Figure 5 – Illustration of domains
This principle is used to achieve globally unambiguous identification. The issuing (local)
domain is identified within a larger domain, in turn identified within a larger, etc. This series of
successively larger domains ends with the identification of a domain (national or international
(regional or global)) that is globally recognized. The registration can be carried out by either
an international registration authority (in accordance with ISO 6523-1 or ISO/IEC 15459-2) or
a national one, further identified by the country code (identified in accordance with
ISO 3166-1).
For complete identification of an object, the domain numbers of all relevant domains need to
be provided.
The information related to a domain is illustrated in Figure 6. If a domain is not assigned a
domain number as described above, then a number of the other information elements need to
be combined in order to achieve unambiguity in the relevant context.

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Figure 6 – Organization-defined domain identification
The relations among domains, identifiers and identification numbers are illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2 – Relations among domains, identifiers and identification numbers
The issuing domain is Identified object Object identifier Value of the attribute
identified by
Registration authority number Organization Organization identifier Organization number
Organization number Object type Object identifier Object number
Organization number or Object Batch/Lot Batch/Lot identifier Batch/lot number
number
Organization number or Object Individual Individual identifier Serial number
number
Organization number or Object Occurrence Reference identifier Reference designation
number
Object number Version Version identifier Version number

4.9 Multiple identification of the same object
In a given domain there shall be one identification number of the object within it. In most
cases this will be the identification of the object within the domain of the organization being in
charge of it, e.g. its manufacturing. It is up to the organization which of the identification
methods is applied, see 6.1.2 and 6.1.3.
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