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A meeting of European (Project CRISTAL) and North American
(RAPID, Inc.) agrochemical industry representatives
agreed on action for full compatibility of crop protection
product coding in Europe, USA and Canada to be based
on GS1 · UCC standards. The decision is hailed by GS1 Global Office as an important step leading to the acceptance
of GS1 · UCC System as the international standard
for the agrochemical industry.
Together
with European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) representatives
from Monsanto and Novartis, GS1 Global Office is representing
the CRISTAL project in the newly established CRISTAL/RAPID
Product Coding Convergence Working Group. The group’s
output will be a proposal for an agreed, recommended
product coding solution, which is to be applied globally.
Recent discussions between the two projects indicate
that they are converging towards common aims. Convergence
of CRISTAL and RAPID standards and guidelines is a precondition
for the application of GS1 · UCC standards by agrochemical
companies in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East
and Africa. This decision will provide a platform for
the promotion of the GS1 •UCC System to the agrochemical
industry outside Europe and North America. Numbering
Organisations will benefit by increased subscribership from
the crop protection product manufacturers, as well as
third-party logistic providers and wholesalers.
ECPA
established a platform of agreed standards, known as
CRISTAL, based on the GS1 •UCC System. Project CRISTAL
facilitates the introduction of electronic commerce
and bar coding throughout the agrochemical industry.
Its older sister, project RAPID in North America, inspired
ECPA to launch CRISTAL in 1997. The work of project
CRISTAL in 1998 was focused on defining the standards.
In 1999, the focus has progressed to encompass a number
of pilot projects involving a collaboration of manufacturers
(Bayer, Monsanto, Novartis, Sopra, Zeneca, BASF, etc.),
carriers and distributors. These pilots will assess
the practicality of the standards and provide practical
experience of the benefits that can be achieved from
the standards and any implementation related issues.
These experiences will be captured in communication
material towards the end of 1999, so that all organisations
can benefit from the lessons learnt. GS1 Global Office
was involved in developing the CRISTAL standards and
is actively participating in the project team’s
work.
RAPID
is a non-profit organisation that assists the North
American Agri-Business realise the economic and stewardship
benefits of electronic commerce. It develops and promotes
commonly supported standards, processes, databases and
electronic connectivity. RAPID issued a guideline on
bar code symbology, which recommends the use of GS1 •UCC
standards. The purpose of the bar code guideline is
to develop a structure, which can be used throughout
the agricultural industry for shipping, receiving, inventory,
control, product and asset tracking and other applications
as adopted by the American Crop Protection Association
(ACPA).
AGROCHEMICAL
INDUSTRY TO FORGE STRONGER LINKS WITH GS1 INTERNATIONAL
While most
of the European chemical industry uses CEFIC standards,
ECPA subscriber companies and national associations have
opted for the GS1 •UCC System. ECPA seeks a stronger
alliance with GS1 Global Office by establishing an GS1 User Group for Crop Protection Products. The aim is
to irrevocably tie CRISTAL standards to GS1 · UCC standards
and integrate ECPA subscriber companies and national associations
into the GS1 Community.
Figure
1. Integration of CRISTAL standards and ECPA subscribers
into the GS1 Community
The
GS1 User Group will be responsible for finalising and
maintaining CRISTAL standards, as well as for making
change requests and proposing additional codes through
the appropriate GS1 •UCC committees. ECPA will provide
the user group secretariat. GS1 Global Office will certify
all CRISTAL standards, manuals and implementation guidelines,
including subsets of EANCOM̉ messages, before their
publication. (Decision of the CRISTAL Project Meeting
held on 14 & 15 June)
GS1 INTERNATIONAL ASSISTS ECPA IN DEFINING ITS POSITION
ON TRACKING AND TRACING OF CROP PROTECTION PRODUCTS
GS1 Global Office’s expertise, acquired in the ongoing
meat, fruits and vegetables traceability projects, helped
ECPA’s CRISTAL project to define and communicate
externally its position on the European agrochemical
industry’s track and trace capability. GS1 Global Office
presented its work on GS1 · UCC System application for
the traceability of agri-food products in the fresh
produce supply chain, as well as the political, legal
and technological aspects of food traceability and safety
issues.
CRISTAL
promotes standards enabling tracking and tracing of
crop protection products in Europe. These standards
are SSCC on logistic units, GTIN on traded and consumer
units, and subsets of EANCOM̉ messages. However, the
project does not manage their implementation for product
tracking and tracing, which builds on negotiated, voluntary
sharing of data between independent partners seeking
to capture a benefit from the exchange.
 Figure 2. Linking the food supply
chain by means of GS1 · UCC standards
Food
traceability, including the application of crop protection
products, is not part of the CRISTAL scope. However,
GS1 · UCC standards are an important conduit of information
between the agrochemical industry, growers, food processors,
wholesale and retail trade, and consumers. With the
liberalisation of trade in agricultural products and
growing public concern over food safety, GS1 Global Office
increasingly operates in an environment that is dominated
by international trade and domestic political issues.
Because of conflicting demands and possible negative
consequences for the development and promotion of GS1 ·
UCC standards, the current situation requires improved
co-operation in this area, primarily, between national
GS1 organisations, as well as between GS1 Global Office
and UCC. (Decision of the CRISTAL Project Meeting held
on 22 & 23 April)
AGROCHEMICAL
INDUSTRY ADOPTS GS1 •UCC GLOBAL LOCATION NUMBER
STANDARD TO IDENTIFY COMPANIES AND LOCATIONS
The
CRISTAL project team agreed to recommend the use of
GS1 •UCC Global Location Numbers to ECPA subscriber
companies and national associations. The recommendation
fosters international trade in crop protection products
by facilitating cross-border transactions and movement
of goods. In addition to the manufacturers, the recommendation
will have an impact on the third-party logistic providers,
distributors and dealers of agrochemical products. The
CRISTAL standards originally endorsed the GS1 •UCC
System for the identification and communication for
crop protection products. (Decision of the CRISTAL Project
Meeting held on 4 & 5 February)
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