Document Authentication

The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) under the Quality Council of India (QCI), from mid-2017, will begin using Global Document Type Identifiers (GDTI) encoded in QR codes on all accreditation certificates issued by them. 

NABL provides accreditation of laboratories towards testing and calibration in all major fields of Science & Engineering, including medical testing. Approximately 6000 accreditation certificates are issued by them yearly.

Currently, NABL uses hologram stickers on their certificates but face limitations such as—no reliable means to verify authenticity of certificates as it doesn’t enable data capture; similar type of stickers can be easily purchased from the open market as there isn’t much standardisation in hologram designing, plus NABL incurs recurring costs for purchasing stickers every year, all of which will be overcome with the GDTI/QR code implementation as the barcode would get printed directly on each certificate.   

The decision to adopt GS1 standards to verify the authenticity of their certificates, over their current hologram solution, is based on the data capture capability and security provided by GS1 standards. 

By using GDTI’s encoded in QR codes, citizens and businesses can easily verify the authenticity of certificates by using any barcode reader app on their smartphones and retrieve certificate details such as the validity period of the accreditation, date of issue, accreditation received in accordance to which ISO/IEC standard etc. 

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) set up a new system to speed the process of authenticating Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) certificates issued after February 2015.
The old process required a letter to be sent along with a copy of the certificate to the CBSE office, typically taking several days to complete the authentication process.  ​

Now with the new system, built on GS1 standards, using Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technology, authentication can be completed electronically within minutes. 

Each certificate is uniquely identified with a Global Document Type Identifier (GDTI), which is encoded in a GS1 QR code, along with a hidden URL. The GS1 QR code (a 2D barcode) is printed on the top-right corner of the certificate. When this barcode is scanned, using a mobile app, the information associated with that certificates’ GDTI is retrieved from the CBSE database. 

Benefits of this online authentication are: 

• Recruitment agencies, schools, educational institutions no longer have to call or write to CBSE to verify details of issued certificates  
• Prevents duplication and fake certificates 
• Authentication/verification is completed in less than a minute  
• Important details including photograph and name can be verified 
• Simple and easy to use  
• Saves time and effort for all stakeholders  

All birth and death certificates issued by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) are identified with unique GS1 Global Document Type Identifiers (GDTI) encoded in barcodes. With this implementation, details printed on the certificates can be authenticated by scanning the barcode on the certificate and retrieving the information from an online database maintained by the NDMC.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has implemented the use of GS1 standards encoded in barcodes for uniquely identifying all Trade License Certificates etc., issued by them. This helps them distinguish between fake and genuine certificates.

The Karnataka State Seed and Organic Certification Agency implemented GS1 standards to uniquely identify certificates issued to organic farms in the region.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has implemented the use of GS1 standards encoded in barcodes for uniquely identifying all skill certificates issued by them.