Overview

The use of electronic data interchange in association with the physical transport and handling of goods requires a clear and unique identifier (that is, an identification key) linking the electronic data and the transport unit. Bar coded transport labels are in widespread use in European industry. There exists a number of different standards many designed to meet the requirements of the specific industry sector. For effective and economic use within, and between, industry sectors a common multi-industry standard is a necessity. The bar code information on the transport label may be used to access the appropriate database that contains detailed information about the transport unit, including information transmitted by electronic messages. In addition a transport label may contain other information relevant to the trading partners, either encoded in bar codes or printed in a human readable format. This edition of EN 1573expands on the 1997 edition by providing advice on usage of a modularized multi industry transport label that fulfils both product related requirements as well as transport requirements.

Document: references other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 043-04-31 AA - Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 225/WG 4 - Automatic ID applications