GEPIR

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The GS1 GEPIR (Global Electronic Party Information Register) is a distributed database that contains basic information on over 1,000,000 companies in over 100 countries.

GEPIR is publicly available at no cost, but limits the number of requests per/day from an IP to 30.^[1] GS1 offers a similar paid service, the GS1 Data Hub, which provides additional capabilities without the traffic limitations imposed by GEPIR.^[2]

Search engine

You can search by

• GTIN code (includes UPC and EAN-13 codes)
• Container Code (SSCC)
• Location number (GLN)
• Company name in some countries.

All 111 GS1 Member Organizations are on GEPIR since 2013 ^[3] The first digits of the GTIN code are called GS1 prefix and are used to route the query to the corresponding GS1 Member Organization.

Results can be returned in HTML or XML for some countries.

Webservice

The SOAP webservice provides a return code indicating if an error occurred:^[4]

• 0: No error
• 1: Missing or invalid parameters
• 2: Prefix never allocated
• 3: No exact match on GLN
• 4: Too many hits, max. 20 entries are displayed
• 5: Unknown country code
• 7: Request timed out
• 8: No catalogue exists
• 9: Company information withheld
• 10: Prefix no longer subscribed
• 11: Country not on the GEPIR network
• 13: Illegal Number
• 14: Daily request limit exceeded
• 99: Server error

Accessibility

GEPIR is accessible for free in almost all countries but the number of request per day is limited (from 20 to 30). Since October 2013, GS1 France restricts access to GEPIR to companies (registration with [SIREN] number is required to use it).^[5][6]

A premium access have been created by GS1 France in January 2010 ^[7] and allows companies to use GS1 web and SOAP interface without any limit. The price of this access is not public.

Number of members

• 2004 : 586.178 members in 72 countries ^[8]
• 2005 : 931.904 members in 76 countries ^[9]
• 2012 : > 1.000.000 members, > 100 countries ^[7]
• 2013 : All 111 Member Organizations (MO) on GEPIR ^[3]

Roadmap

• Version 1.0 - Creation 1999 ^[10]
• Version 3.2 - January 2011 ^[11]
• Version 4.0 - Implement the Specification in 2013 ^[3]

System Architecture

GEPIR is a lookup service coordinated by the GS1 GO that provides all end users with the ability to look up information about GS1 Identification Keys.^[12]

Depending on the service, systems are provided by GS1 Member Organisations (MOs) or 3rd party service providers, or both. Where a GS1 MO does not choose to provide the service directly to its end users, the GS1 Global Office may provide the service for that geography. Some services involve a technical component deployed by the GS1 Global Office that coordinates the systems provided by GS1 MOs and/or 3rd party service providers. The GEPIR service is provided by systems deployed by GS1 MOs, with the GS1 GO providing a central point of coordination to federate the local systems. The GS1 GO also provides the MO-level service for MOs that cannot or do not wish to deploy their own system.

Data Quality

The synchronization with GEPIR requires to know some quality issues or exceptions:

• The GCP returned by GEPIR is not always matching with the first digits of the GTIN code provided. Example: GEPIR result for the product 3168930000334 indicates the GCP 350211 instead of 316893 (http://gepir.gs1.org/v32/xx/gtin.aspx).
• The code 14 (Daily request limit exceeded) is sometime returned instead of 99
• The GCP is not mandatory and when it’s missing can potentially have different lengths. When GS1 assign a GCP to a manufacturer, this manufacturer is this only entity allowed to use this GCP. So it’s not possible to have a GCP containing a valid GCP or to get a GCP containing a valid GCP. Example: GTIN starting with 730 can potentially have a GCP with a length of 6, 7, 8 or 9 digits. If the GCP 7301234 have been received and is valid (returned by GEPIR and matching with the first digit of the GTIN) then the GCP 730123, 73012345 and 730123456 can’t exist. This rule is currently used in POD to find the GCP when the GEPIR service doesn’t return it.
• GEPIR returns in 20% of cases a return code 2 (Prefix never allocated) without any other indication. In many case, the GCP is allocated. There’s currently no way to inform GS1 about these issues.
• GTIN Codes starting with 460, 859, 880 can potentially return a code 14 instead of 99
• Books and magazines start with only with 977, 978 or 979
• Some GLN are not manufacturers but companies proposing to manufacturers the registration of a product as a service : in that case, manufacturers don’t get a GCP but use the GCP of a service company playing the role of intermediary between them and GS1.
• Some countries have exceptions:
  • Mexico (MX) and Italy (IT) : country ISO Code is not mandatory
  • Japan (JP) : GCP if right-padded with ‘X’
  • New Zealand (NZ) : contains 4 field for address fields instead of 3
  • Hong Kong (HK) : specific address format
  • Croatia : GCP padded with ‘0’

A Conformance Program has been Introduced by GS1 in 2013.

References

External links

• GEPIR GO (Global Office) - Webpage - Webservice SOAP
• GEPIR US - Webpage
• GEPIR Germany - Webpage - Webservice SOAP
• GEPIR France - Webpage
• GEPIR Switzerland - Webpage - Webservice SOAP - Smartphone Apps
• GEPIR Belgium & Luxembourg - Webpage
• GEPIR Australia - SOAP