ELEOS Team have been recently receiving multiple enquiries to clarify new Global Identification Number (GLN) and Global Item Trade Number (GTIN) requirements that have been introduced earlier this year in Russia, therefore a short summary below was prepared to understand what it is, when it is or isn't required and what stand do other Member States take on this.
Firstly, requirement for the GLN and GTIN numbers was proposed by the Russia Governing Bodies in the Order No. 877 from 30.12.2020 of The Ministry of Economic Development, which came into effect on 09.02.2021 and in the Resolution No. 1856 from 18.11.2020 of the Government of the Russian Federation, which came into effect on 01.01.2021.
According to these documents, listing of the GLN number will become mandatory in Russia from:
- 01.07.2021 for all DoC applications;
- 01.08.2021 for all CoC applications.
Requirement to list GTIN number on the other hand will remain voluntary.
Secondly, it is important to emphasize here that provision of the above numbers is only required if EAC Approval application is handled by the Russian Certification Bodies and is registered in the Russian national registry. If, however, application is handled and registered in other Member States, then neither of the numbers are required.
Discussions on whether GLN and GTIN number should be a harmonized requirement across all Member States is still ongoing. As it stands, there is a significant opposition from other Member States to follow suit of Russia's approach, however should anything change, further update will be issued.
As a side note, GLN is part of the GS1 systems of standards, which is compliant with ISO/IEC 6523. It is used to identify a location such as a warehouse or a legal entity. GTIN on the other hand is used to look up product information in a database which may belong to a manufacturer or other legal entity.
