GEDITOK Blog

UAL: A Unique Identifier and Decentralized URL for Products

In the coming years, product traceability and transparency will shift from being a "nice to have" to becoming a basic market expectation, and in many sectors, a regulatory requirement. In the European Union, the ESPR framework (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) drives the implementation of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) as a "digital identity document" for products, with relevant information on sustainability, circularity, and compliance. However, as companies move toward richer traceability models (history, events, maintenance, ownership changes, authenticity, recycling), a practical problem arises that is not always mentioned: what happens when a company is not affiliated with GS1 (or its branches) or, even if affiliated, it does not make sense to create a GTIN for all its products?