Supply Chain Traceability Design Template (GS1 EPCIS 2.0)

Supply Chain Traceability Design (EPCIS): [Programme or network name]

Solution design for supply chain event visibility: which physical and digital events are captured, with which identifiers and vocabulary, how they are shared with trading partners, and how they answer traceability, recall and product passport questions. It follows the GS1 EPCIS Standard Release 2.0 and the Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) Release 2.0, both ratified by GS1 in June 2022, with GS1 identifiers and GS1 Digital Link URIs. Regulatory drivers (EU product passports, US food traceability) are summarised for planning only. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a documentation format, not legal advice: check the current official texts with a qualified professional.

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Revision history

1. Questions and drivers

Regulatory context to check (examples, dated):

• US: the FDA food traceability rule under FSMA section 204 requires records of key data elements for critical tracking events for foods on the Food Traceability List. FDA states that the compliance date is 20 July 2028 (moved from 20 January 2026). Check the FDA page.
• EU: Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 on ecodesign for sustainable products sets the framework for digital product passports, applied product group by product group through delegated acts; the Batteries Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 requires a battery passport for certain batteries from 18 February 2027. Check EUR-Lex and the Commission's pages for the current timetable.
• UK: check sector rules for the products in scope, such as food traceability under assimilated food law (the UK's version of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002).

2. Identifiers and master data

Master data (product descriptions, location addresses, party names) is shared once through master data channels, not repeated in every event.

3. Critical tracking events

Each event answers what (identifiers or quantities), when (event time and time zone offset), where (read point and business location), why (business step, disposition, transactions, source and destination) and, new in EPCIS 2.0, how (sensor data such as temperature).

3.1 Example event

Example: the shipping event CTE-003 in the EPCIS 2.0 JSON-LD binding.

{
  "@context": ["https://ref.gs1.org/standards/epcis/2.0.0/epcis-context.jsonld"],
  "type": "EPCISDocument",
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "creationDate": "2026-11-03T08:15:00Z",
  "epcisBody": {
    "eventList": [
      {
        "type": "ObjectEvent",
        "eventTime": "2026-11-03T09:02:11+01:00",
        "eventTimeZoneOffset": "+01:00",
        "epcList": ["https://id.gs1.org/00/095212340000001232"],
        "action": "OBSERVE",
        "bizStep": "shipping",
        "disposition": "in_transit",
        "readPoint": {"id": "https://id.gs1.org/414/9521234000105"},
        "bizTransactionList": [
          {"type": "po", "bizTransaction": "urn:example:po:PO-7781"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

4. Event capture and sharing architecture

5. Data quality and governance

Example: in a pilot week 2,400 pallets shipped and 2,388 had a matching receiving event: 2,388 / 2,400 = 99.5 percent, which meets DQ-001.

6. Partner onboarding

7. Testing

8. Glossary and references

Standard and licence note

Based on the GS1 EPCIS Standard Release 2.0 and the Core Business Vocabulary Release 2.0, which GS1 publishes free of charge, and on public legal texts named above. Event type names, vocabulary values and the JSON-LD context URL are used for interoperability; no standard text is reproduced, and all descriptions are original text written for this collection. Check the current GS1 releases and the official legal texts before use. This is a documentation format, not legal advice. GS1 and EPCIS are trademarks of GS1 AISBL; this template is not affiliated with or endorsed by GS1. Template licence: MIT.