Within the mentorship programme, representatives of GS1 Bulgaria visited GS1 Austria. Representatives of the business, supply chains, and manufacturers of pharmaceutical and chemical products took part in the Bulgarian delegation led by Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov, President of BCCI and Chairman of the GS1 Bulgaria Council with BCCI. The aim of the visit was for both countries to share experience in the implementation of GS1 standards, as well as to exchange positive practices in their application.
The structure of the national organization GS1 Austria was presented at the meeting together with the structure of its members, grouped by sectors and main activities in the various GS1 directions. The use of global GS1 identification numbers (GLN and GTIN) for waste management in industry and trade enjoyed huge interest. Significant progress was achieved in the implementation of the new GS1 DataBar symbols for marking of fresh products and products with variable weights. According to a survey held in 2011, 95-98% of the scanners used at the cash-desks in shops can recognize the new symbols. Within the ECR initiative between manufacturers and merchants in Austria, a regulation on the use of GS1 DataBar is being developed.
The Bulgarian delegation attended a laboratory for testing of radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies. At present, the applications developed and tested in the laboratory are targeted at the needs of the textile industry. RFID labels and tags containing ID information in accordance with the GS1 standards are being placed on the clothes manufactured by famous designers.