At this year’s Regional Forum in Bucharest (16 – 19 October 2012), the discussion was focused more on innovation and future opportunities. The globalization trend and technology development expand the possibilities for GS1 system and open new areas to explore. Guided by the principle that each innovation requires good foundations to start with, GS1 chose the motto of the forum in Bucharest “From basics to innovation”.
Data Quality and Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), as well as mobile applications and cooperation between sectors when identifying consumer goods were discussed at the GS1 in Europe Regional Forum. Bulgaria was represented by the President of BCCI and President of the GS1 Bulgaria Council* with BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov, Nadezhda Pancheva– member of the GS1 Bulgaria Council, Hristo Sodev, Executive Secretary and Lyubomir Gaydarov, GS1 Bulgaria Expert.
Out of 108 national GS1 organizations worldwide, 45 are the national organizations in Europe. Key topics on this year’s agenda included global traceability ensured by the GS1 standards, mobile communications and their application in trade, results from the use of mobile applications to verify the legitimacy of identification numbers.
During GS1 in Europe Regional Forum the emphasis was placed on e-Government and e-Invoicing. Good practices from the application of GS1 standards in the public sectors of Romania, Denmark and Austria were shared.
Since 2005 the public sector in Denmark has been issuing electronic invoices. In this regard, companies were given GS1 GLNs**. The Austrian public authority also decided to use GLNs for electronic data interchange in the public sector. In Romania e-Invoicing will be used to facilitate VAT recovery to companies. The attitude of the governments of the three countries towards the international standards GS1 and the use of GLNs for identification of companies is extremely positive. GLNs are unique, universally valid and functional, facilitate international economic exchange by allowing companies to be unambiguously identified by their international partners, and ease communication between companies. Using global standards for identification, communication and description of processes may be compared to using a unified language.
It is a fact that the BULSTAT number has been successfully used in Bulgaria to identify companies. It is unique, but only nationally recognized and its opportunities are relatively limited. According to Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov, it was high time that we started using an international identification number such as the GLN. In addition to identifying the company as a legal entity, it allows for the identification of physical locations as well – e.g. offices of the company, its manufacturing or warehouse facilities, loading platforms, etc., all the way to the storage unit level.
The governments of Denmark, Austria and Romania are certain that the GLNs will be successfully implemented in the public sector. This is an important step towards creating e-Government. According to Tsvetan Simeonov, together with e-Invoicing, as proven by the facts and data announced at the forum, this would lead to:
- Higher collection of companies’ liabilities towards the state;
- Curbing corruption in the public sector;
- Reduction of costs by switching from paper to electronic documents, when e-Invoices are introduced in public institutions.
Upon the return of the delegation from the forum, the information will be submitted to the respective competent authorities. BCCI will organize meetings with the responsible governmental institutions to discuss the possibility to further improve the quality of services provided by our public administration by using the GS1 standards.
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* The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been the official representative of Bulgaria in the international non-profit association GS1since the end of 1991. The GS1 National Organization activities are carried out by the GS1 Bulgaria Council with BCCI.
** GLN (Global Location Number): GS1 Identification Key, used in electronic data interchange to identify physical locations (manufacturing facilities or storage bases) or legal entities.
