IEC 61406 Identification Link: self-issued identifiers for product passports

IEC 61406 Identification Link is an international standard for an identifier that is also a web link: it identifies a physical object and leads to the information about it. It comes from industrial automation, but has taken on a new role because the European standard EN 18219 accepts it as one of five ways to identify a product in a digital product passport. It is relevant to manufacturers who want to give products a persistent address without going through an issuing agency.

The standard has two parts. IEC 61406-1:2022 holds the general requirements and was published on 15 September 2022. IEC 61406-2:2024 adds structured links for models and batches and was published on 8 May 2024. Both come from IEC TC 65/SC 65E, and both are also European standards, EN IEC 61406-1:2022 and EN IEC 61406-2:2024. This article relies on IEC's public descriptions and on the clauses of EN 18219 we have read.

What the standard covers

Part 1: general requirements

According to IEC's description, IEC 61406-1 specifies minimum requirements for a globally unique identification of physical objects which also constitutes a link to its related digital information. The identification is called the Identification Link (IL), and its encoded data the IL string. Its basic features:

• The IL string has the data format of a link, a URL.
• It is machine-readable and attached to the object in a 2D symbol, such as a QR code, or an NFC tag.
• The requirements apply to objects the manufacturer supplies as individual units and has already given a unique identity.
• The standard does not regulate the content or layout of nameplates, such as arrangement, plain text or approval symbols.

Part 1 is therefore about individual items. An IL in its simplest form is an address that only the manufacturer issues and that identifies one object, not a whole product line.

Part 2: models, batches and characteristics

IEC 61406-2:2024 complements Part 1 for cases where data elements are encoded in a structured IL string with standardised syntax and semantics. It also covers cases where uniqueness relates to a product type or model, or to a lot or batch, rather than to an item. The default stays the same as in Part 1: unless something else is indicated, an Identification Link identifies a unique object.

The structured form uses ASC MH10.8.2 Data Identifiers written as query parameters in the address. In our reading of the standards these include .P for the model, .10B for the batch and .S for a serial number, in an address such as https://dpp.example.com/?.P=ART123.

Its role in EN 18219

EN 18219 is the harmonised standard for unique identifiers in product passports. Its scope says it describes identification schemes that use issuing agencies, self-issuing systems, or both. The Identification Link is the clearest example of self-issuing.

In EN 18219, the Identification Link under EN IEC 61406-1 is ID scheme 2 (§5.3). What applies to it, as we read the text:

• No issuing agency code. Unlike scheme 1 (GS1 Digital Link, for example), no issuing agency code registered under ISO/IEC 15459-2 and no membership is needed.
• Uniqueness comes from the domain. The web domain is part of the identifier and gives it global uniqueness; under that domain the economic operator issues its own numbers (Annex B, Table B.1).
• Without data identifiers: items only. The heading of §5.3.2.1 is item-level identification only. A plain IL stands for a single object.
• Models and batches need Part 2. Under §5.3.2.2, EN IEC 61406-1 is combined with EN IEC 61406-2, using ASC MH10.8.2 data identifiers (ISO/IEC 15418), when the identifier stands for a model or a batch.

Self-issued: no issuing agency code, no membership

ItemPart 1, no data identifiers

https://dpp.example.coma domain the manufacturer controls: uniqueness comes from here/A7K2Q9the manufacturer's own number

ModelPart 2

…/?.P=ART123.P · model

BatchPart 2

…/?.10B=B0417.10B · batch

The standard's Annex B also shows that one address can be read two ways. According to the annex notes, the scheme 1 examples in both forms, path and query string, are at the same time valid Identification Links under EN IEC 61406-1, the query form also under -1 combined with -2.

Identification Link or GS1 Digital Link?

Both are web addresses that identify a product, and both can sit under the manufacturer's own domain; GS1's Digital Link specification explicitly allows a custom domain instead of id.gs1.org. The difference is where uniqueness comes from. In GS1 Digital Link it comes from the GTIN, which is allocated within the GS1 system and, under GS1's rules, is not reused for another product. In an Identification Link it comes from the domain and the manufacturer's own numbering. A company that already has GTINs on its goods gets an address that also works in retail. A company without GTINs, for machines or components never sold in a shop for instance, can use an Identification Link without joining an issuing agency. Responsibility for keeping the domain and the numbering stable over time then rests entirely with the manufacturer.

How it relates to ESPR and the battery passport

ESPR defines a unique product identifier as a unique string of characters that identifies a product and also enables a web link to the passport. An Identification Link is exactly that. Article 12(4)(b) also tasks the Commission with setting, by delegated acts, rules for economic operators wishing to create their own unique identifiers and data carriers without relying on an issuing agency. Self-issuing is a route the regulation itself anticipates.

Since 15 July 2026, EN 18219 has been cited in the Official Journal by Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 and confers presumption of conformity with ESPR Articles 10 and 11 to the extent it covers them (Article 41(2)). Because the Identification Link is part of EN 18219, the scheme falls under that presumption when its requirements and the standard's general requirements in clause 4 are met (§5.1). Before then, Article 10(1)(c) and Annex III pointed to ISO/IEC 15459 or equivalent standards.

Batteries are different. Batteries Regulation Article 77(3) requires the QR code and unique identifier to comply with ISO/IEC 15459-1 to -6 or their equivalent. Whether a self-issued Identification Link counts as equivalent, the text does not say. Anyone building battery passports today is better off following ISO/IEC 15459 for as long as that reference stands.

The data carrier for an Identification Link falls under EN 18220. IEC 61406-1 names 2D symbols and NFC tags, which matches the carriers CEN-CENELEC discusses for product passports.

Common misunderstandings

"Without GS1 there is no approved identifier"

EN 18219 has five schemes, and the Identification Link is one. It needs neither an issuing agency code nor a membership.

"Any address is an Identification Link"

Uniqueness rests on the domain, and the identifier has to point to one and the same object and never be reused for another (EN 18219 §4.1.2). An address that only leads to a home page identifies no product.

"A plain link can stand for a whole model"

Under EN 18219 §5.3.2.1, an IL without data identifiers stands for a single item. For a model or batch, the data identifiers of IEC 61406-2 are needed.

"An Identification Link works for battery passports today"

The Batteries Regulation still refers to ISO/IEC 15459 or equivalent, and the text does not say whether a self-issued link counts as equivalent.

How this looks in practice

The validator in DPP Agent, built by Blippa, recognises an Identification Link as scheme 2 and reports that it is self-issued and rests on the domain. If the passport declares model or batch level but the address has no data identifiers, the validator says so, citing §5.3.2.1. Our own passports are addressed as GS1 Digital Link where a valid GTIN exists.