ISO/IEC 15459: the unique identification behind product passport identifiers

ISO/IEC 15459 is an international series of standards for the unique identification of physical things: transport units, products, product packages, returnable transport items and groupings. It was written for automatic identification and data capture, meaning identifiers that a machine reads from a barcode, a 2D code or an RFID tag. Digital product passports have given the series a new role. Both the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Batteries Regulation refer to it in their legal text.

This article is for people responsible for product data, labelling or IT at a brand or a battery manufacturer who want to know why an ISO standard from 2014 appears in EU law on digital product passports, and what it means next to the new European standards EN 18219 and EN 18220.

What the series covers

ISO/IEC 15459 is maintained by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31, the committee for automatic identification and data capture techniques. The series has six parts. ESPR and the Batteries Regulation list them with their years, and those are the editions the legal text points to:

Part	Edition	Subject
15459-1	2014	Individual transport units
15459-2	2015	Registration procedures
15459-3	2014	Common rules
15459-4	2014	Individual products and product packages
15459-5	2014	Individual returnable transport items (RTIs)
15459-6	2014	Groupings

Part 1 sets out how a transport unit gets a unique string of characters that can be represented in a barcode or other data carrier attached to it. Part 5 does the same for returnable transport items and states that the identity is relevant for the item's whole lifecycle. The parts recognise different classes of identity, so that requirements can fit what is being identified. Across the series, no barcode symbology is defined. The standards describe how an identifier is built and who may issue it. How the code is drawn, as a QR code for example, is covered by other standards.

Issuing agencies and issuing agency codes

At the heart of ISO/IEC 15459 is a model for reaching global uniqueness without a single central database. It is set out in Part 2, the registration procedures, and works in three steps:

1. A Registration Authority approves and registers issuing agencies.
2. Each issuing agency receives an Issuing Agency Code (IAC), which becomes part of the unique identifier.
3. Anyone who puts identifiers on their items must be authorised by an issuing agency and follow that agency's rules and ISO/IEC 15459.

The Registration Authority publishes the register of issuing agencies and their codes. The version current at the time of writing is dated 19 February 2026. It shows, for example, that GS1 holds the issuing agency codes 0 to 9. That is why a GTIN, GS1's trade item number, counts as an ISO/IEC 15459 identifier: GS1 is a registered issuing agency, and its number ranges sit within the codes assigned to it. The register also lists agencies in pharmaceuticals, defence and industry, so GS1 is one issuing agency among several, not the only one.

The point of the model is that two organisations can never issue the same identifier. The agency code keeps the agencies apart, and within each agency its own rules keep numbers from colliding.

Registration Authorityapproves and registers issuing agencies (Part 2)

GS1issuing agency codes 0–9

Other issuing agenciese.g. pharmaceuticals, defence, industry

A company authorised by an agencyfollows that agency's rules and ISO/IEC 15459

Unique identifierIACagency's code…number under the agency's rules

What the legal text says

ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781

Annex III to ESPR lists the information a product passport can contain. Its second paragraph says that the data carrier, the unique product identifier, the unique operator identifiers and the unique facility identifiers shall, where relevant for the products concerned, comply with ISO/IEC 15459-1:2014, 15459-2:2015, 15459-3:2014, 15459-4:2014, 15459-5:2014 and 15459-6:2014. Point (c) of the same annex names the Global Trade Item Number as provided for in ISO/IEC 15459-6 or equivalent.

Article 10(1)(c) says that the data carrier and the unique product identifier shall comply with one or more of the standards in Annex III, or equivalent European or international standards, until the references of harmonised standards are published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Article 12(1) says the same about operator and facility identifiers. The Commission may replace or add standards in the annex by delegated act.

The references of the first harmonised standards for product passports were published by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736 of 14 July 2026, which was published and entered into force on 15 July 2026. They include EN 18219 on unique identifiers and EN 18220 on data carriers. Under Article 41(2) of ESPR, a passport that conforms to such a standard is presumed to meet the requirements of Articles 10 and 11 to the extent the standard covers them.

The Batteries Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542

For batteries the reference is more direct. From 18 February 2027, Article 77(1) requires a battery passport for each LMT battery, each industrial battery with a capacity above 2 kWh and each electric vehicle battery. Article 77(3) says the passport shall be accessible through the QR code referred to in Article 13(6), which links to a unique identifier that the economic operator placing the battery on the market attributes to it. The QR code and the unique identifier shall comply with ISO/IEC 15459-1 to 15459-6 or their equivalent. The Commission may replace those standards or add others by delegated act.

Until such an act is adopted, the legal text's reference to ISO/IEC 15459 applies.

How it relates to EN 18219 and EN 18220

EN 18219 and EN 18220 do not replace ISO/IEC 15459. In part they build on it. According to its abstract at SIS, EN 18219 describes identification schemes that use issuing agencies, self-issuing systems, or a combination of both. The standard has five schemes for product identifiers. The first, a web-enabled structured path, requires a registered issuing agency code under ISO/IEC 15459-2 together with GS1 Application Identifiers or ASC MH10.8.2 Data Identifiers. Another scheme covers low-capacity carriers such as RAIN RFID and 2D codes read through a resolver, and refers to ISO/IEC 15459-4 and -6. Other schemes, such as the Identification Link under EN IEC 61406-1, are self-issuing and need no issuing agency code at all.

So whoever already identifies products under ISO/IEC 15459, with a GTIN for instance, usually has a route into EN 18219. The difference is that EN 18219 asks more of the identifier as the address of a passport: it must be globally unique, persistent, convertible to a web address and keep a fixed granularity, whether model, batch or item, once the product is on the market. See the article on EN 18219 for the details.

EN 18220 is about the carrier itself: symbology characteristics, error correction, print quality, durability and placement on the product. ISO/IEC 15459 says nothing about these. More in the article on EN 18220.

For anyone building on GS1 keys there is a third piece: GS1 Digital Link, which writes a GTIN and its qualifiers as a web address. The overview of the whole family is in DPP standards: an overview.

Common misunderstandings

"ISO/IEC 15459 is a kind of barcode"

No. The series describes how identifiers are built and registered, not how they are drawn. The QR code has its own standard, ISO/IEC 18004. A recital of the Batteries Regulation names ISO/IEC 18004:2015 as the guidelines for the QR codes on batteries.

"You have to be a GS1 member"

GS1 is one of many issuing agencies in the register. ESPR names the GTIN as possible passport content but does not require GS1. EN 18219 also has schemes that need no issuing agency.

"The battery passport's data carrier is waiting for a delegated act"

The standards are already in Article 77(3). A delegated act may only replace or add standards. Anyone building battery passports today has a clear requirement to follow.

"Every battery needs a passport"

The passport requirement in Article 77(1) covers LMT batteries, industrial batteries above 2 kWh and electric vehicle batteries. All batteries, however, must carry a QR code from 18 February 2027 under Article 13(6). For batteries without a passport requirement, the code leads to other information, such as the declaration of conformity.

"ISO/IEC 15459 no longer matters now that EN 18219 exists"

For products under ESPR, the harmonised standards have given presumption of conformity since 15 July 2026. But EN 18219 itself refers to ISO/IEC 15459, and for batteries the series stays in the legal text until the Commission adopts its delegated act.

How this looks in practice

DPP Agent, built by Blippa, addresses each passport as a GS1 Digital Link when the brand has a valid GTIN, for example https://lindex.dpp.dppagent.com/01/07314781685466/21/002. The GTIN sits within GS1's issuing agency codes, and so within ISO/IEC 15459. DPP Agent's validator checks which of EN 18219's five schemes an identifier follows. It can read syntax and check digits, but it cannot look up whether an issuing agency code is registered, because the register has no open interface. The validation report says so rather than hiding the limit behind a grade.