About GS1

GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization that develops and maintains global standards that improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chain practices. GS1 Canada delivers perpetually updated and cleansed, bilingual product data to organizations of all sizes to help meet Canadian trading partner requirements and address sector-wide issues.  

To learn more visit https://www.gs1ca.org

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Pre-requisites to Working with OCS

In order to do business with the Ontario Cannabis Store, we require that all cannabis suppliers go through GS1 Canada for the following:

  • GTINs (Global Trade Item Numbers):  To secure product GTINs, the numbers printed below most barcodes that uniquely identify a product down to very specific details to ensure that it cannot be confused with another product. For more information, visit GS1.
  • Barcodes: To generate their product barcode symbology and use the prescribed formatting on all levels of packaging. Click here to view the acceptable symbologies for OCS for cannabis and cannabis accessories.
  • Images: To go through GS1 Canada to take globally standardized product images.
  • Registry: To subscribe to GS1 Canada for products to be included in the national ECCnet Registry. Subscribe now.

Benefits of GS1 Global Standards

GS1 standards create a common foundation for business by uniquely identifying, accurately capturing and automatically sharing vital information about products, locations, assets and more.

  • Product Authentication: Through identification standards, each product has its own unique identifier, ensuring products are not mistaken for each other and reducing the risk of product counterfeiting.
  • Supply Chain Traceability: As the only global standard, GS1 identifiers allow products to be tracked or traced as they move through the supply chain anywhere in the world, helping streamline inventory control processes and enabling products to be quickly located or recalled if necessary.
  • Data Excellence:  Data in ECCnet Registry is reliable, perpetually cleansed and updated.
  • One-to-Many: GS1 Canada’s one-to-many approach ensures product data is loaded once, then efficiently shared with your selected trading partners from one place, at the same time. This removes the need to re-enter information for each new trading partner or every time your product information needs updating, ensuring data quality saving significant time and resources.