Re: VCs at GS1

Hi Phil,

This is very good news.  

I completely understand the measured approach, this kind of change can bring a lot of cultural resistance and a methodical approach brings people along versus running them over.

Cheers!

Michael Shea




> On Feb 11, 2025, at 1:39 PM, Phil Archer <phil.archer@gs1.org> wrote:
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> I am acutely aware that I and my GS1 colleagues have been almost entirely absent from the standards development work around DIDs and VCs for over a year. I can only apologise.
> 
> However, the topic has been discussed and considered at our senior level and I wanted to share the positive output of those discussions here.
> 
> First of all, GS1 itself is unknown to almost everyone so a quick intro: we're the organization behind the barcode (evil federated/issued identifiers, boo!!). Alongside our identifiers that appear in 1 and 2D optical symbols and RFID tags there's a catalogue of standards related to supply chains and related business processes.
> 
> So... VCs are obviously a good fit for our work. We hired two consultants whose task was to recommend what, if anything, we should do. The cut a long story short:
> 
> 1. The reasons why we *should* implement VCs in some way are compelling.
> 
> 2. The reasons why we *should not* implement VCs are also strong.
> 
> One of the documents created during this process was a survey of the tech landscape which we have just published at https://ref.gs1.org/docs/2025/VCs-and-DIDs-tech-landscape. Some of you will know its author, Ira Bolychevsky.
> 
> Following this work, GS1 is committed to taking small steps with VCs. Some of our GS1 Member Organisations (such as GS1 US, GS1 Netherlands and others) will be able to issue a VC proving that a GS1 identifier is licensed by a company we know. GS1 Global Office will act as a root of trust. This will be consistent with things like the UN Transparency Protocol.
> 
> However, as I say, there were also reasons for caution. Therefore, we will wait and see the take up and reaction to our minimal steps (what we call 'Crawl') before making a decision on whether to invest in 'Walk', let alone 'Run'. This means that we are not yet ready to commit to make it a normal part of every GS1 Member Organisation's operation. That is my hope and expectation, but if we're to make that kind of commitment, we need compelling evidence that, today, isn't quite there.
> 
> We have a lot of work ahead of us even for 'Crawl' but the journey has begun and I hope it will prove to be an important use of the technology that people here have worked so hard to create.
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Phil
> 
> ---
> 
> Phil Archer
> Web Solutions Director, GS1
> https://www.gs1.org
> 
> https://philarcher.org
> +44 (0)7887 767755
> @philarcher.bsky.social
> 
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