Qatar Chamber hosts a workshop on international barcode – Qatar Chamber
30-01-2023
The Qatar Chamber, in cooperation with Qatar Development Bank and Qatar’s Coding and Tracking Office (GS1 Qatar Office), organized a workshop entitled ‘Introducing the global standards for numbering (GS1) and the global standards system (GS1 System) and the various applications for using barcodes and their role in developing the business sector for Qatari companies’.
The workshop featured introducing the global standards for coding and the mechanisms of their use in various barcode applications, which cover important sectors such as retail trade, health care, transportation and logistics services, and other sectors.
It also introduced the GS1 Qatar and the services it provides to Qatari companies, as well as the GS1, GS1 System, and the various applications of using barcodes and their role in developing the business sector of Qatari companies, in addition to introducing the global keys used in the distinctive mark project and the mechanisms for their extraction and use.
It further discussed the mechanisms of registration and obtaining membership in the GS1 Qatar, and the rules for granting international barcodes, as well as the most important challenges facing commercial partners and the proposed solutions.
For his part, Ali Sultan Al Kuwari, Manager of QDB Export Development and CEO of Qatari Coding and Tracking Office, thanked Qatar Chamber for hosting the workshop and joining hands with QDB and GS1 Qatar to introduce the office and the services it offered among the Qatari business community.
He said that the GS1 Qatar Office is a non-profit organization that aims to safeguard the unified international standards including the barcode.
He pointed out that the adoption of the unified international standards system for Qatari companies and institutions will contribute to standardizing the global language of business, facilitating exportation and building a reliable global database of Qatari products and services.
GS1 Qatar Office was established in June 2021 as a member of GS1 with the aim to collaborate in building a developed infrastructure that is capable of serving national industries and responding to their future needs, he added.
Al Kuwari invited Qatari companies to purchase the Qatari barcode and use it on their products, hoping that this would bring about a qualitative leap in the economic sectors and make a difference in terms of increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) of the State of Qatar by marketing Qatari products and services locally and globally.
The workshop was delivered by Ibrahim Assaf, the specialist in the global standards system, and a certified auditor for global tracking systems, who introduced the GS1 which is a global standards organization based in Belgium with the aim to unify the global language of business.
As for GS1 Qatar, Assaf said that it was established as a non-profit entity under the QDB’s supervision, with the aim of granting membership to local manufacturers, retailers, producers, commercial markets, and others to use the international standards system for coding.
It also aims to introduce international standards and mechanisms for their use at various stages through supply chain, provide technical advice to improve supply chain operations, hold specialized training courses, and present successful experiences in other countries, and hold workshops, seminars, and meetings with the public and private sectors.
