DIN EN IEC 61406-2:2024-12

Each year, hundreds of millions of items of technical equipment, herein referred to as physical objects, are purchased by industry for the installation of new as well as the maintenance of existing production facilities. By applying this standard, these physical objects can be easily and uniquely identified using a standardized identification link (IL) which, for example, is attached to the type plate. IEC 61406-2 complements IEC 61406-1 Identification Link – Part 1: General requirements by providing additional requirements for those cases where data elements are encoded within the Structured Identification Link string with standardized syntax and semantics. In addition, this document covers cases where the uniqueness relates to product types/models or lots/batches. The default assumption is that the Identification Link identifies unique objects such as unique serialized products, assets, persons or packages, unless otherwise identified. This means that all information relating to product types/models or lots/batches can be identified in different IT systems and, if necessary, accessed and stored within all processes, specifically along the supply chain but also in operations. If individual physical objects (instances of a product type) are to be designated and linked, and if no additional syntactic or semantic information is encoded, then the identification link (IL) string according to IEC 61406-1 can be used. This standard does not specify any requirements for the content and layout of type plates (for example, spatial arrangement, content of the plate text, approval symbols, etcetera). Cybersecurity requirements are not within the scope of this standard. To optimize and automate the identification of product types, product lots, or production batches, all that is required is to attach a unique, machine-readable ID to the object. The linking to information on the Internet using a URL in a 2D symbol on the physical object is increasingly being used. This identification link combines the use case for machine-readable product labels, unique identification, and linking to data on the Internet in a simple solution. This includes the use case of identification links in digital product passports.