The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) is a taxonomy of

products and services for use in eCommerce. It is a four-level hierarchy coded as an eight-digit
number, with an optional fifth level adding two more digits.
Version 16, released in 2014,[1] contained over 50,000 commodities. The latest release of the
code set is 19.0501 (as of July 2016).[2]
The UNSPSC competes with a number of other product and commodity coding schemes,
including the European Union's Common Procurement Vocabulary, Germany's Eclass, and
GS1's Global Product Classification.[3]

Contents
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 1History
 2Description
 3Governance
 4Availability and languages
 5See also
 6Notes
 7External links

History[edit]
The UNSPSC was created upon the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding signed on
September 29, 1998 by John S. Svendsen, the director of the Inter-agency Procurement
Services Office (IAPSO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and on
November 1, 1998 by Lawrence M. Barth, a Vice President of the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
The development of the first version was overseen by Peter R. Benson, who was also
responsible for the design and development of the code management procedure as a
modification of the Delphi statistical forecasting method. The process allowed for the rapid
development of consensus without dominance or influence.
The ECCMA, a non-profit membership association, was formed in 1999 to manage and promote
the UNSPSC until March 2003, with the release of version 6.0315. The UNDP then
appointed GS1 US as code manager in May 2003 and ECCMA develops the ECCMA Open
Technical Dictionary (eOTD) and the international standards ISO 22745 and ISO 8000.

Description[edit]
The four primary levels of the code are: Segment, Family, Class and Commodity.[2]
Each level is coded in two decimal digits, with '00' treated specially to give segments, families
and classes their own eight-digit codes.

Level Code Description

Segment 10000000 Live Plant and Animal Material and Accessories and Supplies

Family 10100000 Live animals

 Class 10101500 Livestock

Commodity 10101501 Cats

Thus 'Cats' are coded as 10101501, 'Dogs' are coded as 10101502 and 'Cattle' as 10101516.
The class of 'Livestock' is 10101500; the family of 'Live animals' is 10100000, and all in the
segment 10000000 of 'Live Plant and Animal Material and Accessories and Supplies'.

Level Code Description

Segment 44000000 Office Equipment, Accessories and Supplies

Family 44120000 Office supplies

Class 44121900 Ink and lead refills

Commodity 44121903 Pen refills

Optionally, a further two digits can be added for the business function, such as 'retail' or
wholesale.[4]