In the National Product Catalogue (NPC) the Trade Item Description is an important attribute. The cross-industry best practice is to construct it as follows: Brand + Sub-brand + Functional Name + Variant + Net Content (where applicable).
Your trading partners rely on accurate and consistent population of the descriptive attributes Brand, Sub-brand, Functional Name and Variant to provide unambiguous and full product descriptions. This allows the flexibility to use individual attributes or combinations of attributes for various description and search function requirements.
Please see the GS1 NPC Data Dictionary for any further clarification on any of the attributes - this is the link to the NPC Data Dictionary
Brand; Sub-Brand; Functional Name, and Variant
The attached document describes how the Brand, Sub-brand, Functional Name, and Variant fields should be populated and includes examples.
Healthcare Specifics
Additional Trade Item Description and Full Description:
Healthcare recipients have requested suppliers to use the Additional Trade Item Description and/or the Full Description fields available in the NPC, as required, to better describe their products.
Southern Cross have asked that the Sub Brand be provided wherever possible please
Created: June 2018 Last Update: 9 April 2025
Last Reviewed: 9/04/2025