Shared identifiers and event meanings make records portable

Traceability databases fail at company boundaries when one reference string is overloaded to encode what moved, who owned it, where it sat and which order paid for it.[S09][S10] When a ginnery builds a bale code by concatenating crop year, region, buyer initials and warehouse bay into one text field, a downstream spinning mill that splits the delivery or redirects a pallet to a third-party warehouse either mutates the identifier or loses the link to the ginning campaign.[S06][S10] Interoperable record design starts by separating five orthogonal identity classes: product class, batch or lot, physical logistics unit, physical location, and legal or operational party.[S10][S11][S12]

8.2 Five distinct identifier classes prevent overloaded primary keys

Visibility and web-resolution standards keep these five domains separate so that a change in storage bay, carrier or commercial title never alters the identity of the cotton batch itself.[S10][S11][S12] In GS1 Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) Release 2.0 and GS1 Digital Link URI Syntax Release 1.7.0, each domain answers a distinct question.[S10][S12]

• Product class identity (what class): Identifies the catalogue specification of a trade item, such as a lint grade, yarn count or garment style, corresponding to a Global Trade Item Number (/01/) path segment or internal material code.[S10][S12]
• Batch or lot identity (which production group): Qualifies the product class with a bounded group sharing a uniform transformation history and eligible input set, such as a ginning campaign, spinning laydown, dye batch or cutting lay (/10/ qualifier).[S02][S10][S12]
• Logistics or serial unit identity (which handling unit): Identifies an individual package or transport container, such as a pressed bale, numbered fabric roll, serialised garment (/21/) or shipping container (/00/), which can be packed and unpacked without changing batch identities.[S10][S12]
• Location and read-point identity (where observed): Separates the site (such as a northern Cameroon ginnery or spinning mill) from the specific read point (such as weighbridge scale B or press chute 2) where an observation occurred.[R03][S10][S11]
• Party identity (who acted): Identifies the organisation or role that observed the event, held custody, issued evidence or took title, keeping commercial buyers distinct from toll processors or warehouse operators.[S01][S09][S10]

To keep these responsibilities clear, Exhibit 32 organises the exchange contract into four conceptual layers: master identifiers at the base, visibility events above them, evidence assertions in the third tier, and bounded passport disclosures at the top.[S10][S12][S21][S28]

As Exhibit 32 illustrates, a passport at the top layer never substitutes for missing identifiers or broken event links underneath it.[S10][S28] While Exhibit 32 clarifies how GFT separates data responsibilities in design, an architectural diagram cannot establish that any given Cameroon supplier currently maintains separate master registers or holds licensed global keys.[S01][S12]

8.3 Controlled crosswalks map internal keys to external schemes without inventing allocations

A common flaw in pilot projects is fabricating global keys, such as synthetic GTINs or Global Location Numbers (GLNs), before licensing a GS1 Company Prefix or confirming partner prefixes.[S10][S12] Invented numeric prefixes create collision risks when records reach buyers or resolvers, so GFT prohibits fabricating allocated GS1 keys in documentation, fixtures or pilot databases.[S10][S12][S13]

Until an entity licences an official prefix, internal pilot records must use namespaced Uniform Resource Names (URNs) or Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) under Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 9562, paired with a versioned crosswalk table.[S10][S0802] Under RFC 9562, a 128-bit UUID guarantees uniqueness across space and time during offline capture.[S0802] GFT pairs UUIDs with illustrative URN prefixes such as urn:gft-pilot:party:gin-north-01 for a ginnery, urn:gft-pilot:site:garoua-wh-02 for a store, and urn:gft-pilot:lot:2026-cmp-0014 for a lint batch.[S10][S0802]

When a partner already uses a scheme registry, such as a Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) Sustainable Cotton Tracker (SCOT) account, a Textile Exchange Content Claim Standard (CCS) site code or a licensed GS1 GLN, the crosswalk binds the internal URN to the external key alongside scheme owner, effective dates and verification document reference, linking internal logs, scheme reconciliations and EPCIS queries without duplication.[S03][S09][S10][S12]

8.4 Namespace governance defines ownership, lifecycle and collision handling

Every identifier class requires an owner, a syntax rule, a uniqueness scope, a lifecycle and a collision protocol.[S10][S12][S0802] In GFT's design, the party that physically creates or first observes a material boundary allocates its identifier: ginneries allocate bale and ginning-lot keys, spinners allocate yarn-lot keys, fabric mills allocate roll keys, and garment factories allocate cutting-lay and garment-batch keys.[S06][S10]

Lifecycle rules forbid recycling identifiers across seasons.[S10][S0802] A bale tag such as BALE-0402 that resets every harvest will collide in multi-year queries whenever carryover bales are blended with new-crop bales.[S06][S10] Embedding facility code, harvest year and a monotonic sequence or RFC 9562 UUID suffix prevents cross-season collisions.[S10][S0802] If an offline printer produces a duplicate bale tag during a power cut, the collision rule never overwrites the first record; it quarantines both units, issues a fresh key to the verified second bale, and logs a replacement link.[S06][S10]