National Product Catalogue FAQs

This information is available on the NPC website. Refer to section “Loading and maintain data” – your target data set.

NPC Ready is a series of steps that a supplier needs to complete in order to prepare and publish their product data to their trading partners.

More information is available on the NPC website. Refer to section National Product Catalogue Ready Checklist.

Dates within National Product Catalogue can be grouped into three types:

• Dates that control access to your data
• System-generated dates
• Dates that are pertinent between you and your trading partners/data recipients

For an explanation of all dates currently used by National Product Catalogue industry sectors, please refer to Getting Started within the Load and Maintain your National Product Catalogue section of the National Product Catalogue User Guide - Cookbook.

As the catalogue owner, you have complete control over which trading partners can access your catalogue and records. Until you publish an item to a trading partner and the publication date within the item has been met or passed, the trading partner can't see any detail about the item beyond its description and GTIN.

To learn more, refer to Data Access and How Data Flows within the National Product Catalogue User Guide - Cookbook.

First, make sure the variable measure GTIN is valid:

• GTIN 14 must begin with a 9
• GTIN 13 must commence with the range 020-029

Then, follow these steps:

• Enter Y within attribute TradeItemAVariableUnit
• Specify the average quantity for attribute NetContent
• Specify the average weight for attributes grossWeight and netWeight

You've got a few options. Refer to the National Product Catalogue Data Upload Options within the Load and Maintain your National Product Catalogue section of the National Product Catalogue User Guide - Cookbook.

Go to the National Product Catalogue login page and enter your Username, Company GLN and Password. 

If you are unable to resolve login issues, please contact GS1 Australia Data Services Support on 1300 227 263.

Refer to Publish Your Catalogue within the Load and Maintain your National Product Catalogue section of the National Product Catalogue User Guide - Cookbook.

Note: National Product Catalogue also has the functionality to allow an 'automated' method for publishing data to your trading partners.

Check the publication date within the item record to ensure that it's current and not in the future. While you can publish items with future publication dates, your trading partner can't access your data until the date is reached.
Also, remember that processing times can vary based on user activity and the number and size of files being processed. This means there is sometimes a lag between when you publish the item and when it appears. 

If it's still not clear why your trading partner can't access your items, please contact GS1 Australia Data Services Support on 1300 BARCODE (1300 227 263).

No. New items don't have to start on a Monday. The start dates should reflect when the item is available to your trading partners.

To see which data fields are used in your industry, refer to Your Data Set under the heading Loading and Maintaining Data section of the National Product Catalogue User Guide - Cookbook.

Select the worksheet appropriate to your industry sector. Note the legend in the top left hand corner.

The National Product Catalogue Item and Price Data Dictionary contains all data fields (attributes) that are supported within National Product Catalogue. Each industry sector specifies a subset of attributes required by the sector to meet their data synchronisation requirements.

A Trade Item Group ID is a 3-4 digit identifier that pairs with the Trade Item Group Description. Sometimes called 'Product Groups', these identify your own product categories as you define them within your business. 

Examples are: 

• 0001 - Snack bars
• 0002 - Desserts and Cakes
• 0003 - Children's Toys

Use Trade Item Group IDs to structure or group your catalogue according to your own internal processes.

Further examples and useful tips regarding item data attributes can be found within the Data Dictionary.

Note: If publishing to Coles or Metcash, your Product Groups will need to align with the Supplier IDs these retailers maintain for your company.

GS1 Australia has developed a powerful graphical user interface (GUI) for the National Product Catalogue supplier community. National Product Catalogue Publisher Tool make it much easier for you to load and maintain product and pricing information. 

Developed in conjunction with regular users of National Product Publisher Tool, it enables instant validation so you can immediately see warnings and fix errors as you enter data. It is easy to navigate, speeds up workflow and makes managing product and pricing data easier. 

A 'conditionally mandatory' data attribute must be populated under certain conditions.

For example, the stated condition for the attribute SellingUnitOfMeasure is 'conditionally mandatory for all items marked as consumer units'. Therefore, the attribute must be populated when the GTIN is a consumer unit.

NPC ATO is a value added service for products classified as food or non-alcoholic beverage.

If a GTIN has changed for any of the following NPC attributes:

• GST rate updated to less than 10%
• FEC value
• Item description
• Global Product Classification within the food and non-alcoholic beverage classification

This will trigger the inclusion of the GTIN in a file that is sent to the ATO for review. The file is sent to the ATO every evening. The ATO will review the GST rate and respond with a “reject” or “more information required” or “approval”.

The NPC user will be notified via email of the approval status of the GTIN.

Note from the ATO: The ATO provides assurance for the GST classification of food and non-alcoholic beverage items which are classified as GST Free. The ATO’s confirmation of the GST classification of a food or beverage product does not have the legal status of a private or public ruling. Therefore, it does not provide the same level of protection to taxpayers. If the taxpayer is not satisfied with the ATO product classification through the GS1 process, they are advised and given an opportunity to apply for a Private Ruling. To understand how that advice and guidance protects you, refer to our website.