What Is UNSPSC?

The code was developed in 1998 by UNDP and the business information company Dun & Bradstreet, according to the code's former official website. Colombia's public procurement agency calls it the Clasificador de Bienes y Servicios.

• 1998. UNDP and Dun & Bradstreet develop the code.
• 2003. GS1 US, the US barcode and product identification organization, takes over code management.
• 2021. In the fall, subscriber voting on new codes is dropped.
• 2023. Version UNv26.0801 is released, the latest to date.
• 2024. GS1 US announces it will hand management back to UNDP by the end of the year.
• 2025. UNDP manages the code itself. In March, Colombia's procurement agency adopts version UNv26.0801 in Spanish.
• 2026. UNDP links the full code file on its website, dated 27 September 2026 and still on version UNv26.0801.

A UNSPSC code moves from general to specific in steps of two digits. The first two digits are the segment, the next two the family, then the class and finally the commodity. Higher levels are padded with zeros: 27000000 is a whole segment, 27110000 a family, 27112700 a class and 27112703 a single commodity.

UNDP describes a five-level classification. The fifth level, the business function, adds two digits that say what the organization uses the purchase for. According to Wikipedia it is optional. The California Department of General Services describes this as a 10-digit code (SSFFKKCCBB) and notes that California does not use the fifth level.

The file UNDP publishes (version UNv26.0801, accessed 8 November 2026) contains 58 segments, 559 families, 7,998 classes and 149,906 commodities. Of the 20 segments numbered 70 and above, 18 are services, from industrial cleaning to healthcare and education. Every entry has an English title, and just over 91% of the commodities also carry a definition.

UNSPSC tells you what kind of thing is being bought, not which exact product. One manufacturer's power drill and a competitor's share the code 27112703. The individual item is identified by its GTIN, and its technical features are described by classifications such as ECLASS or ETIM.

New versions change codes: they add commodities, move classes and delete entries. SAP Ariba's documentation says supplier catalogs must use the buyer's UNSPSC version. The next sentence says this is not required, because SAP Ariba translates codes between versions.

There are three variants:

• The 8-digit code, as required by Colombia, California and SAP Ariba.
• The 10-digit code with business function, which California does not use.
• Reduced lists. Some public bodies accept only part of the code set. California, for example, limits its list to 6-digit and 8-digit codes.

The official code set is published in English. Translations into Spanish, German and other languages were contributed by members of the user community, according to GS1 US in 2024. UNDP currently links only the English file.

One code, level by level, as it appears in the UNDP file:

Source: UNDP, UNSPSC code file UNv26.0801, accessed 8 November 2026.

Where the code is required:

• In the United States, public bodies and universities use it. California classifies all state purchases with UNSPSC, and Cornell University adopted it in place of its own commodity codes.
• On the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM), suppliers classify what they sell with UNSPSC codes, and UN staff use them to classify the tenders they publish.
• In e-procurement catalogs such as SAP Ariba, each item can carry its UNSPSC code, including in BMEcat files.
• In Colombia, Decree 1510 of 2013, now part of Decree 1082 of 2015, requires public bodies to identify goods, works and services with UNSPSC codes.
• Public procurement in the European Union does not use UNSPSC. It uses the CPV, the EU's Common Procurement Vocabulary.

Source: own assessment based on UNGM, SAP and the Google Merchant Center specification.

Source: UNDP; U.S. Census Bureau; World Customs Organization; Regulations (EC) No 2195/2002 and No 213/2008; GS1 US (2024).

The full comparison of UNSPSC, ECLASS, ETIM and GS1 GPC is in the ECLASS entry. A UNSPSC code is also not a GTIN: the GTIN identifies a specific trade item, UNSPSC the group it belongs to.

UNSPSC carries no features. It tells you something is a power drill, but not its power, voltage or chuck type. That is why technical catalogs pair it with ECLASS or ETIM.

After a 2018 audit by the California State Auditor, the state reviewed its purchases: of more than 55,000 codes in its system, only 6,000 were used correctly, 26,000 were used incorrectly and 23,000 had never been used. California removed those 23,000 in 2019.

Updates have stalled. According to the GS1 US FAQ, a new version came out once a year, in the third quarter. No new version has appeared since 2023, and the file UNDP links in 2026 is still UNv26.0801.

• Download the code file from the UNDP website or use the UNGM search.
• Start with the segment that best matches what you sell or buy, and work down level by level.
• Pick the 8-digit commodity. If two codes seem to fit, decide by what the product does, not what it is made of.
• Read the definition, if there is one, to confirm the code covers your case.
• Record the version next to the code, currently UNv26.0801.
• If your customer or the public body gives you its own list, use that list.

• One code per catalog item, with the version stated.
• Written rules for buyers on which code goes with which type of purchase.
• Review codes when a customer moves to a new version.
• Combine UNSPSC with the GTIN and, for technical products, with ECLASS or ETIM.

• Classifying by material ("plastic") instead of function ("ballpoint pen").
• Entering a segment or class code where a commodity code is required.
• Giving a UNSPSC code in an EU tender that asks for a CPV code.
• Looking up codes on unofficial sites. The former website unspsc.org is no longer a source: its September 2026 copy in the Internet Archive shows a list of online casinos. The source is UNDP.

This entry was written in November 2026 with AI assistance. It started from an analysis of the top ten search results in Spain, the United States and Germany and of the answers from four AI assistants, half of which still named GS1 US as the code manager. The code data comes from the UNDP file, and we counted the levels in that file ourselves.