Internet-based System To Liberalize Logistics Info

A push to revolutionize logistics information could mean that any consumer in Costa Rica may soon be able to track the history of a product online.

The Brussels-based logistics organization GS1 wants consumers here to be able to plug a product’s bar code into a Web site and have instant access to the product’s supply-chain history.

GS1 is trying to coordinate rules and norms worldwide that would allow for the liberalization of logistics information. Today in Costa Rica, only supply-chain companies have tracking access for approximately $1.3 million worth of goods daily.

GS1, which has an office in Costa Rica, is currently working with the National Chamber of Retailers, a group of some 5,000 retailers around the country, to adopt the bar code system in Costa Rica. A total of 340 national firms have adopted the system, GS1 director Guillermo Valera told the daily La Nación.

The retail giant Wal-Mart, for instance, already requires all of its suppliers to use the tracking system.