UNSPSC, managed by the United Nations Development Programme since 1 January 2025
UNSPSC, read shelf by shelf
UNSPSC is the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code, a classification that gives products and services a shared shelf position so buyers and suppliers can talk about the same thing. It was jointly developed by the United Nations Development Programme and Dun and Bradstreet in 1998, managed by GS1 US until 31 December 2024, and managed by the United Nations Development Programme again from 1 January 2025. This site explains that classification in prose. It does not decide any reader's code, and it contains no code-finder or lookup tool: for a live decision, check the current UNDP codeset and the buyer or register that will hold the record.
The code most buyers meet has eight digits, built from four pairs. Each pair narrows the shelf. Read the pairs from left to right and the description narrows with them, from a broad segment down to one commodity.
| Pair | Level | What the pair does | Published example |
|---|---|---|---|
| First pair | Segment | Sets the broad shelf, an aggregation of families for analysis | 10 in 10000000, Live Plant and Animal Material and Accessories and Supplies |
| Second pair | Family | Groups related commodity categories inside the segment | 10100000, Live animals |
| Third pair | Class | Groups commodities that share a use or function | 10101500, Livestock |
| Fourth pair | Commodity | Names a group of substitutable products or services | 10101501, Cats |
| Optional fifth pair | Business function | Adds a function such as retail or wholesale, making ten digits | Used only where a buyer asks for that extra pair |
Trailing zeros are how a broader level is written in eight digits. The family of live animals is written 10100000, with zeros standing in for the class and commodity pairs that have not been narrowed. The same trick works at every level, which is why an eight digit string ending in 000000 is a segment, not a missing code.
The shelves themselves run from raw material at one end to services at the other: living material, minerals, chemicals, resins, paper and fuels; industrial, farming and power equipment; components, structures and building work; technology, office and published products; defence, safety and humanitarian relief; consumer and personal goods; and then the long run of services, from finance and management through construction, transport, health, education and civic affairs. Segment numbers are quoted in this site only where a published source backs them, and the current UNDP codeset is the check before any segment number is quoted elsewhere.
What you will not find here
No page on this site will tell you the code for your product or your service, and no page will rank one code above another for your tender. That restraint is deliberate. UNSPSC is a classification to be read and checked, and a code quoted without its version and its managing body cannot be checked at all. Every guide therefore names the version and body its statements rely on, and every guide points back to the current codeset for the live answer.
The 20 shelves
Each shelf below is one cluster of guides. The number beside it is the count of guides on that shelf.
| Shelf | Title | Guides |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | What UNSPSC is and why buyers use it The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code as a procurement classification: its purpose, its users, and the limits that keep it a classification and not a verdict on any reader's product or service. | 12 |
| 02 | Reading an eight digit code How two digit pairs build a segment, a family, a class and a commodity, what trailing zeros mean, and what the optional fifth pair adds. | 11 |
| 03 | Raw materials, chemicals, paper and fuel The goods segments at the raw end of the catalogue: living material, minerals, chemicals, resins, paper, fuels and the lines between them. | 13 |
| 04 | Industrial equipment and tools Mining, farming, manufacturing, handling and power equipment, plus tools: how heavy equipment segments are kept apart from the components that go into them. | 12 |
| 05 | Components, structures and building work Structures, manufacturing components, electronic and electrical parts, building machinery, vehicles, distribution systems, and land and buildings. | 11 |
| 06 | Technology, office and published products Information technology, office equipment, printing and photographic gear, and published products: the segments buyers meet most often at a desk. | 13 |
| 07 | Personal, domestic and consumer goods Sport, domestic appliances, apparel, timepieces, furniture, musical instruments, games and educational materials: the consumer end of the catalogue. | 10 |
| 08 | Management, professional and business services The service segments that support running an organisation: management advice, business administration, engineering, design, finance and related professional work. | 14 |
| 09 | Public, social and community services Utilities, public sector work, health, education, travel and lodging, personal services, defence and civic affairs in UNSPSC. | 9 |
| 10 | How procurement teams use UNSPSC Tender lists, catalogues, purchase orders and supplier discovery: the ordinary procurement jobs UNSPSC was built to make comparable. | 12 |
| 11 | Supplier registration and tender lists Choosing codes for a supplier profile, how buyers shortlist from them, and why broad and narrow choices behave differently in a tender search. | 10 |
| 12 | Spend analysis and reporting with UNSPSC Rolling commodity detail up to family and segment level for spend reports, and the version and consistency habits that keep those reports honest. | 9 |
| 13 | History and governance of UNSPSC From the 1998 UNDP and Dun and Bradstreet memorandum through ECCMA and GS1 US to UNDP management again from 1 January 2025. | 8 |
| 14 | Versions, changes and keeping codes current How UNSPSC versions are numbered, what a release can add, move, edit or delete, and how to carry an old code list forward without silent drift. | 7 |
| 15 | UNSPSC beside other classifications UNSPSC next to the Common Procurement Vocabulary, ECLASS, GS1 Global Product Classification, NAICS, ISIC and the old Canadian GSIN codes. | 11 |
| 16 | Mistakes, traps and borderline calls The recurring errors in reading and quoting UNSPSC: goods against services, kits against parts, broad against narrow, and the current version against an old one. | 10 |
| 17 | Worked readings, code by code Published UNSPSC examples read pair by pair: cats and cattle, wooden pencils, docking stations, cut lilies and consultation services. | 13 |
| 18 | Services, in depth How services are grouped in UNSPSC, from contracting and cleaning to transport, health, education and personal services. | 8 |
| 19 | Humanitarian relief and special cases Segment 57000000 for humanitarian relief items, kits and accessories, and the special cases where a classification bends around a real procurement need. | 6 |
| 20 | Quoting, checking and citing a code How to quote a UNSPSC code so another reader can check it: version, issuing body, level, and the source that backs the wording. | 9 |