Resolve the legal entity
Match the legal name, jurisdiction, registration authority, and national registration number.
GSEIN-MD-001 · DRAFT 0.1
Identification methodology
The methodology separates the identifier from the metadata. The number remains stable; evidence, names, status, classifications, and relationships evolve as versioned facts.
Open for consultation — not yet a formal standard
Allocation sequence
Validate the evidence
Record an authoritative source, retrieval date, status, and reviewer decision with an audit trail.
Check for duplicates
Compare registry keys, names, predecessor records, and mapped identifiers before allocation.
Allocate and publish
Issue a non-semantic identifier, publish provenance, and expose a stable machine-readable record.
Maintain the lifecycle
Preserve history across renaming, inactivity, dissolution, merger, acquisition, and redomiciliation.
Draft number architecture
GSEIN 0000 0000 0000 00
A 12-digit allocation body plus two check digits is under evaluation. Presentation spaces are optional; the stored value is canonical and contains no country or industry meaning.
Permanent
Never reassigned, even after dissolution.
Machine-safe
Canonical form, validation rule, and API representation.
Resolvable
Each number resolves to a public record and provenance.
Lifecycle-aware
Successor, predecessor, and relationship links are preserved.
Lessons from ISBN and ISSN
Use the operating model, not the numbering semantics.
Registration authority
A central policy owner with accountable regional or national validation partners.
Allocation rules
Published rules for eligibility, duplication, corrections, and exceptional cases.
Check digits
A validation mechanism to catch transcription errors before registry lookup.
Metadata stewardship
The number is useful only when its record, provenance, updates, and history are maintained.