AI Product Match VerificationVersion 0.1 · standard-barcodeverified.org

“Barcode verified” is an open specification, version 0.1, formally titled “AI Product Match Verification”. It defines what a verified product match is, what evidence it rests on, and what a receipt for one must carry. Any artificial intelligence (AI), retailer or brand may implement it; the words “Barcode verified” are free to any conforming implementation. It answers one question for an AI agent at the moment of purchase: is the product the shopper asked for, the product the merchant is offering, and the product on the verified record, all the same barcode — and how does the agent prove it checked.

The contract

The standard defines a verified product match, the evidence it rests on, and what a receipt for one must carry.

Four readings are taken independently from what the record already holds, and one policy rule combines them into one result: verified · listed · stale · unknown. Verified when every identity field was said by its authority, no two sources differ, every field is inside its clock and the brand has claimed its seat; listed when the record holds the product but one of those is missing; stale when a field is past its clock or a refresh failed; unknown when the record does not hold it.

Reading	Question	Read from
Source authority	Who said it, and are they the authority for this field in this market?	The source page on the field; the country profile's authority table
Disagreement	Do two sources differ on this field?	The field's source set
Freshness	Is the read date inside this field's clock?	The read date on the field; the clock table
Authorisation	Has the brand claimed the seat that may assert this field?	The claim status on the record; the seat

Expiry by field:

Field	Clock	Rule
Barcode	Never expires	The identity. Once bound, bound.
Identity (name, brand, maker)	Long	Re-read on the clock or on a brand correction.
Label and claims	Long	Re-read on the clock, on a brand correction, or on a regulator change named by the country profile.
Price, stock, offer	Never verified from the record	Live from the retailer, or unknown. A receipt never carries a verified price.
Any field after a failed refresh	—	Moves to stale or unknown. Never stays verified.

What the standard does not do

It does not certify a product. It does not verify price or stock from a record. It does not establish that a product is orderable. It does not give a legal opinion on a label.

“Unknown” is a legitimate result. A failed refresh never leaves a field verified.

Artificial intelligence makes mistakes. Every field links the page it was read on.

Who signs

The record key signs content: the product record, every field sourced and dated. The receipt key signs the read: the issuer's receipt door signs that a check happened, under which rules, when.

Neither signs the other's object. Every receipt pins both the core version and the market-profile version it was verified under, so the result can be reproduced after the rules change.

The arrow

Ask — the shopper's words, or the merchant's offer line.

Answer — what the AI proposes: an observation, not the truth.

Barcode — the one identity the words and the offer are bound to, with how sure.

Record — the verified record the barcode is checked against: every field sourced and dated.

Receipt — the evidence that the check happened, under which rules, when.

What the standard owns

The definition of “verified”, the match-record and receipt formats, the conformance suite, the country-profile schema, and the versions.

It does not own any issuer's receipt chain: the receipts are the issuer's.

Publication discipline

One schema, and one sourced record, feed every readout. Country profiles are versioned and superseded, never overwritten.

No typed totals in authored prose: generated displays read the record. Shared text is cited, not copied. Every acronym is expanded on first use.

A country profile is published only when it has authority rows and the record holds products for that market; until then its host forwards to the mark's home.

Conformance

An implementation runs the conformance suite and, passing, is listed on the keyring as an issuer. The checklist:

Matcher: a barcode resolves to itself; an offer line resolves to one barcode only when the record holds exactly one; candidates are listed, never guessed between; nothing on the record gives unknown; a size, count or variant that disagrees never binds.
Policy: the four readings on every single match; verified only when all four hold; a field past its clock is stale; price and stock never verified from the record; a record that does not answer gives unknown, never a cached answer.
Receipt: every required field, both versions pinned; the hash recomputes, the id derives, the signature verifies under the keyring; the chain links; a changed field fails; a superseding receipt names the one it supersedes; writing needs the issuer credential, verifying needs none.

Beside the standard, never inside it, a pilot measures five numbers: offer-to-barcode match rate, false-verification rate, freshness, latency at checkout, and mismatch returns against the retailer's own baseline.

Verify any receipt at rco-barcodeverified.org. The full suite: Conformance · Benchmarks.

Governance and versions

Barcode verified is a wefetch standard. wefetch is a product of GreenCore Solutions Corp.

Version 0.1, published 5 November 2026. A new version supersedes the one before it; every version stays published, and every receipt names the version it was verified under.

Governance · Versions · Match record schema · Receipt schema