• DSCSA, or Drug Supply Chain Security Act is a federal law that will go into effect on August 27, 2025. The law enhances the unit level tracing capabilities through inbound receiving, outbound sending, and return transaction information at the distribution level for pharmaceuticals.
• DSCSA helps prevent the introduction of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and enables enhanced tracking of product from the manufacturer to the patient by container size, transaction date, number of containers, lot number, expiration dates, serial numbers and name and addresses of previous and subsequent owners of the product.

DCS has implemented systems and processes for all aspects of the DSCSA covered supply chain. This includes, but is not limited to, collecting and validating inbound serial data for all products received to capturing all required information during the order process, and providing the required information to customers in order to help ensure DSCSA compliancy.

• To be compliant with DSCSA and begin the onboarding process with DCS, you must obtain a GLN. This Global Location Number is a unique number for every customer's location. Additional information can be found in the GLN section below.
• You must register an account through our e-commerce portal in order for DCS to ship. This will require you to provide required address information for each location and its associated GLN.
• An instructional document is available.

Powered by GS1 Standards, the Global Location Number (GLN) provides businesses the ability to know who is involved in transactions and where things are located throughout the supply chain. By uniquely identifying parties and locations, the GLN helps with tracking products, optimizing processes, and providing greater visibility to shipments moving through the supply chain.

DSCSA requires the use of international standards as defined by GS1. The GLN (Global Location Number) identifies unique locations by assigning a unique 13-digit numeric code to each location.

• Direct Customer Solutions cannot send information on the product without the standardized GLN for identification.
• Direct Customer Solutions cannot complete the EPCIS file (Data file that contains serialized product shipment details for DSCSA covered items and represents the transfer of ownership of materials included in the shipment) for your order without it.
• Without a GLN, you will be out of compliance with the DSCSA federal regulation in 2024 and Direct Customer Solutions will not be able to transact business with you.

This GLN requirement is for all customers within the supply chain, regardless of where product is purchased. Every location that receives or dispenses product from any distributor will require a GLN. This includes secondary accounts that do business with us and all customers regardless of size.

• To obtain a GLN, please visit Get a Global Location Number (GLN) (gs1us.org). After you complete the checkout process, you will receive a welcome email from GS1 US. It will include all the information you need to get started, including access to myGS1 US- your online member center to view your GLN.
• Additional Resources
  • GS1 GLN information
  • GS1 GLN Quick Start Guide

A Serialized Global Location Number (SGLN) is a unique identifier to a physical location, such as a specific building or bin within a warehouse. The GLN is a GS1 format; the SGLN is an EPC format and is represented in Uniform Resource Identifier format, for example:

• GLN - 0860000397902
• SGLN - urn:epc:id:sgln:08600003979.0.0

A Company Prefix is an additional license like a GLN. Purchasing a Company Prefix will ensure all your GLN’s share a similar prefix and are more easily identified. It is best practice to purchase a Company Prefix if you have multiple locations you need to assign GLN’s to. This will ensure all GLN’s are associated with the same parent company. This can be purchased from the GS1 site as well.

EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services) serialization is the DSCSA requirement and GS1 standard for tracking and tracing products throughout the supply chain.

It is the electronic, interoperable data exchange method for serialized data.

To be compliant with DSCSA, you only need to be able to access an EPCIS file when required. EPCIS files for each order will be available for customers through our E- Commerce portals. For more information see the 'Our Capabilities' section.

Account Creation

• Creating your DSCSA compliant customer account is a simple process. When creating an account, there will be three mandatory fields to complete. These items include the GLN and SGLN for the parent company and each location needed, as well as your GS1 Company Prefix. If you did not specifically purchase a GS1 Company Prefix, this information can still be found as part of your GLN. For more information regarding these items, please see the sections above.

Account Management

• Once your account has been created, your DSCSA information will be uploaded into our systems and order placement can begin. Additional shipping locations can be added at any time, as long as the DSCSA required information is available and provided. If any GLN information is changed or updated for a specific location, please contact us and we will work with you to update that accordingly.

Order Placement or Ordering

• No additional steps or information is required to place an order once DSCSA has been implemented.

Order Shipping

• Once an order has been released for fulfillment, all required serial data will be captured during the process. This information will be translated into the DSCSA compliant EPCIS file.

EPCIS File Retrieval

• Once the order has shipped, the EPCIS file will be made available through the E- Commerce portal. This file can be found as a link listed under the 'Order Details' within the Order Page for that particular order. Selecting the link will download the file for that order.