ISO/IEC 20248:2022 PDF

Overview

ISO/IEC 20248:2022 specifies a standardized digital signature data structure schema (commonly called a DigSig) for automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies such as barcodes and RFID tags. Designed as an application specification of ISO/IEC 9594‑8 (PKI digital signatures and certificates), the standard enables compact, interoperable packaging of structured data and a digital signature so that data can be read and verified offline from constrained data carriers.

Key goals:

• Enable reading, authenticity verification and integrity checks of encoded AIDC data in offline use cases
• Provide an open, interoperable method for structuring, encoding and signing AIDC payloads
• Accommodate limited data capacity and transfer rates typical of barcodes and RFID

Key topics and technical requirements

• DigSig structure: a meta-data envelope which contains the encoded structured data and the digital signature.
• DigSig certificate: an application of PKI certificate parameters and extensions to carry the certified public key used to verify DigSigs.
• DigSig Data Description (DDD): defines how structured data fields are specified, encoded, displayed and parsed for signing/verification.
• EncoderGenerator and DecoderVerifier: device/process roles - EncoderGenerator creates asymmetric key pairs, keeps private keys secret, and generates DigSigs; DecoderVerifier uses DigSig certificates to read and verify DigSigs and extract structured data.
• Read methods, private containers, envelope formats, and presentation: covers pragmatic encoding constructs (e.g., “snips”, DDDdata, SigData, DDDdataDisplay) and directives for constrained carriers.
• Conformance, test methods and error codes: conformance claims, test specifications and standardized error reporting are included.
• Important exclusions: the standard does not prescribe specific cryptographic algorithms or key management methods.

Practical applications and intended users

ISO/IEC 20248 is valuable for:

• Supply chain and logistics providers who need tamper-evident barcodes/RFID with offline authenticity checks
• Manufacturers and developers of AIDC readers, mobile verification apps and IoT devices
• Certificate authorities and system integrators implementing DigSig certificate processes
• Healthcare, government credentials, product authentication, anti-counterfeiting and document security use cases requiring compact signed payloads

Benefits include increased data integrity, offline verification capability, and cross-vendor interoperability for constrained AIDC media.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 9594‑8 - PKI digital signatures and certificates (application base)
• ISO/IEC 15434, ISO/IEC 18000‑63, and GS1 EPC Gen2 - referenced in annexes for example message and RFID usages
• Other ISO AIDC standards for field encoding and carrier specifications

Keywords: ISO/IEC 20248, DigSig, digital signature, barcode, RFID, AIDC, PKI, offline verification, DigSig Data Description, EncoderGenerator, DecoderVerifier.