ETIM International is a partnership of local ETIM organizations and membership is only open for ‘recognized national ETIM organizations’ as specified in our statutes, which you can find in the download section on www.etim-international.com. So individual wholesalers or manufacturers can NOT be a direct member of ETIM International, but indirect through membership in one or more of the local ETIM organizations. Please contact the local ETIM organization of your choice for further information on their specific terms and conditions.

ETIM is an open standard and so can be used by everyone free of charge. But this relates to the model structure with codes and relations and at least the basic ETIM English version with translations. Translating ETIM in the local language is the responsibility of the local ETIM organization, that also formally owns the language version. ETIM International promotes the free availability of language versions, the ultimate goal is after all the wide use of ETIM to facilitate uniform product data exchange, and that is best served by free language versions. But local organizations also have to be able to raise sufficient budgets to finance their activities, which can necessitate them to offer their version as added value for local members only. Some versions are free for all ETIM members in all countries on request. ETIM International can only distribute those versions that are totally open to everyone, which at this moment are (ETIM) English, Belgian-Flemish, Belgian-French, Dutch, German, Italian and Norwegian. For all other languages please contact the concerning local ETIM organization.

Yes, except for the language version of course. But there a two things that are important to know. First ETIM is used in several sectors (electrical, HVAC and sanitary, building), not all countries use ETIM in all sectors. So the ETIM release in one country might include only the classes for electrical products, while in another country all ETIM classes for all all sectors are included. But if a class is part of the release, it is identical in all countries. Secondly, starting from ETIM 7.0 the classification supports not only the metric unit of measurement system, but also the imperial system which is used mainly in the United States. An ETIM country release can include only the metric or imperial features or both.

We do publish a list of manufacturers on our website, that provide ETIM information. You can find it at https://www.etim-international.com/members/who-has-etim-classified-product-data. But that list is far from complete. First many manufacturers know to have ETIM data have not asked yet to be listed there, it is for free but still it is difficult to get the list completed. For privacy reasons, since contact persons need to be listed, we can’t put it there ourselves without approval. Secondly, since ETIM is an open standard, any manufacturer can use it for free, so we can impossibly have a list of all users. For a better reference you might look for example at the Dutch central product database, where 80% of all products are ETIM classified. You can find all listed manufacturers here https://www.2ba.nl/deelnemer/fabrikanten, or type the manufacturer name directly in their database to see the products with ETIM class at https://unifeed.2ba.nl/#stay.

Clearly a great part of the added value of using ETIM is the possibility for international, language independent product data exchange. But to do so, only a common classification is not enough. We also need a standard exchange format, that is implemented by the data sender and – receiver. In some of the local ETIM countries they already have national standards in place, like INSBOU004 in the Netherlands or more recently FABDIS in France. But a format like INSBOU004 is not suitable nor will it be accepted as global exchange format. Often these local formats are still needed to meet with local requirements. ETIM promotes the use of BMEcat 2005, in general for international data exchange, but also as a local option if no national format is yet defined. BMEcat as you might know is a format from German origin, but was already in use internationally. It was and still is far from perfect, but the best available internationally. So ETIM defined an ETIM BMEcat guideline, how BMEcat should be used to exchange ETIM based product data. This is a subset of the full dataset of the original BMEcat 2005 (but still containing all the mandatory fields of the original, so validates against original XSD), with all missing field added as UDX fields (User Defined Extensions). With the new version (4.0) of these guideline a lot of new functionality is offered, like adding local defined fields to better be able to match local requirements without an explosion of fields in the basic format. That way the connection/conversion between BMEcat and local formats can be made more easily. Also ETIM MC and dynamic ETIM release are supported. Most ETIM countries that will still have local exchange formats will also support BMEcat or at least offer conversion tools or services. Most local central databases can directly import BMEcat and export the data in the local format if needed, like 2BA in the Netherlands. Also most major wholesalers usually support BMEcat as import format. So ETIM BMEcat is a safe choice to invest in, depending on local situation you can be faced with an additional format.

Use of the ETIM BMEcat certification tool is free of charge but only open for members. The local ETIM offices can provide their local members with a login code. Are you a member of one of the local ETIM country organizations, please ask them to grant you access, you can find the local contacts on our website.

If the service provider is an ETIM member he can use the tool (with own login) but only to test files of companies that are also ETIM member. If the service provider is not an ETIM member they are NOT allowed to use the tool directly and have to use the account of the ETIM member company they are working for.