ETIM - the classifcation standard that gives every product a common language.

In an industry with thousands of products, hundereds of suppliers, and dozens of systems all exchanging data - the only way to make product information genuinely useful is to describe every product in exactly the same way.

That’s what ETIM does.

What is ETIM?

ETIM (European Technical Information Model) is an international product classification standard used across the building materials, electrotechnical, HVAC and plumbing sectors.

It was developed in the Netherlands in the late 1990s and is now applied across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

ETIM gives every product type a defined class, with a fixed set of attributes - so a ball valve from one supplier is described using exactly the same fields as a ball valve from another.

Size, material, pressure rating, connection type - all defined, all consistent.

How ETIM is structured

  • Broad categories (e.g. Pipes & Fittings)

  • Specific product types within a group (e.g. Ball Valve)

  • Standardised attributes for each class (e.g. nominal diameter, pressure rating, material)

  • Standardised options for each feature

ETIM in the UK building materials sector

The Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) and the Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA) established ETIM UK and Ireland in 2019.

Data Yard collaborates with ETIM UK to support it’s development and adoption in the UK market.

While ETIM is well established in the electrical sector through EDA’s E-Data, adoption within building materials is still growing. Data Yard supports this expansion by helping suppliers classify products and collaborating with ETIM it’s development in the UK.

ETIM website