ProPlanet is leading in the field of article classification. The owners/founders introduced the article classification in the electro technical branch in the 90's. Meanwhile this has become an international standard, also in the field of sanitary, heating, ventilation and air condition. In the mean time a large number of standards have been developed in this field. The most known and applied standards are:

• ETIM: article classification for electrotechnical products. This is mainly applied in the Netherlands and Germany in the electrotechnical installation sector. ETIM classified article files are interchangeable between Germany and the Netherlands.
• eCl@ss: article classification in the field of MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations). Originates from the purchase perspective of large industrial companies in Germany. The expectation is that this classification will be applied on a large scale in Europe. ETIM is integrated in this classification.
• UNSPSC: stands for United Nations Standard Products and Services Code. This is created to make all appearing products findable on the Internet. Ìt is only applied in a limited way.
• Proficl@ss: article classification for the tooling industry. The underlying data model corresponds completely to that of ETIM. This standard has been developed in Germany but has not yet found wide acceptation.