The GDST is an international, business-to-business platform established in 2017 to create the first-ever global industry standards for seafood traceability. More than 60 companies and associations participated in the GDST’s consensus-based drafting process, with strong participation from around the world, across the supply chain, and at all enterprise sizes. The GDST was convened and facilitated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). The Dialogue was initially organized around a structure and an agenda stemming from a dozen preparatory workshops in Asia, Europe, and North America. With three technical working groups, the pre-competitive Dialogue aimed to produce an aligned global framework for seafood traceability based on four pillars:

1. Internationally agreed key data elements (KDEs) to be routinely associated with seafood products
2. Technical specifications for interoperable traceability systems, along with standard legal and business formats facilitating business-to-business information exchange
3. Internationally agreed on benchmarks for verifying data validity
4. Harmonization of business-smart national regulations to help reduce compliance burdens.