The German RAL organization introduced its first standardized collection of 40 colors in 1927. Before this system existed, manufacturers and customers had to exchange physical color samples to communicate a shade. The introduction of numeric codes allowed colors to be identified more efficiently. As new shades were continuously added, the collection was revised in 1961. During the 1960s, descriptive names were introduced alongside the numerical codes to prevent errors caused by transposed digits. Following an expansion in 2020, the RAL Classic collection now consists of 216 colors. The RAL code system is used to provide a definitive color designation by combining both the numeric code and, where applicable, the auxiliary color name.