European Article NumberFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

GTIN-13 number encoded in EAN-13 barcode. First digit is always placed outside the symbol; additionally a right quiet zone indicator (>) is used to indicate Quiet Zones that are necessary for barcode scanners to work properly.

An EAN-13 barcode (originally "European Article Number", but now renamed ”International Article Number” even though the abbreviation has been retained) is a 13 digit (12 + check digit) barcoding standard which is a superset of the original 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC) system developed in the United States.[1] The EAN-13 barcode is defined by the standards organisation GS1.

The EAN-13 barcodes are used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point of sale. The numbers encoded in EAN-13 bar codes are product identification numbers, which are also called Japanese Article Number (JAN) in Japan. All the numbers encoded in UPC and EAN barcodes are known as Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN), and they can be encoded in other GS1 barcodes.

The less commonly used EAN-8 barcodes are used also for marking retail goods; however, they are usually reserved for smaller items, for example confectionery.

2-digit (EAN 2) and 5-digit (EAN 5) supplemental barcodes may be added for a total of 14 or 17 data digits. These are generally used for periodicals (to indicate the serial number), or books and weighted products like food (to indicate the selling price), respectively.

Contents

[hide] 1 Payload: GTIN-13 number

o 1.1 Components

o 1.2 GS1 Prefixes

o 1.3 Calculation of checksum digit

1.3.1 Weight

o 1.4 Calculation

2 Binary encoding of data digits into EAN-13 barcode

3 See also

o 3.1 References

o 3.2 External links

o 3.3 Related articles

[edit] Payload: GTIN-13 number

[edit] Components

The GTIN-13 encoded in the bar code has four components:

The GS1 Prefix, the first three digits, usually identifying the national GS1 Member Organisation to which the manufacturer is registered (not necessarily where the product is actually made).[2] When the EAN-13 symbol encodes a conversion of a 10-digit ISBN, the GS1 Prefix will be 978 (either 978 or 979 for 13-digit ISBNs), or 977 for ISSNs.

The Company number, consisting of three to eight digits depending on number of GTIN-13s required by the manufacturer to identify different product lines (in ISBN and ISSN, this component is used to identify the language in which the publication was issued and managed by a transnational agency covering several countries, or to identify the country where the legal deposits are made by a publisher registered with a national agency, and it is further subdivided any allocating subblocks for publishers; many countries have several prefixes allocated in the ISSN and ISBN registries).

The Item reference, consisting of two to six digits (in ISBN and ISSN, it uniquely identifies the publication from the same publisher; it should be used and allocated by the registered publisher in order to avoid creating gaps; however it happens that a registered book or serial never gets published and sold).

Check digit, a single checksum digit. The check digit is computed modulo 10, where the weights in the checksum calculation alternate 3 and 1. In particular, since the weights are relatively prime to 10 the EAN system will detect all single digit errors. But, since the difference of consecutive weights is even, the EAN system does not detect all adjacent transposition errors.

The complete number is used as a reference key to look up information about the product line held on a database; the number is never normally broken down into its components within users' systems.

[edit] GS1 Prefixes

Further information: List of GS1 country codes

The first two or three digits of the GTIN of any product identify the GS1 Member Organisation which the manufacturer has joined. Note that EAN-13 codes beginning with 0 are rarely used, as this is just a longer form of a 12-digit UPC. Since most scanners and registers worldwide can read both equally, most manufacturers in North America still only use UPC.

[edit] Calculation of checksum digit

The checksum digit must be calculated from the data digits before it can be encoded. The checksum is calculated taking a varying weight value times the value of each number in the barcode to make a sum. The checksum digit is then the digit which must be added to this sum to get a number evenly divisible by 10 (i.e. the additive inverse of the sum, modulo 10).

[edit] Weight

The weight for a specific position in the EAN code is either 3 or 1, which alternate so that the final data digit has a weight of 3; the same algorithm is used in other GTINs and the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC). In an EAN-13 code, the weight is 1 for odd positions or 3 for even positions; this is reversed in EAN-8 codes.[3] All GTIN and SSCC codes get their weight values for the position of the code from this table, making their code line up to the right:

Weights1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 173 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3

[edit] Calculation

Taking the numbers from an EAN 8 code we get: 7351353 or in the table:

Getting the weights for a barcodePosition 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17Weight 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3Code 7 3 5 1 3 5 3Sums 21 3 15 1 9 5 9

The sum from this barcode is then: 6363 modulo 10 = 310 minus 3 makes the checksum = 7

The complete EAN 8 code is then: 73513537

[edit] Binary encoding of data digits into EAN-13 barcode

Encoding EAN-13

the numbers of code L

the numbers of code G

the numbers of code R

To encode an EAN-13 barcode, the digits are first split into 3 groups, the first digit, the first group of 6 and the last group of 6. The first group of six is encoded using a scheme whereby each digit has two possible encodings, one of which has even parity and one of which has odd parity. The first digit is encoded by selecting a pattern of choices between these two encodings for the next six digits, according to the table below. (Unlike the other digits, the first digit is not represented directly by a pattern of bars.) All digits in the last group of six digits are encoded using a single set of patterns which are the same patterns used for UPC.

If the first digit is zero, all digits in the first group of six are encoded using the patterns used for UPC, hence a UPC barcode is also an EAN-13 barcode with the first digit set to zero.

Structure of EAN-13First digit First group of 6 digits Last group of 6 digits

0 LLLLLL RRRRRR1 LLGLGG RRRRRR2 LLGGLG RRRRRR3 LLGGGL RRRRRR4 LGLLGG RRRRRR5 LGGLLG RRRRRR6 LGGGLL RRRRRR7 LGLGLG RRRRRR8 LGLGGL RRRRRR9 LGGLGL RRRRRR

Encoding of the digitsDigit L-code G-code R-code0 0001101 0100111 11100101 0011001 0110011 11001102 0010011 0011011 11011003 0111101 0100001 10000104 0100011 0011101 10111005 0110001 0111001 10011106 0101111 0000101 10100007 0111011 0010001 10001008 0110111 0001001 10010009 0001011 0010111 1110100

Note: Entries in the R-column are bitwise complements of the respective entries in the L-column. Entries in the G-column are the entries in the R-column reversed. See pictures of all codes against a colored background.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

1. ̂ "Alumni Hall Of Fame Members". University of Maryland Alumni Association. The University of Maryland. 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070623090457/http://www.alumni.umd.edu/about/alumnihallfame_bios.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10. "After graduating from Maryland in 1951, George Laurer joined IBM as a junior engineer and worked up the ranks to senior engineer. In 1969, he returned to the technical side of engineering and was later assigned the monumental task of designing a code and symbol for product identification for the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council. His solution—the Universal Product Code—radically changed the retail world. Since then, he has enhanced the code by adding a 13th digit."

2. ̂ Prefix List GS1.

3. ̂ Check Digit Calculator, GS1.

[edit] External links

Download Open-Source Barcode Generator for EAN-13 (C++, VB, Excel Macros, etc.) upcdatabase, another online barcode database

EAN-Search, another free barcode database

Barcode Perl modules at CPAN

An example of EAN8/13 implementation

EAN MediaWiki extension , a MediaWiki extension, visualizing EAN-13/EAN-8/UPC-A/Code39/Codabar barcodes by specifying only the numbers/symbols in the wiki-text.

Implementing the EAN-13 barcode in C#

Online validation tool and graphics generator of EAN 8/13 codes

[edit] Related articles

EAN 8 , another form of EAN barcode Electronic Data Interchange

European Article Numbering-Uniform Code Council

Global Electronic Party Information Register (GEPIR) a searchable distributed database of GS1 GTINs

All About UPC Barcode & EAN Barcode The Universal Product Code or UPC barcode was the first bar code symbology widely adopted. Its birth is usually set at April 3, 1973, when the grocery industry formally established UPC as the standard bar code symbology for product marking. Foreign interest in UPC led to the adoption of the EAN code format, similar to UPC, in December 1976.

2005 Sunrise and the Global Trade Item Number initiatives from the UCC will begin on January 1, 2005. This is the "fourteen digit U.P.C." that everyone is talking about. There are quite a few misconceptions and considerable misinformation about the effect of this change. In a nutshell, if you are a manufacturer of a product that has an existing 8 or 12-digit UPC barcode, don't worry. You do not have to change anything. However, if you are a retailer or wholesaler with scanners, you potentially are affected. You will need to ensure that scanners are able to decode 8, 12, 13 and 14-digit barcodes (most scanners sold for the last 5 years can do this) and that database systems can handle the extra digits. Gregg London was kind enough to share an excellent white paper on the subject. Once January 1, 2005 comes, both EAN and UPC labels should scan properly worldwide.

There are now five versions of UPC and two versions of EAN. The Japanese Article Numbering (JAN) code has a single version identical to one of the EAN versions with the flag characters set to ``49''.

UPC and EAN symbols are fixed in length, can only encode numbers, and are continuous symbologies using four element widths.

UPC version A symbols have 10 digits plus two overhead digits while EAN symbols have 12 digits and one overhead digit. The first overhead digit of a UPC version A symbol is a number related to the type of product while an EAN symbol uses the first two characters to designate the country of the EAN International organization issuing the number. UPC is in fact a subset of the more general EAN code. Scanners equipped to read EAN symbols can read UPC symbols as well. However, UPC scanners will not necessarily read EAN symbols.

The UPC symbology was designed to make it ideal for coding products. UPC can be printed on packages using a variety of printing processes. The format allows the symbol to be scanned with any package orientation. Omnidirectional scanning allows any package orientation provided the symbol faces the scanner. The UPC format can be scanned by hand-held wands and can be printed by equipment in the store. Version A of the symbology has a First Pass Read Rate of 99% using a fixed laser scanner and has a substitution error rate of less than 1 error in 10,000 scanned symbols.

Nominal X dimension is 13 mils. A magnification factor of 0.8 to 2.0 is allowed and, as a result, makes a printable range of X dimension values of 10.4 to 24 mils. In other words, the nominal size of a UPC symbol is 1.469" wide x 1.02" high. The minimum recommended size is 80% of the nominal size or 1.175" wide x .816" high. The maximum recommended size is 200% of the nominal size or 2.938" wide x 2.04" high. Larger UPC's scan better. Smaller UPC's do not scan as well or not at all.

The UPC format can be printed using a variety of printing techniques because it allows for different ink spreading. The amount of ink spreading depends on printing press conditions, amount and viscosity of ink and other factors which are difficult to precisely control. The UPC symbol is decoded by measuring the distance from leading edges to leading edge of bars, trailing edge to trailing edge of bars and leading edge to leading edge of characters. Since relative distances are measured for decoding, uniform ink spread will not affect the symbol's readability. However, excessive ink spread will make the spaces very small to the point that the reader will be unable to resolve them. Since UPC is a continuous code with exacting tolerances, it is more difficult to print on any equipment except printing presses.

How Do I Get A Bar Code Number For My Product?

See the FAQ for the answer.

How Do I Get A List Of All The Product Codes And Their Respective Manufacturers?

See the FAQ for the answer.

Do I Have To Pay To Use Barcodes For Internal Uses Like Inventory?

See the FAQ for the answer.

UPC Version A Barcode

UPC version A is the basic version of UPC and is usually the version seen on grocery store items. The symbology is used to encode the 10 digit Universal Product Code. An eleventh digit indicates the type of product, and a twelfth digit is a modulo check digit. The symbol is divided into two halves, each containing 5 digits. The two six-digit patterns are surrounded by left, center and right guard patterns. The left six digits use odd parity encodation while the right six digits use even parity encodation.. The first digit is the UPC number system digit related to the type of product (0 for groceries, 3 for drugs, etc.). The next 5 digits are the UPC manufacturer's code. The first five digits of the right half are the product code. The final digit is the check digit. Although UPC A is continuous, the left and right halves of the symbol can be independently decoded.

A digit is coded as a sequence of two bars and two spaces within a space 7 modules wide. Bar and space widths may be 12, 3, or 4 modules wide. This results in 20 possible bar-space combinations. Ten of these patterns are used for the left odd parity digits and ten are used for the right even parity digits. The left digits always start with a space, while the right digits always start with a bar.

 Left DigitsOdd Parity

S B S B

Right DigitEven Parity

B S B S

0 3 2 1 1 3 2 1 1

1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1

2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2

3 1 4 1 1 1 4 1 1

4 1 1 3 2 1 1 3 2

5 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 1

6 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 4

7 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 2

8 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 3

9 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 2

A typical UPC Version A symbol has center guard bars in the center of the symbol which are longer than the other bars. This divides the symbol into a right and left half. This division allows the symbol to scan in any orientation. The moving beam laser bar code reader in grocery stores produces orthogonal scanning beams either in a cross, starburst, or figure-eight. At least one beam will then pass through each half of the symbol, since the symbol's height is at least equal to half of the length of the symbol.

The height of the symbol should be at least half the length of the symbol. Sometimes the symbol's height is shortened to fit into the design of the package. This truncation of symbol height affects the ability to scan the symbol in any orientation, and will generally reduce the First Pass Read Rate.

The Quiet Zone should be 9 modules on the left and right of the symbol.

Version A may include either a 2 digit or a 5 digit supplemental encodation. These extra digits are primarily used on periodicals and books.

More information about Version A is available here.

UPC Version E Barcode

UPC version E is the next most common version of UPC. It is a zero suppression version of UPC. It is intended to be used on packaging which would be otherwise too small to use one of the other versions. The code is smaller because it drops out zeros which would otherwise occur in a symbol. For example, the code 59300-00066 would be encoded as 593663. The last digit (3 in the example) indicates the type of compression. Guard bars precede and follow the data (no middle guard bars). The digits are coded following the parity pattern EVEN, EVEN, ODD, ODD, EVEN, ODD. The data is enclosed between two left-hand guard bars and three right-hand guard bars. The six digit number is always preceded by a 0 and followed by the check digit. The way the check digit is computed is by expanding the type E to a type A, then doing the regular check.

More information about Version E along with a converter is available here.

There is a good explanation of Zero Suppression at the Infinity Graphics site with a table that shows how a Version A number may be reduced to Version E if the Numbering System Character is "0".

Other UPC Barcode Versions

There are three other versions of UPC. These other versions are not in wide use.

UPC version B is a special version originally developed to handle the National Drug Code and National Health Related Items Code. It allows for 11 digits plus one product type code. This version does not have any modulo check digit.

UPC version C is a special code designed to promote industry-wide compatibility. The code is 12 digits long with a product type digit and a modulo check sum digit.

UPC version D is a variable message length version of UPC. The symbol must contain at least 12 digits. The first digit is a product type code. This is followed by 10 information carrying digits. The twelfth digit is a modulo check sum, and this is followed by a variable number of digits.

There is a good explanation of the UPC Shipping Container Symbol (SCS) at the Infinity Graphics site.

EAN-13 Barcode and EAN-8 Barcode

The EAN Article Numbering System (EAN),the Japanese Article Numbering (JAN) System and the International Article Numbering System (IAN) are identical to UPC except for the number of digits. The Japanese Article Numbering (JAN) System (JAN) codes are the same as the EAN codes, with the flag characters set to ``49''. There are two principal EAN versions.

Standard EAN (sometimes called EAN-13 or DUN-13) has 10 numeric characters, 2 or 3 "flag" characters which are usually a code for the country of the EAN International organization issuing the number , and a check digit. In all other respects, it is identical to UPC version A. JAN is the same as EAN-13. For compatibility with UPC, flags 00, 01, 03, 04, and 06 through 13 are assigned to the United States.

What are the country codes?

Lots of people have requested the codes. Here is a partial list. Remember, it indicates the country that issued the code, NOT THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE PRODUCT. The abbreviation "MO" stands for Member Organization. The meaning of the prefixes ""020-029", "040-049" and "200-299" are set by the GS1 administration in a given country. GS1-US has defined these prefixes as for internal use in, for example,

warehouses. The authoritative list is here.

Prefix

GS1 Country

000 - 019 GS1 United States

020 - 029 Restricted distribution (MO defined, usually for internal use)

030 - 039 GS1 United States

040 - 049 Restricted distribution (MO defined, usually for internal use)

050 - 059 Coupons

060 - 139 GS1 United States

200 - 299 Restricted distribution (MO defined, usually for internal use)

300 - 379 GS1 France

380 GS1 Bulgaria

383 GS1 Slovenia

385 GS1 Croatia

387 GS1 BIH (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

400 - 440 GS1 Germany

450 - 459 &490 - 499

GS1 Japan

460 - 469 GS1 Russia

470 GS1 Kurdistan

471 GS1 Taiwan

474 GS1 Estonia

475 GS1 Latvia

476 GS1 Azerbaijan

477 GS1 Lithuania

478 GS1 Uzbekistan

479 GS1 Sri Lanka

480 GS1 Philippines

481 GS1 Belarus

482 GS1 Ukraine

484 GS1 Moldova

485 GS1 Armenia

486 GS1 Georgia

487 GS1 Kazakhstan

489 GS1 Hong Kong

500 - 509 GS1 UK

520 GS1 Greece

528 GS1 Lebanon

529 GS1 Cyprus

530 GS1 Albania

531 GS1 MAC (FYR Macedonia)

535 GS1 Malta

539 GS1 Ireland

540 - 549 GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg

560 GS1 Portugal

569 GS1 Iceland

570 - 579 GS1 Denmark

590 GS1 Poland

594 GS1 Romania

599 GS1 Hungary

600 - 601 GS1 South Africa

603 GS1 Ghana

608 GS1 Bahrain

609 GS1 Mauritius

611 GS1 Morocco

613 GS1 Algeria

616 GS1 Kenya

618 GS1 Ivory Coast

619 GS1 Tunisia

621 GS1 Syria

622 GS1 Egypt

624 GS1 Libya

625 GS1 Jordan

626 GS1 Iran

627 GS1 Kuwait

628 GS1 Saudi Arabia

629 GS1 Emirates

640 - 649 GS1 Finland

690 - 695 GS1 China

700 - 709 GS1 Norway

729 GS1 Israel

730 - 739 GS1 Sweden

740 GS1 Guatemala

741 GS1 El Salvador

742 GS1 Honduras

743 GS1 Nicaragua

744 GS1 Costa Rica

745 GS1 Panama

746 GS1 Dominican Republic

750 GS1 Mexico

754 - 755 GS1 Canada

759 GS1 Venezuela

760 - 769 GS1 Switzerland

770 GS1 Colombia

773 GS1 Uruguay

775 GS1 Peru

777 GS1 Bolivia

779 GS1 Argentina

780 GS1 Chile

784 GS1 Paraguay

786 GS1 Ecuador

789 - 790 GS1 Brazil  

800 - 839 GS1 Italy  

840 - 849 GS1 Spain  

850 GS1 Cuba

858 GS1 Slovakia

859 GS1 Czech

860  GS1 YU (Serbia & Montenegro)

865 GS1 Mongolia

867 GS1 North Korea

868 - 869 GS1 Turkey

870 - 879 GS1 Netherlands

880 GS1 South Korea

884 GS1 Cambodia

885 GS1 Thailand

888 GS1 Singapore

890 GS1 India

893 GS1 Vietnam

899 GS1 Indonesia

900 - 919 GS1 Austria

930 - 939 GS1 Australia

940 - 949 GS1 New Zealand

950 GS1 Global Office

955 GS1 Malaysia

958 GS1 Macau

977 Serial publications (ISSN)

978 - 979 Bookland (ISBN)

980 Refund receipts

981 - 982 Common Currency Coupons

990 - 999 Coupons

More information about EAN-13 is available here.

EAN-8 has a left-hand guard pattern, four odd parity digits, a center guard pattern, four even parity digits, and a right-hand guard pattern. An EAN-8 bar code has two flag digits, five data digits, and one check digit. There is additional information about EAN-8 here.

Information about Bookland EAN and ISBN numbering of books can be found at BarCode 1's Bookland EAN and ISBN Page.

There is a good explanation of Bookland EAN bar code symbols used by the publishing industry at the Infinity Graphics site. There is also a very good explanation about Bookland EAN Add-On Code, used for storing the price of a book or magazine.

If you need to compute the check digit for UPC-A (UCC-12) in Excel, the following will work:

Put the number you want to determine the check digit for in cell A1.

Put the following formula in cell B1:

=10-MOD(MID($A1,2,1)+MID($A1,4,1)+MID($A1,6,1)+MID($A1,8,1)+MID($A1,10,1)+(MID($A1,1,1)+MID($A1,3,1)+MID($A1,5,1)+MID($A1,7,1)+MID($A1,9,1)+MID($A1,11,1))*3,10)

Put the following formula in cell C1:

=if($B1=10,0,$B1)

The value that appears in cell C1 is the check digit. If you want to add the check digit to the UPC to produce the full UPC-12 number, put the following formula in D1:

=CONCATENATE(A1,C1)

For EAN-13 (UCC-13) the formula in cell B1 should to changed to:

=10-MOD(MID($A1,1,1)+MID($A1,3,1)+MID($A1,5,1)+MID($A1,7,1)+MID($A1,9,1)+MID($A1,11,1)+(MID($A1,2,1)+MID($A1,4,1)+MID($A1,6,1)+MID($A1,8,1)+MID($A1,10,1)+MID($A1,12,1))*3,10)

For EAN-14/UCC-14 the formula in cell B1 should be changed to:

=10-MOD(MID($A1,2,1)+MID($A1,4,1)+MID($A1,6,1)+MID($A1,8,1)+MID($A1,10,1)+MID($A1,12,1)+(MID($A1,1,1)+MID($A1,3,1)+MID($A1,5,1)+MID($A1,7,1)+MID($A1,9,1)+MID($A1,11,1)+MID($A1,13,1))*3,10)

For EAN/UCC-8 the forumula in cell B1 should be changed to:

=10-MOD(MID($A1,2,1)+MID($A1,4,1)+MID($A1,6,1)+(MID($A1,1,1)+MID($A1,3,1)+MID($A1,5,1)+MID($A1,7,1))*3,10)

Other UPC And EAN Resources

George J. Laurer is the developer of UPC in 1973 and EAN later. There is a history at his site.

GS1-US (formally called Uniform Code Council) has a home page that provides a catalog of information they sell and an electronic version of their newsletter.

There is also a step-by-step guide about how to join and get a manufacturer's code to produce barcodes here.

GS1 (formarly called EAN International) is is the organization that manages the EAN system worldwide, currently there are national organizations in 92 countries on the 5 continents. (can be slow to access from North America). They also have a complete list of the addresses and phone numbers of the local EAN organizations by country. This list also has links to on-line sites of EAN organizations in some countries. There is much more very good information at the EAN site. The site is a must visit for information about EAN.

There is another site which provides product descriptions. It's called the Internet UPC Database, an on-line database for Universal Product Codes (UPC).

There is a new resource for searching EAN barcode numbers at www.ean-search.org. You can search for EAN codes or browse through the database of over 500.000 EANs.

There is a good explanation for children about How UPC Bar Codes Work from Howstuffworks.com

A very good explanation about UPC/EAN-128 Coupon Extended Code for cents-off coupons can be found at the Infinity Graphics site.

There is also more information about coupon codes here and there is still more about coupon codes here.

Introduction

EAN is designed by the International Article Numbering Association (EAN) in Europe. It is an extension to UPC-A to include the country information. This means that any software or hardware capable of reading an EAN-13 symbol will automatically be able to read an UPC-A symbol. The only difference between UPC-A and EAN-13 is that the number system in UPC-A is a single digit from 0 through 9 whereas an EAN-13 number system consists of two digits ranging form 00 to 99. EAN-13 encodes 12 digits of numeric data along with a trailing check digit, for a total of 13 digits of barcode data. Each country has a numbering authority which assigns manufacturer codes to companies within its jurisdiction. The manufacturer code is still five digits long, as is the product code, and the check digit is calculated in exactly the same way.

Structure of an EAN barcode

An EAN-13 number consists of four areas: ¤ The Number System¤ The Manufacturer Code¤ The Product Code¤ The Check Digit

Normally the number system digit is printed to the left of the barcode, and the check digit to the right. The manufacturer and product codes are printed just below the barcode, separated by the guard bar.

¤ Number SystemThe number system consists of two digits (sometimes three digits) which identify the country/region numbering authority which assigned the manufacturer code. Any number system which starts with the digit 0 is a UPC-A barcode. The number system list is maintained by EAN organization (www.ean-int.org). Also, the number system for every country/region are listed here.

¤ The Manufacturer Code The manufacturer code is a unique code assigned to each manufacturer by the numbering authority indicated by the number system code. All products produced by a given company will use the same manufacturer code.

EAN uses what is called "variable-length manufacturer codes." Assigning fixed-length 5-digit manufacturer codes, as the UCC has done until recently, means that each manufacturer can have up to 99,999 product codes--and many manufacturers don't have that many products, which means hundreds or even thousands of potential product codes are being wasted on manufacturers that only have a few products. Thus if a potential manufacturer knows that it is only going to produce a few products, EAN

may issue it a longer manufacturer code, leaving less space for the product code. This results in more efficient use of the available manufacturer and product codes.

¤ The Product Code The product code is assigned by the manufacturer. The product code immediately follows manufacturer code. The total length of manufacturer code plus product code must be exact 10 digits.

¤ The Check DigitThe check digit is used to verify that the barcode is generated or scanned correctly. The check digit is calculated based on the rest of the barcode digits.

Since a scan can produce incorrect data due to inconsistent scanning speed, print imperfections, or a host of other problems, it is useful to verify that the rest of the data in the barcode has been correctly interpreted.

The nominal X dimension is 13 mils. The printable X dimension ranges from 10.4 to 24 mils.

The method of calculating the check digit:1. From the right to left, start with odd position, assign the odd/even position to each digit.2. Sum all digits in odd position and multiply the result by 3.3. Sum all digits in even position.5. Sum the results of step 3 and step 4.6 .Divide the result of step 4 by 10. The check digit is the number which adds the remainder to 10.

How to calculate the checksum (Visual Basic function):

Function Append_EAN_Checksum (RawString as String)Dim Position as IntegerDim CheckSum as Integer CheckSum = 0For Position = 2 to 12 step 2Checksum = Checksum + Val(Mid$(RawString, Position, 1))Next PositionCheckSum = CheckSum * 3For Position = 1 to 11 Step 2CheckSum = CheckSum + Val(Mid$(RawString, Position, 1))Next PositionCheckSum = CheckSum Mod 10CheckSum = 10 - CheckSumIf CheckSum = 10 ThenCheckSum = 0

End IfAppend_Ean_Checksum = RawString & Format$(CheckSum, "0")End Function

Encoding

A EAN-13 symbol can be divided into two halves, each consisting of six digits separated by a center guard bar pattern. The whole symbol is surrounded by two guard bar patterns. The same digit has different encoding depends whether it is in the left halve or in the right halve. The encoding pattern for digits in the left halve always starts with a space while the one for digits in the right halve always start with a bar and ends with a space. A EAN-13 symbol has the following structure:1. Start guard bars, always with a pattern bar+space+bar.2. Left halve, six digits encoded using the encoding schema A or B;3. Center guard bars, with a pattern space+bar+space+bar+space.4. Right halve, six digits encoded using the encoding schema C.5. Stop guard bars, always with a pattern bar+space+bar.

Number System Codes

Code Country00 - 09 United States of America

10 - 19 Reserved for UCC (USA) joining EAN

20 - 29 For local use by retailers or distributors

30-37 France

400 - 440 Germany

45 Japan

46 Russian Federation

471 Taiwan

474 Estonia

475 Latvia

477 Lithuania

479 Sri Lanka

480 Philippines

481 Belarus

482 Ukraine

484 Moldova

485 Armenia

486 Georgia

487 Kazakhstan

489 Hong Kong

49 Japan

50 United Kingdom

520 Greece

528 Lebanon

529 Cyprus

531 Macedonia

535 Malta

539 Ireland

54 Belgium and Luxembourg

560 Portugal

569 Iceland

57 Denmark

590 Poland

594 Romania

599 Hungary

600 - 601 South Africa

609 Mauritius

611 Morocco

613 Algeria

619 Tunisia

622 Egypt

625 Jordan

626 Iran

64 Finland

690 - 692 China

70 Norway

729 Israel

73 Sweden

740 - 745Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

746 Republica Dominicana

750 Mexico

759 Venezuela

76 Switzerland

770 Colombia

773 Uruguay

775 Peru

777 Bolivia

779 Argentina

780 Chile

784 Paraguay

785 Peru

786 Ecuador

789 Brazil

80 - 83 Italy

84 Spain

850 Cuba

858 Slovokia

859 Czech

860 Yugoslavia

869 Turkey

87 Netherlands

880 South Korea

885 Thailand

888 Singapore

890 India

893 Vietnam

899 Indonesia

90 - 91 Austria

93 Australia

94 New Zealand

955 Malaysia

959 Papua New Guinea

977 Periodicals (ISSN)

978 Books (ISBN)

979 Music (ISMN)

980 Refund receipts

99 Coupons