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International Article Number
International Article Number, also known as European Article Number (EAN), is a global standard that defines a barcode format and a unique numbering system used in retail and trade. It helps identify specific types of retail products based on their packaging and manufacturer, making it easier to track and manage products in international trade.
Originally developed to simplify product identification in stores, the EAN system has been integrated into the broader Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) standard. While GTIN can be expressed with any barcode format, the EAN barcode format remains the most widely recognized one used in inventory control, wholesale transactions, and accounting processes.
The most widely used version is EAN-13, an extension of the earlier 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC-A) with an optional numeric prefix indicating the country of registration. In cases where space is limited on packaging, the shorter EAN-8 format is used. To append supplemental information, such as periodical issue numbers and food item prices, EAN-2 and EAN-5 are also used.
The 13-digit EAN-13 number consists of four components:
The first three digits of the EAN-13 (GS1 Prefix) usually identify the GS1 Member Organization which the manufacturer has joined (not necessarily where the product is actually made). Note that EAN-13 codes beginning with 0 are actually 12-digit UPC codes with prepended 0 digit. In recent years,[when?] more products sold by retailers outside the United States and Canada have been using EAN-13 codes beginning with 0, since they were generated by GS1-US.
The 020-029 GS1 Prefixes are worth a special mention. GS1 defines this as being available for retailer internal use (or internal use by other types of business). Some retailers use this for proprietary (own brand or unbranded) products, although many retailers obtain their own manufacturer's code for their own brands. Other retailers use at least part of this prefix for products which are packaged in store, for example, items weighed and served over a counter for a customer. In these cases, the barcode may encode a price, quantity or weight along with a product identifier – in a retailer defined way. The product identifier may be one assigned by the Produce Electronic Identification Board (PEIB) or may be retailer assigned. Retailers who have historically used UPC barcodes tend to use GS1 prefixes starting with "02" for store-packaged products.[citation needed]
The EAN "country code" 978 (and later 979) has been allocated since the 1980s to reserve a Unique Country Code (UCC) prefix for EAN identifiers of published books, regardless of country of origin, so that the EAN space can catalog books by ISBNs rather than maintaining a redundant parallel numbering system. This is informally known as "Bookland". The prefix 979 with first digit 0 is used for International Standard Music Number (ISMN) and the prefix 977 indicates International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).
The manufacturer code is a unique code assigned to each manufacturer by the numbering authority indicated by the GS1 Prefix. All products produced by a given company will use the same manufacturer code. EAN-13 uses what are 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.(9,999 for 3 digit GS1 prefix's) Many manufacturers do not 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-13 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.
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International Article Number
International Article Number, also known as European Article Number (EAN), is a global standard that defines a barcode format and a unique numbering system used in retail and trade. It helps identify specific types of retail products based on their packaging and manufacturer, making it easier to track and manage products in international trade.
Originally developed to simplify product identification in stores, the EAN system has been integrated into the broader Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) standard. While GTIN can be expressed with any barcode format, the EAN barcode format remains the most widely recognized one used in inventory control, wholesale transactions, and accounting processes.
The most widely used version is EAN-13, an extension of the earlier 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC-A) with an optional numeric prefix indicating the country of registration. In cases where space is limited on packaging, the shorter EAN-8 format is used. To append supplemental information, such as periodical issue numbers and food item prices, EAN-2 and EAN-5 are also used.
The 13-digit EAN-13 number consists of four components:
The first three digits of the EAN-13 (GS1 Prefix) usually identify the GS1 Member Organization which the manufacturer has joined (not necessarily where the product is actually made). Note that EAN-13 codes beginning with 0 are actually 12-digit UPC codes with prepended 0 digit. In recent years,[when?] more products sold by retailers outside the United States and Canada have been using EAN-13 codes beginning with 0, since they were generated by GS1-US.
The 020-029 GS1 Prefixes are worth a special mention. GS1 defines this as being available for retailer internal use (or internal use by other types of business). Some retailers use this for proprietary (own brand or unbranded) products, although many retailers obtain their own manufacturer's code for their own brands. Other retailers use at least part of this prefix for products which are packaged in store, for example, items weighed and served over a counter for a customer. In these cases, the barcode may encode a price, quantity or weight along with a product identifier – in a retailer defined way. The product identifier may be one assigned by the Produce Electronic Identification Board (PEIB) or may be retailer assigned. Retailers who have historically used UPC barcodes tend to use GS1 prefixes starting with "02" for store-packaged products.[citation needed]
The EAN "country code" 978 (and later 979) has been allocated since the 1980s to reserve a Unique Country Code (UCC) prefix for EAN identifiers of published books, regardless of country of origin, so that the EAN space can catalog books by ISBNs rather than maintaining a redundant parallel numbering system. This is informally known as "Bookland". The prefix 979 with first digit 0 is used for International Standard Music Number (ISMN) and the prefix 977 indicates International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).
The manufacturer code is a unique code assigned to each manufacturer by the numbering authority indicated by the GS1 Prefix. All products produced by a given company will use the same manufacturer code. EAN-13 uses what are 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.(9,999 for 3 digit GS1 prefix's) Many manufacturers do not 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-13 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.