Commodity barcode (EAN, UPC code) (ISBN and ISSN)

Business is the earliest application of barcode technology. In commercial automation systems, product barcode is the key. In the national standard GB/T 12904, commodity barcode (barcode for commodity) is defined as a modular combination barcode used to identify international commodity codes.

In 1970, the U.S. Supermarket Committee established the Universal Commodity Code UPC Code. The U.S. Uniform Code Committee (UCC) established the UPC barcode system in 1973, and The standardization of the code system has been fully realized. The UPC barcode has been successfully applied in the commercial circulation field, which has greatly promoted the application and popularization of the barcode.

The successful use of the UPC code prompted the creation of the European Numbering System (EAN). By 1981, EAN had developed into an international organization, and EAN codes were compatible with UPC codes.

EAN/UPC barcode

EAN/UPC code, as a consumer unit code, is used to uniquely identify a commodity on a global scale.

There are two versions of EAN code-standard version and shortened version.

• The standard version means 13 digits, also known as the EAN13 code;
• The shortened version means 8 digits, also known as EAN8.

The last digit of the two barcodes is the check digit, which is calculated from the previous 12 or 7 digits. The encoding method of the two versions can refer to the national standard GB-12094-1998.

EAN code consists of prefix code, manufacturer identification code, product item code and check code. The prefix code is the code used by the international EAN organization to identify each member organization, my country is 690, 691 and 692; the manufacturer code is the prefix code assigned by the EAN coding organization in EAN Based on the code assigned to the manufacturer; the commodity item code is coded by the manufacturer; the check code is to verify the correctness of the code.

When compiling commodity item codes, manufacturers must abide by the basic principles of commodity coding: the same commodity item codes must be compiled for the commodities of the same commodity item; different commodity item codes must be compiled for different commodity items. Ensure that the product items correspond to their identification codes one-to-one, that is, one product item has only one code, and one code only identifies one product item.

For example, the barcode of the canned Jianlibao beverage is 6901010101098, where 690 represents the EAN organization in my country, 1010 represents the Guangdong Jianlibao Company, and 10109 is the product code of the canned beverage. Such an encoding method ensures that no matter when and where, 6901010101098 is the only one corresponding to the commodity.

Book barcode ISBN and periodical barcode ISSN

In addition, books and periodicals as special products also use EAN13 to represent ISBN and ISSN. The prefix 977 is used for the periodical number ISSN, and the book number ISBN is prefixed with 978. my country is assigned an ISBN number starting with 7, so the barcodes on the books published by our publishing houses all start with 9787. The following table lists the EAN organizations represented by some prefix codes.

ISBN barcode template download

The prefix codes that EAN has assigned to each coding organization