Bar Codes: Understanding Lines and Bars

Bar Codes 

EAN (UPC) codes

"UPC" stands for Universal Product Code. UPC bar codes were originally created to help grocery stores speed up the checkout process and keep the inventory up to date to the minute; but the system quickly spread to all other retail products because it was so successful.

UPCs originate with a company called the Uniform Code Council (UCC). A manufacturer applies to the UCC for permission to enter the UPC system. The manufacturer pays an annual fee for the privilege. In return, the UCC issues the manufacturer a six-digit manufacturer identification number and provides guidelines on how to
use it. You can see the manufacturer identification number in any standard 12-digit UPC code. The UPC symbol has two parts:

• The machine-readable bar code (Check Digit; as described below)
• The human-readable 12-digit UPC number

They are made up of thirteen numeric characters all with a meaning. 

The first two EAN codes denote the country of issue of the number, e.g. UK for the number 50. The last or thirteenth number is a ‘check character’ calculated to modulo 10, which completes the code, confirming that the code is genuine and has conformed to the number structure. The remaining ten are split into two groups of five. The first five is the number assigned by the Article Numbering Association (ANA) to the purchaser of the sequence of numbers, e.g. 50 99999 00001?. The 99999 is specific to company ‘X’ and no other company or supplier can use it without permission of the owner. The next group of five is the number that the owner assigns to the specific product name and size, e.g. in 50 99999 00001? the 00001 could describe a bottle of 50 Cureall tablets, 100 mg.

So the code tells us that it is UK issued, the code is owned by company ‘X’, the product is a bottle of 50 Cureall tablets, 100 mg.

To return to the last character, i.e. the check character, at modulo 10 it would work out as 9 so the full code reads 50 99999 00001 9, and thirteen meaningful characters.

To optimise the contrasts between the bars and spaces, it is preferable to print black onto a white surface. Print gain is a term used by printers to quantify the amount by which the printed bar is bigger than the plate used. Different printing processes and machines have different gains, so leave control to the professional printer to obtain the code films to the correct gain.

A normal 100% magnification EAN 13 code is exactly 37.29 mm long and 26.26 mm high. These dimensions include the quiet zones around the bars themselves. The magnification has been reduced successfully to 80%, and the height can be reduced or ‘truncated’ 16 mm overall.

There is an EAN 8 code. These are certain numbers in the code sequence in which the zeros can be ignored, giving only eight digits, thereby reducing the code width to 26.73 mm overall. The same rules on reduction and truncation apply.

An Example: A Closer Look

The manufacturer identification number is the first six digits of the UPC number -- 639382 in the image above. The next five digits -- 00039 -- are the item number. A person employed by the manufacturer, called theUPC coordinator, is responsible for assigning item numbers to products, making sure the same code is not used on more than one product, retiring codes as products are removed from the product line, etc.

In general, every item the manufacturer sells, as well as every size package and every repackaging of the item, needs a different item code. So a 12-ounce can of Coke needs a different item number than a 16-ounce bottle of Coke, as does a 6-pack of 12-ounce cans, a 12-pack, a 24-can case, and so on. It is the job of the UPC coordinator to keep all of these numbers straight!

The last digit of the UPC code is called a check digit. This digit lets the scanner determine if it scanned the number correctly or not. Here is how the check digit is calculated for the other 11 digits, using the code 63938200039 

1. Add together the value of all of the digits in odd positions (digits 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11).
   6 + 9 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 9 = 32
2. Multiply that number by 3.
   32 * 3 = 96
3. Add together the value of all of the digits in even positions (digits 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10).
   3 + 3 + 2 + 0 + 3 = 11
4. Add this sum to the value in step 2.
   96 + 11 = 107
5. Take the number in Step 4. To create the check digit, determine the number that, when added to the number in step 4, is a multiple of 10.
   107 + 3 = 110
   The check digit is therefore 3.

Each time the scanner scans an item, it performs this calculation. If the check digit it calculates is different from the check digit it reads, the scanner knows that something went wrong and the item needs to be rescanned.

I Hope the following list of country codes will help you alot to in indentifying the country of origin of any product, while purchasing any item. You will be able to see whether the product which you are buying belongs to Pakistan, China , US or Israel.

Apply you knowledge, and get the pleasure of knowing. :)

• 100 – 139 U.S.
• 200 – 299 Restricted distribution
• 300 – 379 France and Monaco
• 380 Bulgaria
• 383 Slovenia
• 385 Croatia
• 387 Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 389 Montenegro
• 400 – 440 Germany (440 code inherited from old East Germany on reunification, 1990)
• 450 – 459 Japan
• 460 – 469 Russia
• 470 Kyrgyzstan
• 471 Taiwan
• 474 Estonia
• 475 Latvia
• 476 Azerbaijan
• 477 Lithuania
• 478 Uzbekistan
• 479 Sri Lanka
• 480 Philippines
• 481 Belarus
• 482 Ukraine
• 484 Moldova
• 485 Armenia
• 486 Georgia
• 487 Kazakhstan
• 488 Tajikistan
• 489 Hong Kong SAR
• 490 – 499 Japan
• 500 – 509 United Kingdom
• 520 – 521 Greece
• 528 Lebanon
• 529 Cyprus
• 530 Albania
• 531 Macedonia
• 535 Malta
• 539 Ireland
• 540 – 549 Belgium and Luxembourg
• 560 Portugal
• 569 Iceland
• 570 – 579 Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland
• 590 Poland
• 594 Romania
• 599 Hungary
• 600 – 601 South Africa
• 603 Ghana
• 604 Senegal
• 608 Bahrain
• 609 Mauritius
• 611 Morocco
• 613 Algeria
• 615 Nigeria
• 616 Kenya
• 618 Côte d’Ivoire
• 619 Tunisia
• 621 Syria
• 622 Egypt
• 624 Libya
• 625 Jordan
• 626 Iran
• 627 Kuwait
• 628 Saudi Arabia
• 629 United Arab Emirates
• 640 – 649 Finland
• 690 – 695 China, The People’s Republic
• 700 – 709 Norway
• 729 Israel
• 730 – 739 Sweden : EAN/GS1 Sweden
• 740 Guatemala
• 741 El Salvador
• 742 Honduras
• 743 Nicaragua
• 744 Costa Rica
• 745 Panama
• 746 Dominican Republic
• 750 Mexico
• 754 – 755 Canada
• 759 Venezuela
• 760 – 769 Switzerland and Liechtenstein
• 770 – 771 Colombia
• 773 Uruguay
• 775 Peru
• 777 Bolivia
• 779 Argentina
• 780 Chile
• 784 Paraguay
• 785 Peru
• 786 Ecuador
• 789 – 790 Brazil
• 800 – 839 Italy, San Marino and Vatican City
• 840 – 849 Spain and Andorra
• 850 Cuba
• 858 Slovakia
• 859 Czech Republic
• 860 Serbia
• 865 Mongolia
• 867 North Korea
• 868 – 869 Turkey
• 870 – 879 Netherlands
• 880 South Korea
• 884 Cambodia
• 885 Thailand
• 888 Singapore
• 890 India
• 893 Vietnam
• 896 Pakistan
• 899 Indonesia
• 900 – 919 Austria
• 930 – 939 Australia
• 940 – 949 New Zealand
• 950 GS1 Global Office: Special applications
• 951 EPCglobal: Special applications
• 955 Malaysia
• 958 Macau
• 960 – 969 GS1 Global Office: GTIN-8 allocations
• 977 Serial publications (ISSN)
• 978 – 979 Bookland (ISBN) – 979 formerly used for sheet music
• 980 Refund receipts
• 981 – 983 Common Currency Coupons
• 990 – 999 Coupons

Prefix 950 (GS1 Global Office) is used for special applications and bi-lateral agreements.