EAN13

EAN-13, short for European Article Number 13, is a 13-digit barcode standard used worldwide to identify trade items at the point of sale. It is part of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) system maintained by GS1, an international organization that sets barcoding and supply chain standards. An EAN-13 barcode encodes a GTIN-13 number and is designed for reliable scanning by retail equipment.

Structure and check digit: The 13 digits are arranged to include a GS1 prefix (the first three digits), which identifies the GS1 member organization or trading region, followed by digits that represent the manufacturer and product, and ending with a check digit. The final digit is a check digit calculated from the preceding digits using a modulo-10 algorithm with alternating weights of 1 and 3; the total sum including the check digit must be a multiple of 10.

Relation to UPC: EAN-13 is backward compatible with the 12-digit UPC-A code used in North America. A UPC-A code can be represented as an EAN-13 by adding a leading zero, allowing it to be scanned in environments that use EAN-13.

Usage and prefixes: EAN-13 is widely used on packaged consumer goods sold internationally and is scanned at most retail points of sale. Prefixes within the code denote GS1 membership and region rather than a precise country of manufacture. Some prefixes (such as 978 and 979) are reserved for book publishing and ISBN-13 codes.

History: The system originated in the European Article Number program in the 1960s–70s and evolved into the global GTIN standard managed by GS1, replacing and superseding earlier local barcoding schemes.