EANUPCstandardeja

EANUPCstandardeja refers to the family of barcode standards used to identify trade items, primarily through the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). These standards originated from separate national systems—UPC in the United States and Canada and EAN in Europe—but are now administered within the GS1 framework, making them interoperable. A common example is that a UPC-A code, which has 12 digits, can be represented as an EAN-13 code with a leading zero.

The core formats include EAN-13 and UPC-A. EAN-13 uses 13 digits, where the first digits often indicate a company prefix and product category, but the exact allocation is defined by GS1. The final digit is a check digit calculated by a modulo 10 algorithm. Left-hand digits are encoded using patterns known as L and G, while right-hand digits use the R pattern. A UPC-A code corresponds to an EAN-13 code by prefixing a zero to the 12-digit UPC.

Variants within the EAN/UPC family include EAN-8 for small items, and EAN-14 (GTIN-14) for packaging hierarchies and logistic units. UPC-E is a reduced, space-saving version of UPC-A for limited symbol space. In addition, GS1-128 (also called GS1-128 or EAN-128) uses Code 128 with application identifiers to convey additional data beyond the basic product identifier.

Usage and purpose are global: barcodes are scanned at points of sale, in warehouses, and across supply chains to identify products, manage inventory, and enable data exchange between trading partners. The standards are maintained and updated by GS1, which also provides guidelines for GTIN allocation, barcode placement, and data synchronization.