1.
Get a company prefix
You need to
get an EAN·UCC company prefix, by contacting your
EAN National Organisation or, for the U.S and Canada, the Uniform
Code council
In general the
EAN·UCC company prefix comprises 6 to 10 digits depending
on the need of the company.
The EAN·UCC
company prefix, unique worldwide, is the first part of the number
used to uniquely identify a product or service.
Example:
|
EAN·UCC
company prefix
|
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
Next : 2. Item reference
You will be assigned a block of numbers that your organisation
will use as an item reference.
The item reference has typically 1 to 6 digits, it is a non-significant
number, which means that the individual digits in the number do
not relate to any classification or convey any specific information.
The simplest way to allocate item references is sequentially, that
is 000, 001,002, 003, etc.
Example:
|
EAN·UCC
company prefix
|
Item
reference
|
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6 |
7 |
0
|
0
|
1
|
Next
: 3. Calculate the Check digit
The check digit is the last digit (rightmost) of the GTIN (Global
Trade Item Number). It is calculated from all other digits in the
number and is used to ensure that the bar code has been correctly
scanned or that the number is correctly composed.
Example:
|
EAN·UCC
company prefix
|
Item
reference
|
Check
digit
|
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5 |
6 |
7
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
Warning!
The number must always be
used as a whole. No processing of data should be based on any
part of a GTIN. |
Now you have the numbers to identify your products.
As soon as you become a member and use the EAN·UCC System,
you have access to a number of services, customised to your needs
by your EAN Numbering Organisation or UCC.
