Products & Services

With the expansion of global trade and computerization, plain language descriptions of products and services need to be replaced   by identification systems that are usable in all trade and industry sectors world-wide.
 
 The EAN.UCC system (now GS1 system)  has been developed to meet this need by providing solutions that guarantees unique and unambiguous identification. Manufacturers, exporters, importers, hospitals, wholesalers, retailers, etc. can use the system to communicate information regarding the goods or services they trade.
 
 These unique identification numbers can be represented by bar code symbols. This enables inexpensive and accurate data capture thus providing the required information at all points of the supply chain.

Example of an EAN-13 bar code:

Any item which crosses the retail point of sale should be bar coded using the EAN/UPC symbology and the two most widely used numbering structures for this symbology are the EAN/UCC-13 and UCC-12. The GTIN is constructed as follows:

AN.UCC company prefix
Any company wishing to identify their products will be allocated an EAN.UCC company prefix upon joining GS1 Jordan. The company prefix is variable in length and is normally determined by the capacity of GTINs required (10, 100, 1,000, etc.)

Item reference
This part of the numbering structure is allocated by the user company. Each different trade item is allocated a different number and, for ease of administration, it is recommended to do this sequentially (001, 002, 003, etc.).

Check digit
EAN · UCC has a standard check-digit algorithm for all GTINs. This is calculated using the preceding digits.

Once assigned, the GTIN can then be bar code onto the trade item using the EAN/UPC symbology. All identical trade items use an identical GTIN & bar code.

GTIN (UCC-12) in UPC-A symbol

GTIN (EAN/UCC-13) in EAN-13 symbol

It is important to use the correct bar code symbol. You will receive full information upon becoming a member of GS1 Jordan.

Special consideration for very small retail items

Some retail items are very small and it is difficult for the package to accommodate a full sized UPC-A or EAN-13 bar code symbol. In such situations it is possible to apply for a GTIN which can be encoded into a smaller bar code symbol. Due to the limited capacity GS1 Jordan normally allocated these GTINs one-by-one.

GTIN (UCC-12) in UPC-E GTIN symbol



(EAN/UCC-8) in EAN-8 symbol

Special considerations for pre-packed variable measure retail items

Many products sold in retail stores do not have a pre-defined weight (or other attribute such as length or area) but are sold by random weight at a fixed price per kilo.

Examples include certain cheeses, packaged meat or fish (or lengths of electrical wire or timbre). Very often the price to paid by the customer is calculated according to the variable weight of the item multiplied by the fixed price per kilo.

Suppliers of such items should contact GS1 Jordan for the exact details of the how EAN.UCC standards are used to identify such products.

Special considerations for books and magazines (serial publications)

GS1 has agreement with the relevant international organizations to enable EAN-13 based GTINs to be derived from the ISBN (for books) and the ISSN (for serial publications). Publishers should contact GS1 Jordan for the exact details.

Any users of the ISBN should note that there are plans in place to implement the EAN.UCC prefixes 978 and 979 as part of the ISBN by 2005. This will mean that the length of ISBNs will increase from the present 10-digits to 13-digits. It is therefore important to process the entire GTIN to avoid duplication. 

2. Numbering structures used for trade items NOT intended to cross the retail point of sale 

The bar code symbology and numbering structures used for 'trade items intended to cross the retail point of sale' also apply to non-retail items. However, user companies have the additional option to use the ITF-14 bar code symbology, the UCC/EAN-128 bar code symbology and GTINs based upon the EAN/UCC-14 numbering structure.

GTINs created using the EAN/UCC-14 structure are used for 'trade items' which are themselves packages of smaller trade items (for example a case of 24 retail units). The GTIN is constructed as follows:

Indicator
A digit to complete a particular identification number or to add some sort of significance to a particular GTIN. The digits that may be used are 1 to 8 to denote packaging configuration (for example a case of 12 retail items could use indicator 1, while a case of 24 retail items could use the indicator 2. etc). The digit 9 in this position is used to denote a variable measure trade item. EAN.UCC GTIN of contained trade item (without check digit) : The GTIN of the contained unit, normally the lowest level of packaging, is the basis for this numbering structure. The GTIN of the contained item can be based on the EAN/UCC-8, UCC-12 or EAN/UCC-13 numbering structure.

Check digit: EAN · UCC has a standard check-digit algorithm for all GTINs. This is calculated using all the preceding digits.

Once assigned, the GTIN can then be bar code onto the trade item using the ITF-14 or UCC/EAN-128 bar code symbology. All identical trade items use an identical GTIN & bar code. 

GTIN (EAN/UCC-14) in ITF-14 symbol

GTIN (EAN/UCC-14) in UCC/EAN-128 symbol

It is important to use the correct bar code symbol. This choice this will depend largely upon where the bar code will be scanned. You will receive full information upon becoming a member of GS1 Jordan.

Special consideration for very small trade items, Some trade items, such as certain medical devises, unit dose pharmaceutical products or printed circuit boards, have a very limited amount of packaging space upon which to print the bar code symbol containing the GTIN. In such circumstances companies wish to use the smallest possible bar code symbol possible.

The X dimension (the width of the narrowest bar or spaces) has the largest impact on the overall size of the bar code symbol and EAN.UCC recommend an absolute minimum X-dimension of 0.254 mm. (0.010 inch). Special care should be taken when printing bar codes using a low X-dimension. 

In recognition that printing bar codes on very small items -particularly where more information than just the GTIN is required - remains a business critical issue, EAN/UCC are working on a new family of bar codes known as Reduced Space Symbology (RSS). Special considerations for conveyor scanning environments.

Scanning in automated warehouse has become increasingly common in recent years and experience has shown that large EAN.UCC bar codes symbols scan much more consistently than smaller ones.

The X dimension (the width of the narrowest bar or spaces) has the largest impact on the size of the bar code symbol and EAN.UCC recommend an that an X-dimension between 0.508 mm. (0.020 inch) and 1.016 mm (0.040 inch) should be used in a conveyor scanning environment. There is really no maximum for the height of the symbol, but the minimum symbol height for general distribution scanning is 32 mm (1.25 inch).