European Article Number EAN

European Article Number (EAN) is a 13-digit (or 8-digit) international barcode standard used to uniquely identify products in retail, now officially known as the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). Managed by GS1 Global, these codes allow for faster checkout and inventory tracking, featuring a country code, manufacturer code, item reference, and a check digit.

GS1 (Global Standards 1) a neutral, not-for-profit global standards organisation develops and maintains industry standards for supply chain communication, and is behind the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and associated barcodes. These provide a common language to identify, capture, and share data about products, assets, and locations, carried on over 1 billion products worldwide.

The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), is used for the European Article Number (EAN) / International Article Number (IAN) Internationally, aswell as the Universal Product Code (UPC) primarily for North America. It allows products to be scanned at points-of-sale, tracked throughout supply chains and thus added to a global inventory of products. UPCs are 12-digit codes whilst GTINs can vary in length of 8, 12, 13, or 14 digits, depending on the type of product and the region, commonly managed within 14-digit data structures and all belong to the GS1 standards system.

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