Identify country from Barcode
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 Posted in Interesting, Useful Tips
Neither first three digits on the barcode nor does any part of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) have anything to do with country of origin, according to GS1 US, an organization that provides “integrated solutions that improve our customers’ supply chains across industries” by “establishing and promoting global standards and tools for collaborative commerce.”
The “Universal Product Code” (UPC) and barcode system is the means of marking products that is recognized all over the world. Depending on how old a product is, the numbers on a barcode can vary from 6 to 12 or more numbers. The most common UPC in the US was the twelve number Type A UPC code or UCC-12 but after 2005 systems had to be updated to support the EAN/UCC-13 code which has been standardized globally.
The numbering system of the barcode, according an internet UPC database website that was created by a hobbyist called “UPCDATABASE.COM”, consists of the numbers being “broken down into four groups”.
The UPC Code begins with a single digit to define the number system of the UPC Code that is being used.
This is followed by the manufacturer code which is issued by the Uniform Code Council (UCC) and consisting of five digits.
Next in line are five digits that define the specific product and these are issued by the manufacturer.
Finally there is a single last digit which is called the Check Digit.
By performing a series of calculations with the numbers from a certain order on the UPC Code the check digit tells what number must be added to the sum of that calculation to make it a multiple of 10.
Bar code items starting with 471 are Made in Taiwan like this one:
| 00-13: USA & Canada | 20-29: In-Store Functions | 30-37: France |
| 40-44: Germany | 45: Japan (also 49) | 46: Russian Federation |
| 471: Taiwan | 474: Estonia | 475: Latvia |
| 477: Lithuania | 479: Sri Lanka | 480: Philippines |
| 482: Ukraine | 484: Moldova | 485: Armenia |
| 486: Georgia | 487: Kazakhstan | 489: Hong Kong |
| 49: Japan (JAN-13) | 50: United Kingdom | 520: Greece |
| 528: Lebanon | 529: Cyprus | 531: Macedonia |
| 535: Malta | 539: Ireland | 54: Belgium & Luxembourg |
| 560: Portugal | 569: Iceland | 57: Denmark |
| 590: Poland | 594: Romania | 599: Hungary |
| 600 & 601: South Africa | 609: Mauritius | 611: Morocco |
| 613: Algeria | 619: Tunisia | 622: Egypt |
| 625: Jordan | 626: Iran | 64: Finland |
| 690-692: China | 70: Norway | 729: Israel |
| 73: Sweden | 740: Guatemala | 741: El Salvador |
| 742: Honduras | 743: Nicaragua | 744: Costa Rica |
| 746: Dominican Republic | 750: Mexico | 759: Venezuela |
| 76: Switzerland | 770: Colombia | 773: Uruguay |
| 775: Peru | 777: Bolivia | 779: Argentina |
| 780: Chile | 784: Paraguay | 785: Peru |
| 786: Ecuador | 789: Brazil | 80 - 83: Italy |
| 84: Spain | 850: Cuba | 858: Slovakia |
| 859: Czech Republic | 860: Yugoslavia | 869: Turkey |
| 87: Netherlands | 880: South Korea | 885: Thailand |
| 888: Singapore | 890: India | 893: Vietnam |
| 899: Indonesia | 90 & 91: Austria | 93: Australia |
| 94: New Zealand | 955: Malaysia | 977: International Standard Serial Number for Periodicals (ISSN) |
| 978: International Standard Book Numbering (ISBN) | 979: International Standard Music Number (ISMN) | 980: Refund receipts |
| 981 & 982: Common Currency Coupons | 99: Coupons | |
