QUESTIONS pertaining to EAN, U.P.C, BIPAD
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Return to Questions & Answers page.Section 10 Question #1 - Are the U.P.C. and EAN-13 the same symbol?
Answer- There seems to be considerable confusion concerning the difference and use of the U.P.C. code and EAN codes. I hope the following will clear it up.
"U.P.C. Version A" and "EAN-13” are and always have been 13 character symbols and the numbers themselves have always been 13 characters long. The U.P.C. (Version A) symbol and the EAN13 symbol are essentially one and the same. They both have the same number of bars and spaces.
When released the UCC* chose to call the U.P.C. a 10 character symbol and they chose to print only 11 of the characters in human readable form**. The 10 characters identifying the manufacturer and item were printed below the bars. The “system number” character was printed halfway up the left side. Further, they chose to carry only 10 digits of the number in their files. The "country flag" of “0” was neither printed nor carried in the computer records. Domestic systems could read and process only symbols with country flag “0”.
On the other hand, the European applications required a country identification so from the very outset they called it what it is, a 13 digit symbol, and they printed all 13 characters. They carried all 10 country flags including “0” in their records. The European systems could process both U.P.C. and EAN symbols and/or numbers.
In 1997 the Uniform Code Council, Inc announced project SUNRISE. This initiative required that all U.S. and Canadian companies must be capable of scanning and processing EAN-13 symbols, in addition to the U.P.C. symbols, at point-of-sale by January1, 2005. This has been completed, the UCC has changed its name to GS1 US, and they have taken the responsibility of controlling both U.P.C. and EAN numbers. I would expect that soon GS1 US will begin to call the symbol by a new name; maybe it will be designated as UPC/EAN. (UCC 12 & UCC 13 are used by some now).
This is good news because today U.P.C. and EAN numbers and symbols are universal and either may be used throughout the world. Numbers sold by resellers that are subdividing U.P.C. numbers issued prior to August 2002 can be used and read in Europe. The solution used to implement project SUNRISE was to simply add the invisible county flag “0” in front of the 12 digit U.P.C. number.
Simply put, U.P.C. and EAN-13 symbols and numbers are the same.
* I have used the name UCC throughout to avoid confusion although it evolved to this name over many years. In 1975 it was called UPCC (Uniform Product Code Council).
** Below is some of the behind the scenes reasoning for the decisions.
The origin of EAN vs U.P.C. confusion.
When I conceived the U.P.C. for the grocers in the U.S. only 12 digits were required including the check character. I designed a symbol in which the left half of the symbol was composed of “odd” parity characters and the right side was composed of “even” parity characters. Each printed character has two bars and two spaces and is made up of 7 modules. Odd parity simply means the printed representation of the numeric digit has an odd number of dark modules. Conversely even parity printed digits have an even number of dark modules.
The UCC* chose to call the U.P.C. a 10 character symbol and they chose to print only 11 of the characters in human readable form. The 10 characters identifying the manufacturer and item were printed below the bars. The “system number” character was printed halfway up the left side. Further, they chose to carry only 10 digits of the number in their files. The reason was both political and practical.
Before the symbol marking was considered a well know consulting firm had been hired by the fledgling UCC to determine the number of digits needed to accomplish the goals of the grocery industry. Considering many factors, not the least of which was the limited power of computers of the day, a figure of 10 digits was recommended. It was a tough sell to convince the many groups involved that they would have to change whatever numbering system they were using to the new 10 digit number. Rather than admit that the consulting firm was wrong and so as not to open the number of digit argument again, the decision was to maintain that the U.P.C. was a 10 digit symbol and number. Another factor considered was that it was more difficult to key the EAN human readable that the U.P.C. human readable when the symbol did not scan. They fostered the illusion by requiring that the check digit be stripped at the scanner. The SN (system number) was necessary for in store processing but it was not needed in records transferred between systems. The illusion was reinforced by not printing the SN in line with the 10 product identifying digits and not printing the check digit at all.
After the U.P.C. had been in use several years, Europe recognized the usefulness of the U.P.C. but realized a 13th digit was needed to identify the many countries. I encoded the extra digit by encoding the left half of the symbol with 3 characters of even parity and 3 characters of odd parity and then arranging them in various patterns, each pattern representing a different country code. The scanner recognizes a series of digits as the right half of a symbol if the parity of the characters is all even and it recognizes the left half if it is composed of all odd OR if three characters are odd parity and three characters are even parity characters. (See Table 1)
With the acceptance of the EAN in Europe it was understood that the U.P.C. was actually 13 digits because the parity pattern of the left half of all odd characters was assigned the value (or country flag) of “0”. I pointed out that the UCC only printed 11 of the 13 digits and carried only 10 digits in the system. The UCC continued the delusion by using the foolish argument that "0" means nothing and therefore could be ignored. On the other hand, the European's were smart enough from the very outset to call the EAN symbol what it is, “EAN-13” and they printed all 13 characters. Systems in Europe carried all 10 country flags including 0 in their records and their systems could process both U.P.C. and EAN symbols and/or numbers. The U.S. groceries chains at the time were selling very few foreign goods and saw no reason to spend money modify their installed equipment. Although the U.P.C. was not widely accepted at that time, the UCC accommodated the foreign companies by issuing them U.P.C. numbers with the invisible country flag of “0”.
Although this was a burden on the European companies and was a waste of numbers since many European companies had both U.P.C. and EAN-13 numbers, it wasn’t until two decades later that something was done about this. In 1997 the Uniform Code Council, Inc announced project SUNRISE. This initiative required that all U.S. and Canadian companies must be capable of scanning and processing EAN-13 symbols, in addition to U.P.C. symbols, at point-of-sale by January1, 2005. This has been completed, the UCC has changed its name to GS1 US, and they have taken the responsibility of controlling both U.P.C. and EAN numbers.
Simply put the U.P.C. and EAN-13 symbols and numbers are the same. Below is a U.P.C. symbol with its equivalent EAN-13 superimposed in red. One can see that the bars and space are the same, only the human readable is different. Note that the U.P.C. has evolved in that the check digit is now printed and also that the SN has been brought down in line with the other characters but the country flag is still not printed. I would expect that in the near future the human readable will also be changed to the EAN format.
Table 1- EAN & U.P.C. Version A assignments
Country Flag Parity of left
half CharactersUse 0 OOOOOO U.S. & Canada 1 OOEOEE U.S. & Canada 2 OOEEOE Restricted Distribution 3 OOEEEO Europe 4 OEOOEE Europe 5 OEEOOE Europe 6 OEEEOO Europe 7 OEOEOE Europe 8 OEOEEO Europe 9 OEEOEO Europe
Table 2- U.P.C. Version E assignments
Modulo Check
Character ValueParity of
CharactersUse 0 EEOEOO Version E 2 EEOOEO Version E 3 EEOOOE Version E 4 EOEEOO Version E 5 EOOEEO Version E 6 EOOOEE Version E 7 EOEOEO Version E 8 EOEOOE Version E 9 EOOEOE Version E
Because there are more than 9 countries, the country flags have been further subdivided by using the next two digits for various uses and countries. The United States and Canada have the country flag 0 and subdivisions 000 thru 139. It is interesting to note that the publishing industry produces so many products that it is its own country called “Bookland” for number assignment purposes. Bookland has been given two subdivisions of the country flag 9. They are 978 and 979.
* I have used the name UCC throughout to avoid confusion although it evolved to this name over many years. In 1975 it was called UPCC (Uniform Product Code Council).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Section 10 Question #2 - What can you tell me about the BIPAD number
Answer- The following information, in part, was given to me by GS1 US. It should expalin where BIPAD stands today.
BIPAD
In early 1999 a task force sponsored by the Magazine Retail Advisory Council was created to analyze different ways of using the U.P.C. to better address their needs. They concluded that there were only two viable alternatives. One was to continue what was being done at the time or to implement a “Unique UPC”. The latter gave birth to the BIPAD number. This number refers to the magazine industry’s universal title identification number.The BIPAD number is essentially a standardization of the 5 digit item code that is assigned by the owner of the Company Prefix. In other words, the publisher purchased the 6 digit prefix from GS1 (then called UCC) to which he added the 5 digit BIPAD number (standardized item number) and the check digit. A different item number would be used for each issue, and for each price. The objective of this was to provide a means to collect sales and movement data. According to the Magazine Retail Advisory Council Unique Universal Product Code Impact Statement released March 1, 1999 by the Herman Consulting Group, inc. such a scheme would increase the number of required 12 digit U.P.C. symbols by 19 fold.
Although there was significant impact on the retailer in the amount of numbers he had to store in his in store computer, the system was workable. However in April of 2002, GS1 (then UCC) recognized that the quantity of U.P.C. number was finite and that assigning 6 digit prefixes to all new publishers was extremely wasteful of this limited resource. Consequently they stopped issuing 6 digit prefixes and began assigning only variable length company prefixes which in turn allowed only a 2 digit item number in most cases. The 5 digit BIPAD number could not be used with the variable length prefix. The magazine industry began a communications campaign to inform the wholesalers and distributors of the change. Unfortunately, some Wholesalers and Distributors are not standards compliant and continue to assume BIPAD is the only means to communicate information about magazines.
Today, new publishers may make a business decision to turn over distribution of the magazine to a wholesaler. If they elect to let the Wholesaler manage the information, there is no need for them to own a Company Prefix from GS1 or any of the “resellers”. They would then apply to Harrington Associates for a BIPAD number. The Wholesaler, not the publisher, would then use their own 6 digit Company Prefix (Wholesalers and Distributors are also members of GS1 US) along with the 5 digit BIPAD number assigned by Harrington Associates and encode it in a U.P.C. The wholesaler then releases the product for sale in the retail channel. The BIPAD number though is no longer the complex number which was to be unique for each issue and price, but is simply a single number per title.
The long and the short of this is that the BIPAD provides no advantage to the publishing industry over the standard U.P.C. because it is only unique to the title and provides no additional information. There is no reason to have a BIPAD number and a number issued by either GS1 or a reseller. The bottom line is that the Publisher must make the business decision as to how their magazine will be distributed. Note that not all Wholesalers require a BIPAD number. The numbers now being assigned by GS1 or those from a reseller, cannot accommodate the 5 digit BIPAD number.
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Revised: October 2006