Australia

GS1 Standards
An Introduction
2011

An introduction to
GS1 Numbering and
Bar Coding standards

Disclaimer
Australia

All images and products used during this presentation

are for illustrative and education purposes and their use
does not imply endorsement nor any other purpose on
behalf of GS1 Australia

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Australia
Australia

GS1

About us
Australia

1 - A not-for-profit organisation

2 - An international community of 108

national member organisations

4 - A standards organisation

6 - Dedicated to continuous improvement

in supply chain end to end for industry

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3 - An industry driven
organisation with millions of
members across 24 industry
sectors

5 - The most widely used supply chain

standards system in the world

Used by millions of companies

Australia

Countries with a
GS1 Member
Organisation
Countries served on a
direct basis from GS1
Global Office (Brussels)

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108 Member organisations

150 countries served
2,000 staff worldwide
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A history lesson
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EAN
European Article
Numbering

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UCC
Uniform Code
Council

Our mission
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Leading global organisation dedicated to the

design and implementation of global
standards and solutions to improve the
efficiency and visibility of the supply and
demand chain.
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Australia
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Standards

What are standards?

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Standards are agreements that structure any

activity or any industry.
They may be rules or guidelines that
everyone applies.

They may be a way of measuring, or

describing, or classifying products or
services.

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Standards of our lives

Australia

American Society for

Testing and Materials (ASTM)
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Shoe sizes

around the world

Australia

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Australia
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GS1 Australia

Who is GS1 Australia?

Australia

GS1 Australia Office at Mt Waverley, Melbourne

GS1 Australia Office at Botany, Sydney

Administer & maintain the GS1 System of supply chain standards in

Australia

Current membership 16,500 companies across multi-industries

In excess of 18 industry sectors

Over 100 staff in Melbourne & Sydney

http://www.gs1au.org

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GS1 Australias role

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The implementation of the GS1 System by

Australian industry for the benefit of all users.
Our role is to:
develop global, open, multi-sector standards;
provide training, education and support
services on supply chain management; and
promote and help implement the GS1
System to facilitate best business solutions.

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Australia

Best practice supply chain

management

All companies in all industries need to identify goods coming

in, passing through and leaving the

Best Practice SCM is about capturing accurate data at the

least cost and effectively processing the information within
application systems, with total integration in mind.
The GS1 systems supports these objectives.

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The GS1 System

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Australia
Australia

The GS1 System

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Numbering and bar coding

allows for the identification of
products, items, locations
and services.
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Some GS1 Bar Codes

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Bar Codes are also called Data Carriers

EAN/UPC
ITF-14

GS1-128

GS1 DataBar

Bar Codes shown not to scale

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The transfer of structured data,

from one computer to another,
by electronic means
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Business Trading via E-Messaging

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Translation
software to
convert data
for application

Examples of Documents that can be transacted:

Purchase Orders, Invoices, PO Changes, Despatch
Advices, RCTIs, Product Activity Data

EDI Message

Translation
software to
convert into
data exchange
standard
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Business Trading via E-Messaging

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More accurate

Faster

Data can be easily used for analysis

No need for physical storage

Non-repudiation

EDI Message

No human interpretation

Less labour intensive

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Greater security

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The continuous and automated

exchange of standardised
item master data within and
between organisations 23

What is Product Data

Australia

Description
Product classification
Measurements
Weight
Height
Diameter

Packaging

Levels
Pack size
Construction
Material

Alcohol content
Country of origin
and more
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What is Data Synchronisation?

Australia

The continuous and

automated exchange
of standardised item
master data within
and between
organisations
GS1net / NPC

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Australia

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Radio Frequency Identification allows the

identification of tagged items without line of sight.
RFID tags contain a microchip and an antenna.
Electronic Product Code is the numbering
standard that is encoded in the RFID tag. 26

EPC / RFID
Australia

RFID microchips are

populated with the
Electronic Product
Code (EPC) data
which is a GS1
Standard
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Trade Items
Retail Level

Definition of a retail item

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A retail item is an item or a commodity sold in small

quantities directly to consumers / POS.

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Number vs. bar code

Australia

9312345000005

9 312345 000005

A bar code is a data carrier.

The GS1 number is a key to the short hand description of a product.

The GS1 data carrier is a representation of the GS1 number used to

automatically capture data and access information and data through
a database in the computer.
Scanning drives price lookup.
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GS1 numbering system

Australia

A single, open unified numbering system for every

item or service traded world-wide.

A common link when communicating about product

or service information between trading partners.
The GS1 numbering system is applied to six areas
of applications: trade items; logistic units; assets;
locations; service relationships and special
applications (e.g. documents,).

Reduces cost of operating the supply chain and

improves global business productivity and efficiency.
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Advantages of an open system

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Accesses all industry sectors

Can expand with growth
Communicates worldwide
Easy to implement
Cost-efficiencies
Hardware
Software

Easier support
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The number

New harmonised & global terminology

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GTIN
Global Trade Item Number

80

240

For all levels of packaging

80

242

80

80

254

80

242

80

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80

162

492

332

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Basic Numbering Rules

Australia

Unique: every variant of an item is

allocated a separate unique sequential
number
Non-significant: they identify an item but
contain no information about it

International: GTINs are unique across all

countries and all sectors
Secure: GTINs are fixed length, numeric
and include a standard Check Digit
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GTIN-13
Australia

9312345 00 000 5

GS1 COMPANY PREFIX

The first seven or nine digits are
allocated by GS1 Australia
to the member company

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ITEM REFERENCE
The next five or three
digits are allocated to a
specific product by the
member company

CHECK DIGIT
Checks the validity of the
entire number by a
mathematical formula

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Check Digit
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Check Digit Method 1

Australia

1. Enter 12 first digits here

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2. Click here

3. Get the Check Digit here

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Check Digit Method 2

Australia

2. Click here

1. Enter the range of numbers

4. Type in the description of your products

3. GTINs with the Check Digit
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Unique GTIN-13
Australia

For every different variant of a trade item

a unique GTIN should be allocated.

Product 500ml

9312345000005

Product 1lt

9312345000012

Product 2lt

9312345000029

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Identification to the lowest level

Australia

Colour

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Size
S

9313579000007

9313579000014

9313579000021

9313579000038

9313579000045

XL

9313579000052

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One trade item = one GTIN

Australia

9312345000005

9312540122113

3325678952008

KOALA Brand

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One GTIN = one trade item

Australia

9312345000005

X
X

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Brand Ownership
Australia

The Brand Owner allocates the GTINs

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The country prefix (examples)

Australia

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400 440

GS1 Germany

754 755

GS1 Canada

930 939

GS1 Australia

000 019
030 039
060 139

GS1 US

616

GS1 Kenya

893

GS1 Vietnam
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When to change a GTIN?

Australia

General rule is:

Where there is a change in the consumer
declaration of a trade item then the GTIN
should change

Visit www.gs1au.org for GTIN Allocation

Rules

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Example 1
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Changes in the net weight or declared units.

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Example 2
Australia

Minor (not declared) change in net weight / count / volume (e.g. changes in
manufacturing tolerances do not impact the declaration to the consumer).

Actual weight: 1.150kg

Actual weight: 1.010kg

Sold to consumer at nominated weight: 1 kg

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Example 3
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Any dimensional change of more than 20% in the item packaging.

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Example 4
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Formulation change, expecting that the consumer distinguishes the new

trade item from the old.

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Re-use of a GTIN
Australia

9312345000005

9312345000005

4 years minimum

In case of garments, minimum period is 30 months

Healthcare re-use of GTINs is not allowed at all
Consideration for re-issue should be given to product type and possible life in market

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Other kinds of GTIN

Australia

For small products

For products sold on the North American

market

For books

For serial and magazines

For variable measure items

TR
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GTIN-8: for Small Products

Australia

93 12345 7

GS1 PREFIX
Identifies the GS1 Member
Organisation
issuing the number
(93 = Australia)

COMPANY / ITEM
REFERENCE
These 5 digits are allocated by
GS1 Australia to suppliers for use
on products with very small
printable area

CHECK DIGIT
Checks the validity of the
entire number by a
mathematical formula

GTIN-8 are individually assigned

by GS1 Australia
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Australia

For North American market

GTIN 12?

If you are exporting products to the North

American market, contact GS1 Australia

88 596783 050 7

U.P.C COMPANY PREFIX

The first six or eight digits are
allocated by GS1 US
to the member company

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ITEM REFERENCE
The next five or three
digits are allocated to a
specific product by the
member company

CHECK DIGIT
Checks the validity of the
entire number by a
mathematical formula

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Australia

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Australia
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The bar code

What is a bar code?

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A bar code is a type of font

Bar codes represent characters
Bar code

is a type of font

A70X465Q
Font in Arial

Alpha
Numeric
Alpha/numeric

Bar codes enable automatic

data capture by a scanning device

A70X465Q
Font in Wingding

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Bar codes scanned at Point-of-Sale

Australia

GTIN-8
GTIN-13

EAN-13

EAN-8
Must be used for any retail

trade items scanned at the

GTIN-12

Point-of- Sale
Can be used throughout the
UPC-A

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entire supply chain

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Reading bar codes

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GS1 DataBar and GS1 DataMatrix

GS1 DataBar: Business needs

Australia

To provide better ways to automatically identify:

Very small items (e.g. syringes, vials, and
telecommunications circuit boards)

Variable measure retail items utilising full product

identification (e.g. meat, poultry, and bagged produce)
Individual produce items (e.g. apples and oranges)

Sunrise date: 2014 for GS1 DataBar to be accepted in all

scanning environments
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GS1 DataBar: Small items

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GS1 DataBar: Fresh produce

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GS1 DataBar: Meat and other variable

measure products

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Data Matrix key points

Australia

Not suitable for all commercial applications

Not for general use for POS
Requires 2D imaging scanner (cannot be read by
conventional scanners)
Adheres to specific guidelines

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GS1 DataMatrix
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Bar Code Quality

Key steps to consider

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1. Colour Print contrast

2. Bar code width Magnification
3. Bar code height Truncation

4. Quiet Zones
5. Print quality

6. Location
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Colour
Print contrast

Colour - Print contrast

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Light background, ideally white

Dark bars, ideally black
Solid colours

Avoid reflective colours

A gloss coat can reduce print contrast
Transparent wrapping diminishes contrast

X
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Bar code
magnification

Bar code width - Magnification

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Different magnifications required for all GS1 Bar

Codes
Dependent on print method
Determine where bar code will be scanned
Consider industry requirements

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Bar code width - Magnification

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EAN-13

80%

100%

150%
200%
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Minimum for conveyorised scanning

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Bar code height

Truncation

Bar code height

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EAN-13
EAN/UPC Symbols have a nominal (target) size
Nominal bar codes have a fixed relationship
between the width and height to enable omnidirectional scanning
Nominal bar code

Truncated bar code

12345 67890

12345 67890

Scanner beam fails to read bars

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50

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Quiet Zones

Quiet Zones
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Area to the left and right of all bar codes

Enable scanner to determine start and end of
the bar code
Must keep all graphics, dark colours clear of
these areas

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Quiet Zones
Australia

X
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Quiet Zones
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Print quality

Print quality
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Clear crisp well defined bars

Watch for voids and smudging

Print quality requires regular ongoing checks

There must be enough contrast between the
dark bars and the light spaces for a scanner
to be able to read the bar code

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Substrate (packaging material) needs to be taken into consideration

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Location

Location - Retail trade items

Australia

General recommendation for location is

towards the lower right of the back of the
product.
Lower right of another face is acceptable
where the back of the product is unavailable.
Base of a product will continue to be
acceptable but is NOT preferred.
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Ask the package designer first

Australia

9
6

1 41 41 00 08 6

Bar codes do NOT

scan around corners

14141 00086

Avoid package
seams or seals
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Bar code quality

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Ladder Orientation
Australia

On curved surfaces, recommended placement for

the bar code is in a ladder orientation when the item
stands on end. This is because the bars may be
distorted by the curved surface.
Picket fence
orientation

X
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Ladder
orientation

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Questions?

GS1 Australia Services and Support

Australia

Quality
Support

Consulting /
Implementation
Services

Member
Assistance
Alliance
Partners

Australia
Resources
Education
and Training

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Contact Details
Australia

GS1 Australia
Unit 100/45 Gilby Road
Mt Waverley VIC 3149
T + 61 3 9558 9559
W www.gs1au.org