Barcode Glossary of Terms » A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

UCC

Uniform Code Council Inc. Administrative organization of product code in USA and Canada.

UCC/EAN-128

A supplementary code for physical distribution. that UCC and EAN are trying to standardize, over considering the international coherency.
Except A.I. 00, it is used with case code for concentrated package, or Standard Symbology for Physical Distribution and express various information of product which cannot be coded within it.
Uses CODE-128 for its barcode, As the start character set, insert FNC1 character after the start code of CODE-128; it indicates that it is supplementary code of UCC/EAN.
Next 2 digits coming after start character set is called A.I. (Application Identitier), indicates the content that code expresses.
A.I. expresses the following information:

00 continuous code for transport container
A code which is used alone, aims at the distinction of individual transport packages. next 1 digit of A.I. indicates the form of package (palette, container, etc.), next 7 digits is flag and maker code of EAN, and then next 9 digits are serial number.

10 batch number
A.I. 10 indicates that it is batch number only.

11 date of manufacture.

13 date of package.

15 time limit for guarantee.

17 time limit for sales.
** the all above are combined with the batch number.

20 variant product
used for variant products, that is, having a different packing form, etc. There is some other A.I.s which is already determined or under consideration.

UPC

Universal Product Code. The pioneer of the common product code, based of UPGIP, that in 1970 US Food Chain Association established as common product code of food industries. UPC is established in 1973, for USA and Canada.
A version (12-digit) consists of 1 digit of NS, 5 digits of maker code, 5 digits of item code and 1 digit of checkdigit.
In America and Canada, the UPC-based 12-digit systems are popularized, and we cannot use the 13-digit EAN symbol. Therefore, for exporting products to those countries, we must get the UPC maker code and display UPC symbol; by 2005, UPC and EAN will be compatible.

UPC Case Code

A barcode symbol for physical distribution in U.S., which is the prototype of Standard Symbology for Physical Distribution.
On concentrated packages, like the cardboard case, adding 0 before UPC code of content product, for correspondence with EAN; and more, adding before that a 1-digit distinction code for indicating quantities, to display both content product and quantities in the package. (See Standard Symbology for PD)