EAN-13 is a linear barcode type most commonly used outside America, particularly in European countries. EAN-13 is an abbreviation for European Article Number which is now called International Article Number. EAN-13 contains 13 consecutive and fixed digits in total. The first 2, 3 digits of the EAN-13 code represent the country code next 9, 10 digits represent the manufacturer code and the product code while the last digits are the checksum digits. The total 13 digits of the EAN-13 barcode are divided into two equal parts of 12 digits by a guard bar in the center.
History
International Article Numbering Association has designed this EAN-13 barcode type and most of the European countries are using this barcode type. GSI is an international organization for standards. This organization defined the standard for EAN13; however, this type is not used in USA. Initially it was developed as Universal Product Code (UPC) with twelve digits in USA but later on it evolved to 13 characters, 12 digits and 1 checksum for self-checking.
Purpose
Purpose of EAN-13 was to develop a bar code which can be easily and quickly encoded and decoded. It is for this reason only numeric data can be encoded with EAN-13. This numeric-only encoding scheme fits the bill and EAN-13 can be encoded/ decoded quickly, easily and acute angles.
Advantages
· It is a very high density barcode and can encode large amount of information in smaller area.
· The barcode is very easy to read and even a scanner, at an angle as acute as 45 degrees to the surface of the barcode, can easily decode the information
· Wide use of the scanner in Europe makes it very portable and no advanced scanning devices are required to decode the information
· Much suited to fast moving items on automatic machines.
· Checksum digit provided self-checking mechanism.
Limitations
· Can encode only numeric data, not alphabets and special characters.
· Like other linear barcodes, it has very small tolerance for damage and distortion and cannot be scanned in that case.
Usage
· Widely used in Europe on consumer goods such as groceries, DVDs, food items and other similar products.
· Used in production houses where fast encoding and decoding is required owing to its simpler encoding/ decoding technique involving numeric only.
· Due to its capability to be scanned at acute angles, EAN-13 is widely used on point of sales retail stores.
Conclusion
Code13 barcode type should be used in cases where quick and easy encoding and decoding of barcode is required such as retail stores and point of sales.