EAN-13 is a standard code for retail items and is used at most point-of-sale sites across the world. The standard EAN-13 article number is made up of three parts: GS1 prefix, item ID and check digit.

The GS1 prefix indicates the country of GS1 subscribership and the GS1 subscribers identity. In India, this number always begins with 890. This is followed by the item id which through the next four or five digit is allocated by the company to each of its different items.

The last digit is the small check digit which is calculated from the preceding twelve digits. The decoding software calculates what the check digit should be while decoding the symbol and compares it to the scanned check digit. Any difference indicates an error.

For more on the GS1 System usage in retail units, select :