# UPC code questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730 "2003-04-01T16:09:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/1 "2003-04-01T16:09:21Z")
I was eating some pickles that came right from Poland the other day. I noticed it had what looked like a typical UPC code on the jar. Is there an international body that gives out UPC codes to products? If not, who regulates it? Does anyone know how many different UPC codes there are right now? Is there a practical limit as to how many there can be? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/2 "2003-04-01T16:22:46Z")
> [@](#): > > UCC Uniform Code Council®. is an Agency that assigns and keeps track of all Companies that have ever gotten a number to sell their products Retail. The Council has a WEB site. On-line form is available. It takes a few weeks to get your number. > > The Minimum cost is $750.00. You will get a 8 digit number from them. Now If you have 10,000 products you will get a several 8 digit numbers. A UPC is 12 numbers long though, it always has to be 12 numbers long period. So if you get an 8 digit number you can have 1000 products numbered from 000-999. Your 8 digit number + 3 numbers for products = 11. Plus the check digit = 12 numbers. From [url=http://www.barcodeone.com/upc.htm#Answer4.%20How%20do%20I%20get%20one?. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/3 "2003-04-01T16:49:13Z")
Half an answer, Q.E.D. I’m sure you have subjects about which you are personally conversant. EAN-13 is the European version of the product identifying barcode, the US is still using UPC-12. In North America, the Uniform Code Council in Dayton, Ohio issues out six digit codes to identify individual companies. These are the first, smaller digit, and the next five digits before the dash. My company’s North American division is 7-17524. The next five digits are assigned by the company to identify unique items they market. The last digit is mathematical check digit. In Europe, the EAN-13 code is prevalent. This number has a unique code assigned to a company, but this unique code does not have a fixed number of digits, it is set up for each company depending on how many items they anticipate selling. A company that sells five items have have a longer prefix than one which sells thousands. The remaining digits after the preassigned company prefix are assigned by the company selling the products. There are many companies in Europe and South America that assign these numbers. In the UK it is the e.centre, located at [www.e-centre.org.uk](http://www.e-centre.org.uk). North America is SUPPOSED to adopt the EAN-13 system in 2005, but the restriction is the retailers’ databases, which are all set up on 12 digits, not 13. European retailers can use the North American UPC Code in their databases as long as they program in a leading zero. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/4 "2003-04-01T19:12:31Z")
It used to be that the first 2 digits of the EAN described the country of origin (50 being UK), the next 5 being the company, the following 5 the company’s product reference and the last one the check digit, but at some point this was dropped in favour of what **UncleBill** describes above There was a plan a while back to absorb both EAN and UPC into a 14 digit standard called (IIRC) DUN (or something like that), but I haven’t heard much about that recently. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/5 "2003-04-01T19:25:39Z")
GTIN, or Global Trade Item Number, may be what you refer to, **Mangetrout**. That is the umbrella term for UPC-12, EAN-13, EAN-14 (former SSC-14), EAN-8 product numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upc-code-questions/165730/6 "2003-04-01T20:30:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > **I was eating some pickles that came right from Poland the other day. I noticed it had what looked like a typical UPC code on the jar.** Oops, we nearly let you get away with it. I believe it is customary to point out that ‘UPC code’ stands for ‘universal product code code’ This message has been brought to you by the department of redundancy department. Thank you.