Does anyone know how a UPC number get assigned to a product? Does the government control this, or is there a centralized database out there that companies pull from to make sure there is no duplication?
Thanks,
Max
The Uniform Code Council is the controlling organization, but membership is voluntary, and cost’s money. But they are the de facto standard, and as far as I know, everyone using UPC numbers and bar codes registers with them.
Check them out at:
If you join, you are assigned one or more blocks of numbers to use. All of the numbers have the same first part, which is the company identifier. This is the part assigned by the UCC. The last part of the number is assigned by you, and you are responsible for keeping them unique.
Ugly
Thanks, Ugly!
According to my crypto notes, the first digit is the product type, the next 5 are the pre-assigned manufacturer code, and the next 5 are the product code, which the manufacturer chooses.
The last digit is a parity check digit that ensures that 3*(the sum of digits in odd positions) + (the sum of digits in even positions) is divisible by ten.