EAN - European Article Number,
but is now referred to as The
International Article Number.
It
is a standard
describing abarcode symbology and numbering
system used in global trade to
identify a specific retail
product type, in a specific
packaging configuration, from a
specific manufacturer. EAN
barcodes are used worldwide for
lookup at retail point of sale.
The most commonly used EAN
standard is the thirteen-digit
EAN-13, the less commonly used
8-digit EAN-8 barcode
was introduced for use on small
packages, where EAN-13 would be
too large. 2-digit EAN-2 and
5-digit EAN-5 are supplemental
barcodes, placed on the
right-hand side of EAN-13 or UPC.
These are generally used for
periodicals like magazines or
books, to indicate the current
year's issue number; and weighed
products like food, to indicate
the manufacturer's suggested
retail price. |