Barcode Country Codes: GS1 Prefix List and Lookup

How to look up a barcode country code

1. Paste the number: type or paste any barcode into the box. Spaces and hyphens are fine, they get stripped.
2. Read the issuer: the GS1 organisation that issued that block appears immediately, with the three digit prefix it matched.
3. Check the number itself: if the length is a real GTIN length the check digit is tested too, and you are told the correct digit when it fails.
4. Or search the table: scroll to the full list of 87 ranges and filter by country name or by number.
5. Remember what it means: the prefix is where the company registered, not where the product was manufactured.

What the prefix actually means

This is where nearly everyone goes wrong. The prefix does not tell you where a product was made. It tells you which national GS1 organisation the company registered with when it licensed its block of numbers.

A company that registered with GS1 UK gets a prefix in the 500 to 509 range and keeps it regardless of where it manufactures. Its products can be made in Vietnam, Poland or Mexico and they will still carry a 500 prefix. Companies also buy and sell prefixes, and they relocate. So a prefix is a reasonable hint about where a business registered, and it is never proof of origin.

If you need country of origin, read the label. That is a legal requirement in most markets. The barcode is not.

How the lookup works

Every GTIN is compared in its thirteen digit form, which explains two things people find confusing:

• UPC-A codes are twelve digits, so they gain a leading zero before lookup. That is why almost every American product resolves into the 000 to 019 block, which belongs to GS1 US.
• ITF-14 codes are fourteen digits, and the first one is a packaging indicator describing the carton rather than the product. It gets dropped before the prefix is read.

The tool also tests the check digit while it is there, because a number with a valid prefix and a failed check digit is usually a typo rather than a fake. Our barcode scanner does the same from a photo or your camera.

Ranges that are not countries

Several blocks are reserved for purposes other than identifying a company, and they appear in grey in the table above.

• 020 to 029 and 040 to 049 are restricted to in-store use. A supermarket prints these for loose fruit or a deli counter and they mean nothing outside that shop.
• 050 to 059, 981 to 984 and 990 to 999 are coupons.
• 977 carries an ISSN, so it is a magazine or journal.
• 978 and 979 carry an ISBN, so the barcode on a book is its ISBN in disguise.
• 980 is a refund receipt.
• 960 to 969 is GS1 Global Office, used for the shorter GTIN-8 codes that go on small packaging.

Numbering your own products rather than looking one up? Whether you need GS1 at all covers what a prefix costs, why resold barcodes exist and where they cause trouble. Developers can query all of this programmatically through our free GS1 API.