GlossaryEN1 min readUpdated: Jun 22, 2026
International Article Number
Logistics providers, retailers, and customs authorities use the International Article Number—widely known as EAN and officially designated GS1-13—to uniquely identify trade items through a standardized 13-digit barcode.
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Source: https://www.gs1.org/standards/barcodes/ean-upc
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Logistics Concept
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Definition & Explanation
Logistics providers, retailers, and customs authorities use the International Article Number—widely known as EAN and officially designated GS1-13—to uniquely identify trade items through a standardized 13-digit barcode. Number prefixes are assigned by GS1, the international body responsible for supply chain identification standards; each company receives a unique prefix that guarantees global uniqueness across all industries and markets. In warehouse operations, the EAN enables fully automated scanning at goods receipt, bin location management, and order picking. It should not be confused with GS1-128 (formerly EAN-128), which encodes additional logistics data such as batch numbers or best-before dates within a single barcode using Application Identifiers.
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