global trade identity number (EPC) (GTIN)
The European Article Number(EAN) and the Uniform Code Council( UCC) have defined several EPC identities for the Electronic Product Code(EPC). The Global Trade Identity Number (GTIN) is the global trade identification number for marking products, goods and services provided by the manufacturer with the object class for unique identification in the Global Data Synchronization( GDS). The GTIN code is used for data processing along the value chain.
The EAN codes represented with the Product Identification Number, EAN/UCC-8, UCC-12, EAN/UCC-13 and EAN/UCC-14 are based on the Global Trade Identity Number (GTIN). The GTIN code exists in several variants. The longer variant consists of 13 digits. The first two digits stand for the country code, followed by five digits for the national company number, known as the international localization number( ILN), which in turn is followed by a five- digit article code, individually determined by the manufacturer.
The final part of the GTIN is the one-digit checksum. The country codes for Germany are 40 to 44. The 8-digit short code omits the international localization number. The EAN-8 code is called GTIN short code since 2009.
In Germany, Global Standard One( GS1) Germany is responsible for the GTIN system. The GTIN is used, among other things, in Global Data Synchronization (GDS), Electronic Data Interchange( EDI) and EDIFACT.