GS1 standards that capture information
The best known of GS1's standards is the EAN barcode, which already turned 50 years old in the spring of 2023. Today, that symbol is on more than a billion products, it is scanned more than 10 billion times a day, and products are identified with it in 150 countries.
Barcodes are machine-recognizable numbers and letters that can be read, stored and processed by information systems and scanners. They are used to carry information useful in business processes, such as product numbers, serial numbers or batch and date information. Barcodes and the standardized, i.e. structured, uniform information behind them enable efficient, reliable and transparent data flows from raw material production to trade.
In addition to barcodes, GS1's identification standards cover EPC/RFID tags, which, like barcodes, are attached directly to the physical object. In addition, we provide standards that define consistent interfaces for scanners, printers, and other components that connect GS1 data carriers to business applications.
