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The UCC Sunrise
2005 initiative means North American
retailers should be able to scan
EAN bar codes at
Point of Sale devices by January, 2005
That's the easy part.
They must also be prepared to
exchange and store EAN-8 and
EAN-13 Global Trade Item
Numbers plus handle them
in their applications (like
inventory, open order,
accounts payable, and so on).
See
GTIN's and
Those Darn Zeros.
The most
important thing to know about
Sunrise 2005 is that regular,
old 12 digit U.P.C. codes
will still work. If
you are a supplier using a 12 digit
U.P.C. now, you don't need to
change anything.
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Here is the official blurb
from the Uniform Code
Council's web site.
For additional information,
please see:
http://www.uc-council.org/ean_ucc_system/stnds_and_tech/2005_sunrise.html
"Since the introduction of the
12-digit Universal Product
Code (U.P.C.) more than 30
years ago, the use of the
EAN.UCC System has expanded
rapidly to facilitate global
commerce. To meet the
need for improving commerce
efficiency, the Uniform Code
Council, Inc. (UCC) has
announced that by January 1,
2005 all U.S. and Canadian
companies must be capable of
scanning and processing EAN-8
and EAN-13 symbols, in
addition to 12-digit U.P.C.
symbols, at point-of-sale.
The UCC announced this
initiative, named 2005
Sunrise, in 1997 to allow U.S.
and Canadian companies ample
time to address all conversion
issues." There are also
topics related to 2005 Sunrise
that deserve every company's
attention.
Why is 2005 Sunrise Important?
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With the
exception of the United
States and Canada, retail
products from around the
world are marked with EAN-8
and EAN-13 symbols. To sell
those products in the U.S.
and Canada, manufacturers
must re-label with a
12-digit U.P.C. symbol. This
creates additional expense
and time-to-market issues.
Expanding system capability
to scan and process EAN-8
and EAN-13 symbols, as well
as the U.P.C. symbols, will
allow companies to handle a
greater range of products.
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The number
of products identified with
EAN-8 and EAN-13 symbols
will increase quickly after
January 1, 2005 because the
UCC will no longer issue UCC
Company Prefixes to new
companies based outside of
the U.S. and Canada.
Therefore, these new
companies will be marking
their products with EAN-8 or
EAN-13 symbols. In addition,
some U.S. and Canadian
companies will be assigned
UCC Company Prefixes with
lead digits of 10 to 13.
These Company Prefixes can
only be used to create
EAN-13 symbols, and not
U.P.C. symbols.
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The method
by which the UCC assigns UCC
Company Prefixes changed in
March 2000. UCC Company
Prefixes are no longer
issued as just 6-digit
numbers; they now vary
between 6 and 10 digits in
length. Additionally, the
Company Prefixes encoded in
EAN-13 and EAN-8 symbols
also vary in length. This is
important should companies
have systems or applications
that assume all Company
Prefixes are 6-digit
numbers.
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The UCC has
opened new UCC Company
Prefixes with lead digits of
1, 8 and 9 for assignment to
new companies. Companies
that are erroneously using
these lead numbers in their
internal systems will have
them clash with valid
U.P.C.s assigned by other
companies.
What does it mean to be 2005
Sunrise Compliant?
Ensuring
systems and applications are
able to scan and process
EAN-8 and EAN-13 symbols in
addition to the 12-digit
U.P.C. at point-of-sale.
As a best
practice, the UCC has always
recommended that the product
identification numbers
scanned from EAN-8, U.P.C.,
and EAN-13 symbols be
processed and stored in
their entirety. Note: these
product identification
numbers are properly
referred to as Global Trade
Item Numbers (GTINs). This
is important because
companies that parse or
change the GTIN risk storing
and sharing bad information
with their trading partners.
Erroneous practices include
dropping check digits and
extracting the UCC Company
Prefix to identify the
supplier. Companies who
parse or change the GTINs
must discontinue this
practice.
Companies
that erroneously assign
numbers in their internal
applications using lead
digits of 1, 8, or 9 must
discontinue this practice.
More about GTIN's
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