The move to Global Trade Items Numbers (GTINs) comes at a time when the Uniform Code Council (UCC) has been changing its scheme for company prefixes within bar codes from a fixed six-digit structure to a variable structure ranging from six to 10 digits.
numbers because the line of demarcation is no longer fixed.
Retailers modifying their systems, says UCC, should also be certain to handle new company prefixes (1, 8 and 9), removing internal system blocks for those numbers or applications that use them.
Another change coming is that the electronic data interchange (EDI) standards or qualifiers attached to bar code data structures, which are used to enable electronic communication of bar code data, will be reduced from four to one in 2004. And a description of the product containment (such as pallet, case or inner pack) will be added in EDI transmissions.
And in another ecommerce development, UCCnet's data synchronization engine will use GTINs as well as Global Location Numbers (GLNs).
