This Symbology is also known as European Article Number 13, EAN-13 Supplement 5/Five-digit Add-On, EAN-13 Supplement 2/Two-digit Add-On, EAN-13+5, EAN-13+2, EAN13, EAN13+5, EAN13+2, UPC-13, GTIN-13, GS1-13, EAN/UCC-13

EAN-13, based upon the UPC-A standard, was implemented by the International Article Numbering Association (EAN) in Europe. EAN-13 is used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point of sale. The numbers encoded in EAN-13 bar codes are product identification numbers a.k.a. Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) of GS1 System.

Because EAN-13 is a superset of UPC-A, this means that any software or hardware capable of reading an EAN-13 symbol will automatically be able to read an UPC-A symbol. The only difference between EAN-13 and UPC-A is that the number system code in UPC-A is a single digit from 0 through 9 whereas an EAN-13 number system code consists of two digits ranging from 00 through 99, which is essentially a country code.

Sample of an EAN-13 Barcode

The value to encode by EAN-13 has the following structure (a.k.a. GTIN-13):

• 2 or 3 digits for Number System or Country Code
• 5 or 4 digits for Manufacturer (Company) Code or prefix
• 5 digits for Product Code
• 1 digit for checksum

Each country has a numbering authority which assigns manufacturer codes to companies within its jurisdiction.

The Add-On Symbols were designed to encode information supplementary to that in the main bar code symbol on periodicals and paperback books. The Add-On can be composed of 2 or 5 digits only.

Sample of an EAN-13 Five-Digit Add-On Barcode

Light Margin Indicators - a greater than (>) and/or less than (<) character - are intended to protected the essential light areas to the left and right of the code that the barcode scanner needs to recognize the beginning and end.

In order to get an EAN-13 barcode image, please follow these steps:

• Set the Symbology property to Ean13
• Setting up dimensions and quiet zones:
  • Set the BarWidth property to 0.013 (Value is expressed in Inches)
  • Set the BarHeight property to 0.9 (Value is expressed in Inches)
  • If Guard Bars are needed:
    • Set the EanUpcGuardBar property to True
    • Set the EanUpcGuardBarHeight property to 0.965 (Value is expressed in Inches)
  • Set the QuietZone property to 0.091, 0, 0.091, 0 - Left, Top, Right, Bottom (Value is expressed in Inches)
• Set the Code property with a value with the following GTIN-13 structure:
  • 2 or 3 digits for Number System or Country Code
  • 5 or 4 digits for Manufacturer (Company) Code or prefix
  • 5 digits for Product Code
  • 1 digit for Check-Sum ONLY if AddChecksum property is False, otherwise DO NOT specify the checksum digit because it will be automatically calculated by BarcodeItem products
• Add-On Settings if needed:
  • Set the EanUpcSupplement to Digits2 (Two-Digit Add-On) or Digits5 (Five-Digit Add-On)
  • Set the EanUpcSupplementCode with the Add-On value which must be 2 or 5 digits only
• Drawn Light Margin Indicators if needed:
  • Set the DisplayLightMarginIndicator to True
• Set the Text property to an Empty string

Code property = 501234567890, AddChecksum property = True and DisplayLightMarginIndicator property = True will produce the following barcode image:

Code property = 501234567890, AddChecksum property = True and DisplayLightMarginIndicator property = True, EanUpcSupplement property = Digits5, and EanUpcSupplementCode property = 12345 will produce the following barcode image: