Country Barcode: Encrypted Information

Often people do not know how to read a barcode on the products they buy in stores, and yet these incomprehensible black stripes with spaces can tell not only about the producing country, but also some important production parameters.

In the symbols of this designation, a person understands only figures that are at risk. What is the country's barcode? This term is a special graphic representation of digital information. It is a collection of strokes and spaces, which are intended for reading by appropriate devices. At the same time, the first two or three digits are indicated in the country of manufacture.

It is worth noting that the barcode was invented and patented in 1949 by Woodland and Silver. This invention allowed for more accurate accounting and control of material assets during their journey from producer to consumer.

To date, the most commonly used American universal product code or European coding system. The most popular is the 13-bit code that was introduced in Europe in 1977.

In Russia, two types of bar coding are used:

• European coding system with 13 digits;

• a system of barcodes for payment and payment documentation.

What can tell about this encoding? The country's barcode is the European product number that indicates the place where it was manufactured. Depending on the origin of the products, the figures under the first risks differ. It is worth noting that the country's barcode is assigned by a special international association. It must be remembered that this code can not include one number.

Important: the bar coding system is the same for all countries except the USA and Canada. Thus on books there can be a bar code of the country with a so-called prefix, and some goods can contain simultaneously two types of coding with the help of strokes and spaces of different thickness.

Buyers are always interested in the manufacturer of the products. Determining the country by barcode is quite simple. It is enough to know the numbers that indicate the origin of the goods.

The barcodes of the countries of the world are very diverse. So, on the packaging of products from the USA or Canada, the first figures are 00-09, Germany - 400-440, Poland - 590, China - 690, and Russia - 460-469.

I must say that the definition of a country by barcode is not the only information that can be obtained with this graphic image on goods. It also speaks of an enterprise that produces products. The barcode also indicates the individual parameters of the product itself - its name, consumer properties, size and weight, ingredients and color. There is also a check digit. It serves to check the correctness of reading the coding using special scanners. Sometimes one more figure can be entered, which indicates the production of the goods under license.

Barcoding is extremely important. It helps to easily keep records of goods through a network of computers, to know the volume of their daily sales, and to prevent the removal of still unpaid products outside of stores and supermarkets.