A barcode prefix tells you
where a product was made
who issued the number.
The leading digits of a GTIN identify the GS1 member organisation that allocated the number to the brand owner. A company registers with one organisation, usually where it has its seat, and keeps those number ranges wherever it later manufactures.
Since GS1 user companies can manufacture products anywhere in the world, GS1 Prefixes do not identify the country of origin for a given product.
The opposite belief is widespread. It travels in chain letters
urging people to boycott a particular prefix, and most lookup
services reinforce it by labelling the field
country_of_origin. This dataset calls it
issuing_organisation, and
organisation_country is where that organisation sits,
not where the goods came from. If you build on this data, please
keep those names.
Two sources, read against each other: GS1’s own prefix list,
and English Wikipedia’s List of GS1 country codes.
Where they disagree, GS1’s reading wins and
the disagreement stays in the record. Two ranges
are marked contested, and carry
source_disagreement as true so you can
filter for them without reading prose.
If you maintain your own copy, check the date on your source. Several GS1 member organisations publish stale lists; GS1 Slovakia’s still names Serbia and Montenegro. A stale list looks exactly like a current one.
Served with CORS open, so you can fetch them straight from your own page. Content is English throughout, including the notes.
| Prefix | Issuing organisation | Country | ISO | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading the table… | ||||