<P> The International Article Number (also known as European Article Number or EAN) is a standard describing a barcode symbology and numbering system used in global trade to identify a specific retail product type, in a specific packaging configuration, from a specific manufacturer . The standard has been subsumed in the Global Trade Item Number standard from the GS1 organization; the same numbers can be referred to as GTINs and can be encoded in other barcode symbologies defined by GS1 . EAN barcodes are used worldwide for lookup at retail point of sale, but can also be used as numbers for other purposes such as wholesale ordering or accounting . </P> <P> The most commonly used EAN standard is the thirteen - digit EAN - 13, a superset of the original 12 - digit Universal Product Code (UPC - A) standard developed in 1970 by George J. Laurer . An EAN - 13 number includes a 3 - digit GS1 prefix (indicating country of registration or special type of product). A prefix with a first digit of "0" indicates a 12 - digit UPC - A code follows . A prefix with the first two digits of "45" or "49" indicates a Japanese Article Number (JAN) follows . </P> <P> The less commonly used 8 - digit EAN - 8 barcode was introduced for use on small packages, where EAN - 13 would be too large . 2 - digit EAN - 2 and 5 - digit EAN - 5 are supplemental barcodes, placed on the right - hand side of EAN - 13 or UPC . These are generally used for periodicals like magazines or books, to indicate the current year's issue number; and weighed products like food, to indicate the manufacturer's suggested retail price . </P>

What do the first 3 digits of a barcode mean