GS1 Country Codes

The first three digits of a barcode number represent a GS1 country prefix, which corresponds to the organization that licensed the barcode. These prefixes are allocated to GS1 member organizations and not specific to where a product is manufactured. For example:

CountryGS1 Prefix Range
United Kingdom500 – 509
Hong Kong489
Australia930 – 939

Note: GS1 prefixes DO NOT indicate the country of origin of a product, as GS1 member companies can manufacture goods anywhere in the world.

For more details, visit these resources:

Snopes article about GS1 country prefixes

Wikipedia List of GS1 Country Codes

CodeCountry
001–019GS1-US
020–029GS1-US – Used to issue restricted circulation numbers within a geographic region/Coupon Codes.
030–039GS1-US – United States drugs (see United States National Drug Code)
040–049GS1-US – Used to issue restricted circulation numbers within a company
050–059GS1 US reserved for future use
060–099United States
100–139United States
200–299Used to issue GS1 restricted circulation number within a geographic region
300–379France and Monaco
380Bulgaria
383Slovenia
385Croatia
387Bosnia and Herzegovina
389Montenegro
400–440Germany (440 code was previously assigned to East Germany)
450–459Japan (these are referred to as Japanese Article Numbers)
460–469Russia
470Kyrgyzstan
471Taiwan
474Estonia
475Latvia
476Azerbaijan
477Lithuania
478Uzbekistan
479Sri Lanka
480Philippines
481Belarus
482Ukraine
483Turkmenistan
484Moldova
485Armenia
486Georgia
487Kazakhstan
488Tajikistan
489Hong Kong
490–499Japan (original Japanese Article Number range)
500–509United Kingdom
520–521Greece
528Lebanon
529Cyprus
530Albania
531North Macedonia
535Malta
539Ireland
540–549Belgium and Luxembourg
560Portugal
569Iceland
570–579Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland
590Poland
594Romania
599Hungary
600–601South Africa
603Ghana
604Senegal
605Uganda
606Angola
607Oman
608Bahrain
609Mauritius
611Morocco
613Algeria
615Nigeria
616Kenya
617Cameroon
618Ivory Coast
619Tunisia
620Tanzania
621Syria
622Egypt
623Managed by GS1 Global Office for future MO (was assigned to Brunei until May 2021)
624Libya
625Jordan
626Iran
627Kuwait
628Saudi Arabia
629United Arab Emirates
630Qatar
631Namibia
632Rwanda
640–649Finland
680–681China
690–699China
700–709Norway
729Israel
730–739Sweden
740Guatemala
741El Salvador
742Honduras
743Nicaragua
744Costa Rica
745Panama
746Dominican Republic
750Mexico
754–755Canada
759Venezuela
760–769Switzerland and Liechtenstein
770–771Colombia
773Uruguay
775Peru
777Bolivia
778–779Argentina
780Chile
784Paraguay
786Ecuador
789–790Brazil
800–839Italy, San Marino and Vatican City
840–849Spain and Andorra
850Cuba
858Slovakia
859Czech Republic (inherited from Czechoslovakia)
860Serbia (inherited from Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro)
865Mongolia
867North Korea
868–869Turkey
870–879Netherlands
880–881South Korea
883Myanmar
884Cambodia
885Thailand
888Singapore
890India
893Vietnam
894Managed by GS1 Global Office for future MO (Bangladesh)
896Pakistan
899Indonesia
900–919Austria
930–939Australia
940–949New Zealand
950GS1 Global Office: Used to support territories & countries where no GS1 Member Organisation operates
951Used to issue General Manager Numbers for the EPC General Identifier (GID) scheme as defined by the EPC Tag Data Standard
952Used for demonstrations and examples of the GS1 system
955Malaysia
958Macau
960–9624GS1 UK: GTIN-8 allocations
9625–9626GS1 Poland: GTIN-8 allocations
9627–969GS1 Global: GTIN-8 allocations
977Serial publications (ISSN)
978–979“Bookland” (ISBN) – 979-0 used for sheet music (“Musicland”, ISMN-13, replaces deprecated ISMN M- numbers)
980Refund receipts
981–983GS1 coupon identification for common currency areas
990–999GS1 coupon identification

Beware of sellers who offer country specific prefixes other than the UCC 060 – 089 range.

There are unethical barcode sellers online who mislead business owners by offering specific country prefixes, such as 890 for India or 500 for the UK etc.

One prominent offender is “Global Barcodes” (also known as “The Barcode Shop”) based in Spain. This company has faced multiple legal challenges, including a court-ordered shutdown of one of their websites. They sell GS1 prefixes without GS1’s authorisation, which GS1 strictly prohibits. This often leads to significant problems for businesses when these barcodes conflict with those issued directly by GS1.

Red Flags to Watch For:

  • “You don’t have to join GS1. We joined for you.”
    This claim either breaches GS1’s licensing agreement (rendering the barcodes unlicensed) or is outright false.
  • Selling GS1 Country Codes.
    GS1 does not permit anyone to sell its country prefixes. Sellers making such offers are acting without GS1’s authorisation.

How to Ensure Your Barcodes Are Authentic:

  • Purchase directly from GS1 or through a reputable reseller.
  • Confirm that your barcode numbers originate from the GS1/UCC system.

Our barcodes were initially issued by the UCC (now GS1-US) and are free from GS1’s control and annual fees. They are globally unique, prefixed between 060–089, and have never been assigned to any products. These numbers work like any barcode supplied by GS1 and are accepted worldwide with very few exceptions.

To purchase authentic, valid, and globally unique barcode numbers without GS1’s recurring fees, visit our buy barcodes page.