Introduction To The UCC

If your business sells products manufactured by your own facilities or manufactured by contractors under your brand name, and your product is intended for sale in a retail environment, you should (in today’s terms MUST) have a UCC Company Prefix.

For small to medium sized businesses, this is a process that is usually overlooked until they’re notified by a customer that point of sale bar codes are required on their future shipments.

The UCC (Uniform Code Council, Inc. – http://www.uc-council.org/) is the Global Trade Item Number assignment organization for all vendors within North America and is a member organization of EAN International (European Article Numbering International - http://www.ean-int.org/). Through EAN International a globally managed vendor numbering system has been established so that businesses can have their products uniquely identified throughout the world.

Therefore, by becoming a member of the UCC you will receive your company prefix and using it to establish your primary product identification numbers, you are taking a positive step forward to becoming a part of the Global Marketplace.

NOTE: In this and future postings, I’m assuming that your business is located within North America. Therefore, I will be referring to the UCC as your Global Trade Item Number assignment organization, if your business is located in another part of the world, the UCC will not be applicable to you and you should interpret my use of the term UCC to mean the assignment organization specific to your location. Further to if you do not know the organization specific to your location, please contact EAN International (http://www.ean-int.org/) for the contact information.