C. GS1 General Specification

The GS1 General Specification defines a global standard for encoding data about products. The full specification is available here. Data is encoded as a series of number pairs where the first number, usually shown in (brackets) is an application identifier (AI), and the second is a formatted representation of the data. For example (401)6773 can be read as "Consignment Number 6773" where the AI (401) signifies that the data is a consignment number. Note that when using Zint AI data is entered using [square] brackets. This allows rounded brackets to be included in the data which is allowed by the specification. When the barcode symbol is generated these square brackets are replaced by rounded brackets in the text. A list of valid AI numbers is given below.

C.1 Application Identifiers [1]

00 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)
01 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)
02 # of containers
10 Batch Number
11 Production Date
13 Packaging Date
15 Sell by Date (Quality Control)
17 Expiration Date
20 Product Variant
21 Serial Number
22 HIBCC Quantity, Date, Batch and Link
23x Lot Number
240 Additional Product Identification
250 Second Serial Number
30 Quantity Each
310y Product Net Weight in kg
311y Product Length/1st Dimension, in meters
312y Product Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in meters
313y Product Depth/Thickness/3rd Dimension, in meters
314y Product Area, in square meters
315y Product Volume, in liters
316y product Volume, in cubic meters
320y Product Net Weight, in pounds
321y Product Length/1st Dimension, in inches
322y Product Length/1st Dimension, in feet
323y Product Length/1st Dimension, in yards
324y Product Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in inches
325y Product Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in feet
326y Product Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in yards
327y Product Depth/Thickness/3rd Dimension, in inches
328y Product Depth/Thickness/3rd Dimension, in feet
329y Product Depth/Thickness/3rd Dimension, in yards
330y Container Gross Weight (kg)
331y Container Length/1st Dimension (Meters)
332y Container Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension (Meters)
333y Container Depth/Thickness/3rd Dimension (Meters)
334y Container Area (Square Meters)
335y Container Gross Volume (Liters)
336y Container Gross Volume (Cubic Meters)
340y Container Gross Weight (Pounds)
341y Container Length/1st Dimension, in inches
342y Container Length/1st Dimension, in feet
343y Container Length/1st Dimension in, in yards
344y Container Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in inches
345y Container Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in feet
346y Container Width/Diameter/2nd Dimension, in yards
347y Container Depth/Thickness/Height/3rd Dimension, in inches
348y Container Depth/Thickness/Height/3rd Dimension, in feet
349y Container Depth/Thickness/Height/3rd Dimension, in yards
350y Product Area (Square Inches)
351y Product Area (Square Feet)
352y Product Area (Square Yards)
353y Container Area (Square Inches)
354y Container Area (Square Feet)
355y Container Area (Suqare Yards)
356y Net Weight (Troy Ounces)
360y Product Volume (Quarts)
361y Product Volume (Gallons)
362y Container Gross Volume (Quarts)
363y Container Gross Volume (Gallons)
364y Product Volume (Cubic Inches)
365y Product Volume (Cubic Feet)
366y Product Volume (Cubic Yards)
367y Container Gross Volume (Cubic Inches)
368y Container Gross Volume (Cubic Feet)
369y Container Gross Volume (Cubic Yards)
37 Number of Units Contained
400 Customer Purchase Order Number
410 Ship To/Deliver To Location Code (Global Location Number)
411 Bill To/Invoice Location Code (Global Location Number)
412 Purchase From Location Code (Global Location Number)
420 Ship To/Deliver To Postal Code (Single Postal Authority)
421 Ship To/Deliver To Postal Code (Multiple Postal Authority)
8001 Roll Products - Width/Length/Core Diameter
8002 Electronic Serial Number (ESN) for Cellular Phone
8003 Global Returnable Asset Identifier
8004 Global Individual Asset Identifier
8005 Price per Unit of Measure
8100 Coupon Extended Code: Number System and Offer
8101 8101 Coupon Extended Code: Number System, Offer, End of Offer
8102 Coupon Extended Code: Number System preceded by 0
90 Mutually Agreed Between Trading Partners
91 Internal Company Codes
92 Internal Company Codes
93 Internal Company Codes
94 Internal Company Codes
95 Internal Company Codes
96 Internal Company Codes
97 Internal Company Codes
98 Internal Company Codes
99 Internal Company Codes

C.2 Fixed Length Fields

The GS1 Specification requires that some of the data to be encoded fits a standard length field. Zint requires this to be true of input data in order for data to be encoded correctly but does not check that the input data adheres to these rules. If this system is not followed then the resulting barcode symbol may not be readable. The following table details which AIs have fixed length data fields and how long the data should be for each:

[1] This information taken from Wikipedia and used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.