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Book Industry Study Group, in their role of assisting the industry with technology and standards issues, will be reporting to members on upcoming changes in the area of book product identification (ISBN, EAN, and UPC). The following information will offer some general background. As various organizations and groups work towards the transition of product identification, BISG members will be updated through newsletters and our website.
What product identification changes will take place in the future?
The Uniform Code Council (UCC) has established January 2005 as "2005
Sunrise," the date for general retailing in North America to complete an
evolutionary transition in product identification. By that time,
retailers are to provide the capability to scan and process EAN-8 and
EAN-13 symbols and numbers in addition to the 12-digit U.P.C. This will
apply to all items, not just books and audio.
In January 2007 (or soon thereafter), the US ISBN Agency will begin assigning 13-digit identifiers to books and book-related products. These identifiers, "ISBN-13s", will incorporate the existing Bookland EAN into a new book identifier where the prefix can be either '978' (current value) or '979'.
Although effort will be required to participate in this evolution, aligning retail product identification in North America with worldwide practices promises benefits in many areas. For example, both the confusion over whether to use a UPC or a Bookland EAN on a product and the overstickering of unwanted bar codes should be eliminated.
What changes are being made to the 10-digit ISBN?
Sometime after January 2007, the US ISBN Agency will begin assigning ISBN-13 identifiers (13-digits in length). These identifiers will be constructed in the same manner as today's Bookland EAN, except that both of the EAN prefixes ('978' and '979') available to bookselling will be used. Existing Bookland EANs will be absorbed into the ISBN-13.
The change from a 10-digit to a 13-digit ISBN completes the alignment of retail systems both within North America and worldwide. It also addresses the fact that the current system will eventually run out of numbers. Projections have been made by the ISBN agency on the capacity of the ISBN system to provide numbers, and there is no fear that that they will run out of numbers before the January 2007 date.
What changes are being made to the EAN?
There will be no change in the symbology of the Bookland EAN bar code now printed on books or in the structure of the identifier (number). Although the Bookland EAN will be incorporated into the ISBN-13, the existing identifier (with the '978' prefix) will not change. The Bookland EAN bar code has always carried a 13-digit identifier. There will be no change in the check digit routine used for the UPC and the EAN.
What changes are being made to the UPC?
After January 2005, the Uniform Code Council will begin issuing product identifiers that are full 13 digits for North American products. Today, the UPC is treated as an EAN/UCC-13 in the rest of the world by prefixing it with a leading '0' (scanners actually read it this way). After January 2005, the leading zero will no longer be optional; and 13-digit identifiers with leading digits other than '0' will be issued for product identification in North America.
There will be no change in the symbology of the UPC bar code now in place on US North American products or in the structure of the data represented. The difference will be in how the data is stored by retail systems after scanning. Most scanners in North America already read the data in the UPC bar code as 13 digits, but many retail systems drop the leading '0' and store the data as 12 digits. The effect of the 2005 Sunrise Date is that the existing UPC will be treated both in North America and worldwide as a 13-digit rather than a 12-didgit identifier.
Will changes to retail systems and product identifiers eliminate the use of dual bar codes on books?
After the 2005 Sunrise Date, with all retailers treating the UPC as an EAN/UCC-13, it should no longer be necessary to assign two numbers to a book, a UPC for general retailing and a Bookland EAN for booksellers. The EAN/UCC-13 (UPC-13) UPC-13, the Bookland EAN, and the ISBN-13 are all become totally compatible versions of the (an EAN/UCC-13) 13-digit numbers, and any one of them should be acceptable across all of retailing.
Dual bar codes are in violation of the present voluntary book industry product identification standards.
What do publishers, booksellers and others need to know about the EAN/UCC-14?
The EAN/UCC-14 is constructed by prefixing the EAN/UCC-13 with a single-digit to indicate the level of packaging and then recalculating the check digit. The lowest level of packaging (the unit level) is just the EAN/UCC-13 with a '0' prefix.
The EAN/UCC-14 check digit routine is the same as the check digit routine for the EAN/UCC-13, extended from 13 to 14 digits.
The EAN/UCC-14 will not enable direct linkage between the products included in assortments or other mixed packages, since the EAN/UCC-13 (OR IS THIS EAN/UCC-14) for the assortment must be different from the EAN/UCC-13 of any single product.
The EAN/UCC-14 is already in use in North America as the Shipping
Container Code. This code is pre-printed on many shipping containers
(cartons), especially in grocery distribution. The EAN/UCC-14 is printed
directly on the carton itself; it does not replace the "License Plate"
bar code associated with the Shipping Label for a specific shipment. The
"License Plate" bar code, the Serial Shipping Container Code, identifies
a specific individual carton.
The EAN/UCC-14 is recommended as the identifier for transactions (electronic and manual) at all packaging levels between trading partners. The purpose of the EAN/UCC-14 is to enable linkage between the item level and higher packaging levels for a single item.
Packaging levels are more extensively used in distribution of products in other industries, such as in the grocery supply chain. There, prepacks of multiple units of single items are frequently packaged in quantity in shipping cartons.
As booksellers expand the selling of non-book products and general retailers handle books, these practices will likely be a part of information product distribution. Aside from commercial pressures to adopt formal packaging level designation, efficiencies in distribution can result from case pack handling.
What type of internal system changes do members of the industry need to consider?
Adopting the ISBN-13 and the EAN/UCC-14 does not necessarily require immediate modification of internal systems throughout bookselling.
These 13-digit product identifiers will be used at point of sale, in back rooms, (ISBN-13 and EAN/UCC-13) and in communications between organizations (EAN/UCC-14). and in distribution centers. Many organizations today use identifiers (SKUs) of various lengths internally and interface externally with ISBNs or EANs. Since today's Bookland EAN is already an EAN/UCC-13, most organizations in bookselling are already interfacing whenever they scan a Bookland EAN bar code.
Going forward, interfacing translations and cross-references of EAN/UCC-13/14 to existing internal SKUs can permit an orderly transition to the new identifiers. Medium to long term, though, bookselling organizations will likely find it to their advantage, and probably find it necessary, to modify their internal systems to handle the new identifiers directly.
It is likely that most publishers will need to handle ISBN-13s assigned by other publishers. When titles are purchased for reprint or for printing in another edition, it may be necessary to store the original ISBN-13. Publishers will need to handle the ISBN-13s of titles included in acquired imprints or titles warehoused for others through distribution arrangements.
Distributors and retailers, processing titles from many publishers, will encounter ISBN-13s early. However, most of these also handle book-related products with UPCs, and they will need to ensure that their systems are compliant by the Sunrise Date, January 2005.
In short, organizations throughout bookselling must evaluate their own situations to determine when, and in what sequence, they should modify their internal systems.
How do members of the industry participate in the decision-making process related to product identification?
Members of the industry interested in participating in discussions on changes related to product identification should contact BISG or visit our website at www.bisg.org.
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