Introduction
The EAN/UCC-14, also called SCC-14, DUN-14 or U.P.C. Shipping
Container Code, is a 14-digit number assigned to fixed-content
shipping containers. SCC-14 can have two types of barcode representations. The most
widely used representation is UCC/EAN-128 format, with Application
Identifier (AI) 01. The ITF-14, which is based on
Interleaved 2 of 5, is also frequently used.
A SCC-14 number consists of 14 digits that begin with an indicator digit and end with a
check digit. The check digit is calculated according to the UCC/EAN
algorithm (same as UPC/EAN check digit). If you need to calculate the
check digit, click here. Note that
this check digit is usually not the same as the check digit in a UPC-A
or EAN-13 number, unless the package indicator is 0.
A SCC-14 number contains the following information:
- Digit 1: Package indicator (PI)
- Digits 2-3: UPC numbering system/EAN country prefix
- Digits 4-8: Manufacturer Code
- Digits 9-13: Item identification number
- Digit 14: Check digit
The first digit, Package Indicator (PI), indicates package
variant. For example, you package the same product into two different
cases with one case containing 10 items and the another containing 12. You
assign 1 for the first case and 2 for the second. However, there is no
standard mandating that how many items should be placed in the case for
PI=1. The quantity is checked against the database.
In two cases you may assign PI=0. One case is to indicate that the item
number identifying the container is different from the item number on the
units inside the container. The other case is when the container
contains one unit of the item. When stored in the database, a 12-digit UPC
or 13-digit EAN code are stored into a 14-digit numeric format. The
14-digit is identical to the SCC-14 with PI=0.
To calculate SCC-14 number from a UPC-A number, first drop the last
check digit. Add 0 at the beginning to make a 12-digit number (the
digit 0 is the implicit country code for US and Canada). Add the package
indicator at the beginning to make up 13 digits. Calculate the check digit based on this
13-digit number (See section below) and append it to the end. The result
is SCC-14.
To derive the SCC-14 number, first drop the last EAN-13 check digit.
Adds the package indicator at the beginning and calculate the SC-14
checksum. Append the new check digit to the end and you get the SCC-14
number.
SCC-14 Barcode Format
A SCC-14 number is usually encoded with Code128 symbology (UCC/EAN-128). Since UCC/EAN128
is also used to encode other information in the shipping label, two
digits, called Application Identifier (AI) are added at the beginning of
the barcode. The AI for SCC-14 is 01.
SCC-14 can also be depicted in Interleaved 2 of 5 format. In the images
above, the left one is Interleaved 2 of 5 format, and the right one is
drawn in UCC/EAN-128. Both images were created with
Monterey Barcode Creator.
Update: since we published this article, we have received many inquiries on how to determine the
barcode format. A simple method is to count the number of bars. If the
barcode is in interleaved 2 of 5 format, it should have 39 bars in
total. For barcodes in EAN-128 format, the number is 37. Another way is
to examine the end of the barcode. The last three bars of an EAN-128
barcode are always in 3x, 1x, and 2x of the smallest width (X
dimension).
Check Digit Calculation
EAN-14 check digit is calculated the same way as calculating checksum
for UPC-A/EAN-13 numbers. Here is
the steps to calculate SCC-14 check digit:
- From the right to left, start with odd position, assign the odd/even
position to each digit.
- Sum all digits in odd position and multiply the
result by 3.
- Sum all digits in even position.
- Sum the results of step 3 and step 4.
- divide the result of step 4 by 10. The check digit is the number
which adds the remainder to 10.
A web-based free utility to calculate SCC check digit can be found
here. |
