2005 Sunrise Date Compliance…what it means to you

The Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC) has announced that by January 1, 2005 all U.S. and Canadian companies must be capable of scanning and processing EAN-8 and EAN-13 symbols, in addition to 12-digit U.P.C. symbols, at point-of-sale. This key initiative, called the 2005 Sunrise Date, is structured to help global trading partners realize maximum supply chain efficiency, as well as enable North American companies to compete more effectively in global trade and commerce.  

The following information will assist you in understanding the topic, so that you can make informed decisions for your organization. For more information, download our free 2005 Sunrise Date White Paper to learn more.

The Mandate:

• All point-of-sale systems must read and process U.P.C.-A, U.P.C.-E, EAN-13 and EAN-8 symbols by January 1^st of 2005 in order to be compliant.
• All retail systems must accommodate variable length company prefixes.

The Recommendation:

• While you are updating your system's database to comply with the mandate, it is strongly recommended that your database accept the 14 digit data structures found in the new Reduced Space Symbology bar codes.

What is GTIN?

The term ‘GTIN' or Global Trade Item Number was coined by the UCC to encompass all the EAN.UCC system's data structures. It is simply a new way of talking about what we have all talked about before – U.P.C., EAN, and UCC/EAN Code 128 bar codes and now RSS.

What about my scanners?

• To comply with the Sunrise date mandate, your scanners must scan and decode EAN bar codes and send the product identification data to your host system. 
• All Symbol scanners decode EAN bar codes as part of their factory default symbology settings.
• You should still check your scanning hardware in case the default settings have been changed.
• GTIN is a data structure and does not affect scanning hardware in any way.
• Reduced Space Symbology^® is new and is implemented in some of our scanners.