GS1 Company Prefix
The GS1 Company Prefix is an integral part of GS1's standards. It serves as a foundation for generating the GS1 identifiers such as GTIN, GLN and SSCC codes, as well as barcodes.
The GS1 Company Prefix is a globally unique number granted by GS1 to companies, organizations, and individuals worldwide. The Company Prefix is customer-specific, ensuring that no other operator can use the same identifier or number series derived from it. However, it is possible for an operator to possess multiple GS1 Company Prefixes.
An annual fee is charged for the GS1 Company Prefix as long as identification keys generated from the Company Prefix are in use.
Choose a GS1 Company Prefix based on how many codes you need
GS1 Finland offers Company Prefixes of different lengths, with which you can generate a different number of GS1 identifiers, such as GTIN, GLN and SSCC codes. Furthermore, there is a specific Company Prefix for the encoding of products with variable weight.
When choosing a Company Prefix, it is good to estimate the need for codes a few years from now. In this way, you ensure a sufficient number space for a longer period of time, and there is no need to acquire a new GS1 Company Prefix too soon.
- 11-digit Company Crefix – enables you to make up to 10 GTIN codes for products and outer cases or 1 million SSCC codes for pallets.
- 10-digit Company Prefix – enables you to make up to 100 GTIN codes for products and outer cases or 10 million SSCC codes for pallets.
- 9-digit Company Prefix – enables you to make up to 1000 GTIN codes for products and outer cases or 100 million SSCC codes for pallets.
- 7-digit Company Prefix – enables you to make up to 100 000 GTIN codes for products and outer cases or 100 billion SSCC codes for pallets.
- Variable Company Prefix - for items with variable measures (meat, fruit, vegetables etc.)