For companies sending goods to the USA and Canada:
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We recommend that you use UPC codes. As of Jan 2005, all American retailers were scheduled to adjust their systems to be able to read the additional 13th digit in EAN barcodes. However, we cannot confirm that all retailers have complied with this changeover. Therefore, we recommend using UPC instead of EAN barcodes for the North American market to insure universal compatibility.
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For companies exporting goods to countries outside of North America:
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In the past, we explained that the UPC code is 12 digits long and can be read both by UPC and by EAN scanners since the EAN system is set to accept UP TO 13 digits. Therefore, the UPC barcode is ideal for worldwide product roll-out since they can be read universally. Recent developments, however, have caused us to change our recommendation. We now suggest that you do use an EAN code on those export goods. Even though the EAN system has the technical ability to read UPC codes, we have received an increasing number of reports lately that retailers in Europe and Asia are requesting that goods delivered to them feature an EAN barcode.
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