GS1 Company Prefix
The variable-length number that identifies who owns a barcode or EPC tag.
What is a GS1 Company Prefix?
A GS1 Company Prefix is a globally unique number assigned to a company by their local GS1 Member Organisation. It appears in every GS1-based identifier: barcodes (GTINs), shipping labels (SSCCs), location codes (GLNs), and every GS1-based EPC scheme on RFID tags.
The prefix does not directly identify a product - it identifies who owns the number space. The company then assigns item references, serial numbers, and location codes within their prefix.
Variable length
Company prefixes range from 6 to 12 digits. The length determines how many product numbers a company can assign:
| Prefix length | Available item references (GTIN-13) | Typical company |
|---|---|---|
| 6 digits | ~1,000,000 | Very large manufacturer (thousands of products) |
| 7 digits | ~100,000 | Large manufacturer |
| 8 digits | ~10,000 | Mid-size manufacturer |
| 9 digits | ~1,000 | Small manufacturer |
| 10 digits | ~100 | Very small product line |
| 11–12 digits | ~10–1 | Single-product company or restricted use |
Because the prefix length varies, EPC schemes use a partition value to encode how many bits are allocated to the prefix vs. the reference field. Without the partition, the decoder cannot determine where the prefix ends.
The test prefix
The prefix 0614141 is GS1's own test prefix. It appears in all GS1 documentation, specification examples, and test data. If you see it in the wild, the tag or barcode is test data, not a real product.
Looking up a company prefix
GS1 does not provide a public API to look up a raw company prefix. However, you can look up the brand owner of a product by entering a full GTIN (8, 12, 13, or 14 digits including the check digit) at Verified by GS1.
If you have an EPC, you must first decode it back to a GTIN (re-insert the indicator digit and recalculate the check digit) before searching.
Where it appears in the EPC
In the Pure Identity URI, the company prefix is the first dotted field after the scheme name:
urn:epc:id:sgtin:0614141.812345.6789In the binary encoding, the prefix occupies a variable number of bits determined by the partition value. For a 7-digit prefix in SGTIN-96, that is 24 bits (partition 5).
Source
GS1 General Specifications, Section 1.4 (GS1 Company Prefix). GS1 EPC Tag Data Standard, Release 2.3, Section 7 (GS1 Keys and partition tables).