Which ISO allow for the GS1 System using FNC1 in a barcode?

Modified on Fri, 30 Aug at 1:28 PM

Many ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electro technical Committee) standards refer to or endorse the use of certain
aspects of the GS1 System, including the way in which the Function 1 character (FNC1) is to be used.

The name of the EAN/UCC System was changed to the GS1 System in 2005. The following list includes the important ISO/IEC standards that relate to the barcodes used by the GS1 System: 
  • ISO/IEC 15420 ( EAN/UPC) states ‘EAN/UPC barcode symbols are exclusively reserved for encoding identification numbers. The use of the symbology is restricted and subject to compliance with the GS1 rules and registration procedures’.


  • ISO/IEC 16390 (ITF-14) states ‘GS1 have absolutely no ISO given rights over the use of ITF – industry convention governs the correct use nothing else’.


  • ISO/IEC 15417 (GS1-128) states ‘the use of FNC1 in Code 128 symbols in the first symbol character position following the Start character has been reserved exclusively for the UCC/EAN system’.


  • ISO/IEC 16022 (DataMatrix) states ‘When FNC1 appears in the first symbol character position (or in the fifth symbol character position of the first symbol of a Structured Append sequence), it shall signal that the data conforms to the GS1 Application Identifier standard format’.


  • ISO/IEC 18004 (QR Code) states ’FNC1 mode is used for messages containing specific data formats. In the “1st position” it designates data formatted in accordance with the GS1 General Specifications’.

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