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Standards/jan-13

JAN-13

Type1D Linear (EAN-13)
PrimaryJP
Completeness74%high

Overview

JAN (Japanese Article Number, JANコード) is Japan's name for the GS1 product identification number and its EAN/UPC barcode symbol: a 13-digit standard type or an 8-digit shortened type, fully compatible with EAN-13 and EAN-8 12. JAN numbers are recognisable by the GS1 prefixes 45 and 49, which are allocated by GS1 Japan (Distribution Systems Research Institute, 一般財団法人流通システム開発センター) 24. GS1 now treats the JAN code as the Japanese name for the GTIN 2.

History

  • 1978 — Japan joined the EAN association and introduced the JAN code; use of the JAN standard began that year 15. The same year the barcode symbol was standardised in Japan as JIS B 9550 (共通商品コード用バーコードシンボル, "bar code symbol for common product code") 3.
  • JAN was originally issued the EAN flag code (prefix) 49 14.
  • 1987 — the standard was renumbered JIS X 0501 when the information-processing division of JIS was established 3.
  • 1992 — JAN was issued a second flag code, 45 14.
  • January 2001 — the manufacturer code for newly registering companies changed to 7 digits (9 digits including the flag code) 14.
  • 2004 — JIS X 0507 was published as the Japanese translation of ISO/IEC 15420:2000 (the EAN/UPC symbology specification); JIS X 0501 was withdrawn in 2009 3.

Technical specification

  • Symbology: the JAN symbol is the EAN/UPC linear symbology (JIS X 0507 ≡ ISO/IEC 15420) 3; it is printed on packaging so it can be read by barcode scanners 2.
  • Types: a 13-digit standard type and an 8-digit shortened type (JAN-8) for packages where print space is limited; the shortened type has two variants, one of which is the GTIN-8 "one-off key" 26.
  • 13-digit structure (GS1 Japan) 2:
    1. GS1 company prefix (GS1事業者コード) — 9, 10 or 7 digits, always beginning with 45 or 49;
    2. Item reference (商品アイテムコード) — the remaining digits, assigned by the brand owner (e.g. to distinguish size or colour) 6;
    3. Check digit — 1 digit.
  • Character set: digits 0–9 only; the check digit is computed modulo 10 4.
  • Number assignment: GS1 Japan centrally manages and lends company prefixes; each company sets its own item references 3. Registration must be renewed every 3 years 6.
  • Content: the code carries no price or description — at the POS it is a lookup key into a price/product master (price look-up, PLU) 3.
  • Example: 4901234567894 — prefix 49, followed by company prefix/item digits and check digit 4 (the playground sample on this page).

Use cases

  • Retail POS and inventory: the JAN symbol on consumer packaging drives POS checkout, inventory control and supply-chain management in Japan 36.
  • Online and multi-channel sales: JAN registration is cited as a prerequisite for listing products on e-commerce platforms and in physical retail channels, and for sales-data analysis 6.
  • Books (書籍JANコード): Japanese books carry a two-tier barcode called the book JAN code — the upper bar encodes the 13-digit ISBN (see Bookland EAN (ISBN)), the lower bar encodes the domestic 4-digit "C-code" book classification plus the price 7. ISBN/book codes are administered by the Japan Book Code Management Center, separately from JAN company prefixes which are administered by GS1 Japan 8.

Implementations

JAN is symbology-identical to EAN-13/EAN-8, so any EAN encoder/decoder handles it.

Repo Lang Kind Stars Last active Notes
WhyNotHugo/python-barcode Python encoder 656 2026-07 Ships a dedicated JapanArticleNumber ("JAN") class that subclasses EAN-13 and validates prefixes 450–459 / 490–499 9
metafloor/bwip-js JavaScript encoder 2420 2026-08 ean13, ean8, ean2/ean5 add-ons 10
lindell/JsBarcode JavaScript encoder 5893 2026-06 EAN-13, EAN-8, EAN-5, EAN-2 10
zxing/zxing Java decoder 34114 2026-09 EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC/EAN extension 2/5; maintenance mode 10
mchehab/zbar C decoder 1370 2026-10 EAN-13/UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8 10
ericblade/quagga2 TypeScript decoder 910 2026-09 Browser scanner with ean_reader / ean_8_reader 10

Comparison

  • JAN vs. EAN-13 / EAN-8: the same symbology and number structure; "JAN" simply denotes an EAN/GTIN number issued under the Japanese prefixes 45 and 49 14. The two are distinguishable only by prefix.
  • JAN vs. UPC-A: the 13-digit JAN code is compatible with UPC 3; an EAN-13 beginning with 0 represents a 12-digit UPC-A 4.
  • Standard vs. shortened type: use the 13-digit standard type by default; the 8-digit shortened type is intended for packages with insufficient printing area 6.

Fun facts

  • Japanese books are one of the few retail goods carrying two stacked JAN-family barcodes — the global ISBN on top and a Japan-only classification/price bar below 7.
  • The open-source python-barcode library hard-codes the JAN prefix ranges 450–459 and 490–499 and rejects any other prefix when the "JAN" type is requested 9.

Status

Active. GS1 Japan continues to issue 45/49 company prefixes and documents the JAN code as the Japanese name for the GTIN, the international product identifier 211. The Japanese symbology standard is JIS X 0507 (aligned to ISO/IEC 15420), after JIS X 0501 was withdrawn in 2009 3. The standard has been subsumed into GS1's GTIN system 1.

Sources

1 International Article Number (Japanese Article Number) — Wikipedia, accessed 2026. 2 GTIN（JANコード）とは — GS1 Japan, accessed 2026. 3 JANコード / EANコード — Weblio (Japanese Wikipedia mirror), accessed 2026. 4 Description of GTIN-13, EAN-13 — ActiveBarcode, accessed 2026. 5 GS1 — 3rd-in Pedia, accessed 2026. 6 JANコードとは — Square Japan, accessed 2026. 7 本のバーコードはなぜ2段? — All About News, accessed 2026. 8 資料に関するFAQ（ISBN・JANコード） — National Diet Library, accessed 2026. 9 python-barcode barcode/ean.py (JapanArticleNumber) — GitHub, accessed 2026. 10 GitHub repository pages/READMEs: bwip-js, JsBarcode, zxing, zbar, quagga2 — GitHub, accessed 2026-10. 11 GTIN（JANコード） — GS1 Japan, accessed 2026.

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.

source · content/standards/jan-13/index.md