EAN-13 Barcode Requirements for European Retail

July 4, 2026 · 4 min read

I once handled a shipment of 200 cases at Amazon inbound that got rejected because the EAN-13 barcodes were printed at 75% scale. The vendor was a small French skincare brand launching on Amazon.co.uk. They had no idea that scaling below 80% would cause scanner failures — nobody told them. I called the owner, explained the spec, and they reprinted 200 cases. That call cost them £400 in rush labels. This article exists so you do not have to make that call.

GS1 Registration Comes First

EAN-13 numbers are issued by GS1, the global standards organization. You register with your country's GS1 office (GS1 UK, GS1 Germany, GS1 France, etc.), pay an annual fee based on your revenue and number of products, and receive a company prefix. That prefix — typically 7-9 digits — identifies your company on every product you sell, worldwide. Then you assign product numbers within your prefix range. Use our EAN-13 generator to create the barcode once you have your numbers.

EAN-13 Country Codes

The first 2-3 digits of an EAN-13 identify the GS1 country office, not necessarily where the product is made. A product manufactured in China but registered through GS1 UK starts with 50 (UK). Here are common ones:

Generate your barcode with our free EAN-13 generator. Enter your 12-digit product number, the tool calculates the 13th check digit automatically.

Print Size Requirements

The nominal 100% size for EAN-13 is 37.29mm wide by 25.93mm high. You can scale from 80% to 200% — but if you go below 80%, some supermarket scanners will struggle. German discount retailers like Aldi and Lidl are particularly strict about barcode print quality at checkout. A barcode that scans fine at a UK Tesco might fail at an Aldi Süd because their scanners are calibrated differently.

Written by Marcus Rivera — former Amazon warehouse manager. More about me →