A number of posts on social media claim that consumers can use barcodes on products to determine whether or not they were produced in Russia, in order to boycott those products following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is almost correct. In fact, a barcode can’t show whether something was produced in Russia. It can only show whether the company that registered the code was based there.
What barcodes mean
The Facebook posts say that if the “country code” of the barcode—the first three digits—is between 460 and 469, then this indicates it was “produced in the Russian Federation”.
While barcodes can give us some information about the origin of a product, in reality it’s not as straightforward as these posts make it seem.
It is correct that the first digits of a barcode relate to a location and numbers 460 to 469 refer to Russia.
However GS1, the non-profit organisation which assigns barcodes worldwide, says that while code prefixes for companies are based on the location codes listed on the GS1 website, a company can manufacture products anywhere in the world.
Therefore, barcode prefixes can’t reliably identify the country of origin for a given product.
GS1 have also addressed this in the FAQs section of their website, stating: “No, The GS1 Prefix does not show the country of origin.”
Similar claims about barcodes have been shared in the past, for example by campaigners calling for a boycott of Chinese products.
As Reuters has previously reported, Nationwide Barcode, an organisation which provides barcodes to businesses in North America says: “Whether you purchase a barcode prefix from the GS1 or purchase a barcode from a company like Nationwide Barcode, the barcode will indicate the country where the prefix originated regardless of where that company has their products manufactured.”
To conclude, if the first three digits of a barcode are between 460 and 469, it means that the company which applied for that barcode is likely to be based in Russia. However, it does not necessarily mean that the product was manufactured there.