Why would you need to prove the legitimacy of a barcode?

Firstly, global barcode fraud is a reality, so retailers are understandably cautious:

This is especially true of large retail organizations – increasingly they are asking for proof of barcode legitimacy before stocking products.

We take multiple measures to counter fraud, including:

• We check that our legitimate barcode numbers are not illegally in use before we issue them.
• We monitor sites such as Amazon to identify fraudulent copies of our legitimate barcode numbers.

Secondly, misinformation is being spread by ignorance and by deliberate strategy: 

Most of the barcodes in use internationally are licensed / rented from a single global body. Our customers-have Reported Attempts to discredit authentic barcode resellers (Such as members of our International Barcodes Network) by verbal innuendo and misinformation. It is difficult to prosecute this false information as competitors are careful to avoid putting such claims in writing.

A request from us:

To date the people making these statements have been very careful to keep it verbal, If ever you are told that any of our barcodes are illegitimate, please ask for the statement in writing and and the name of that person, and forward it to us!

 

Locate your certificate of authenticity: 

This came by Email with your barcode purchase.

This links your barcode to us (the International Barcodes Network).

 

Prove the original source of your barcode from the UCC (now GS1) :

What you’re looking for is proof that the barcode number is legitimate because it originated from a bona fide UCC Licensee.

Go to the GEPIR database at https://gepir.gs1.org 

Use the Search by GTIN option and leave off the leading “0” zero of your barcode number:

 

In the results you will see information on the original purchaser:

 

Prove that your barcode is legitimately registered on the IBNREG database: 

All barcodes issued through our International Barcode Network are automatically registered on the IBNREG database: https://ibnreg.org/ 

By default the registration does not include full product details.

However, we strongly recommend that our customers edit the database entry (for free) to include their product details – see Register your barcode’s product details with us for free 

To look up a barcode, use the full barcode number, including the leading “0” zero:

Sample result (in this case the customer has included product details):

 

(If required) Ask International Barcodes Network for documentary proof:

As further proof of legitimacy, on request we can supply documentary proof that our barcodes are sourced from an original UCC Licensee.

ie we have a document “audit trail” back to the original legitimate UCC barcode seller.