The small image of lines and spaces attached to items in retail stores, warehouses, important documents etc as a way to identify and track them. The code uses a unique sequence of verticals lines (bars) and spaces to represent numbers and symbols which are recognised and interpreted by the laser beam in the bar code reader. This is then translated into digital data and transferred to a computer for immediate action or storage. Countries which are members of the International Article Numbering Association each have their own organisation that issues globally-unique bar code numbers. In South Africa, this organisation is called GS1 (www.gs1.za.org)

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