Industry Seeks Comment on Retirement of Coupon Barcodes

The Joint Industry Coupon Committee (JICC) is seeking feedback from industry members regarding its plan to discontinue certain barcode symbols on all coupons issued in North America by June 30, 2015. The move is part of the GS1 Global Standards Management Process.

The JICC plans to submit a request to GS1 to retire UPC Prefix 5 and GS1 Prefix 99 symbols from use as described in the GS1 General Specifications to help move the industry toward exclusive use of the GS1 DataBar symbol on coupons. The GS1 DataBar symbol is designed to reduce incidences of coupon fraud and coupon mis-redemption.

Industry stakeholders should submit comments to Jeanne Iglesias, senior director of industry affairs at the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), by June 16, 2014, at [email protected].

The JICC is administered by the Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores and National Grocers Association.