Own barcode for Namibia
Namibia's unique, official barcode was finally unveiled last week after a lengthy finalization process."The introduction of the 631 prefix means we now have a distinctly Namibian signature, a beacon that shines brightly for our goods in the international market," said Verna Sinimbo, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industrialisation. Until recently, Namibian products had to use barcodes from South Africa and other countries. This has also affected the determination of the product origin of Namibian goods.
The Namibian barcode was finally approved by the General Assembly of the GS1 Global Office in Geneva in May 2021 and officially announced by Trade Minister Lucia Iipumbu in September 2021.
A barcode can encode information into a visual pattern represented by distinct black lines and white spaces on the product. The pattern can be read by a barcode scanner, which then "translates" the code so production systems and retail outlets can read the information. The barcode contains a country code to verify the country of origin and Namibia's assigned number is the prefix 631. The code can consist of up to 13 digits.
The Namibia Trade Forum (NTF) had already initiated preparations for a Namibian barcode in 2016 as part of the retail charter. After the approval in Geneva in 2021, the Namibian branch of the organization "GS1" was established, which manages the industrial barcode implementation worldwide and in individual countries.
To facilitate the process, the Ministry of Finance had set up the Namibia Barcode Centre to establish Namibia as a member of GS1 with its own Namibian barcode for local goods. As a result, the GS1 General Assembly decided unanimously to grant the license to Namibia and to recognise Namibia as a full GS1 member.
The purpose of setting up a Namibian GS1 centre was to advance the work in a targeted manner.
GS1 Namibia is now the country's official GS1 centre for the administration and allocation of Namibian barcodes. Details are available at www.gs1namibia.org