GS1 Human Readable Interpretation

(HRI) Implementation Guideline

Guideline to how to apply Human Readable Interpretation
(HRI) on GS1 barcodes
Release 1.2, Ratified, Apr 2018
 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

Document Summary
Document Item Current Value

Document Name GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

Document Date Apr 2018

Document Version 1.2

Document Issue

Document Status Ratified

Document Description Guideline to how to apply Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) on GS1
barcodes

Contributors V 1.2
First Name Last Name Company Role
Xavier Barras GS1 France Co chair
Nadine Radomski Dean Foods Company Co chair
Yoshihiko Iwasaki GS1 Japan WR Submitter
David Buckley GS1 Global Office Publication
Coen Janssen GS1 Global Office Editor
John Ryu GS1 Global Office Facilitator
Szilvia Bém GS1 Hungary Participant
Chuck Biss GS1 Global Office Participant
Jonas Buskenfried GS1 Sweden Participant
Jill Buss 3M Company Participant
Emanuela Casalini GS1 Italy Participant
Daniel Clark GS1 Canada Participant
Benjamin Couty GS1 France Participant
Kevin Dean GS1 Canada Participant
Raymond Delnicki GS1 US Participant
Sean Dennison GS1 Ireland Participant
Vera Feuerstein Nestle Participant
Richard Fisher DoD Logistics AIT Standards Office Participant
Andrew Hearn GS1 Global Office Participant
Kurt Herregodts GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg Participant
Kimmo Keravuori GS1 Finland Participant
Sabine Klaeser GS1 Germany Participant
Ildikó Lieber GS1 Hungary Participant
Ilka Machemer GS1 Germany Participant
Daniel Mueller-Sauter GS1 Switzerland Participant
Dan Mullen GS1 Global Office Participant
Mori Naoko GS1 Japan Participant
Sarina Pielaat GS1 Netherlands Participant
Neil Piper GS1 UK Participant

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

Michiel Ruighaver GS1 Australia Participant

John Ryu GS1 Global Office Participant
Eugen Sehorz GS1 Austria GmbH Participant
Steven Simske Colorado State University Participant
Mike Soper Symbology, Inc. Participant
Michele Southall GS1 US Participant
Marie Vans HP Inc. Participant
Amber Walls GS1 US Participant
George Wright IV Product Identification & Processing Systems Participant

Contributors V 1.1
Name Organisation

Joe Spreitzer Target

Toni Roberts COSTCO

Doug Naal Kraft

Paul Lothian Tyson Foods

Lela Tripp Tyson Foods

Dave Shepard Meat Solutions

Peter Tomicki GE Healthcare

Harry Geelan The Greenery

Haroon Rashid Systech International

Sudeshna Das GS1 India

Heinz Graf GS1 Switzerland

Sue Schmid GS1 Australia

Christian Lauer GS1 Austria

Cedric Houlette GS1 France

Sarina Pielaat GS1 Netherlands

Adele Paris GS1 South Africa

Tarryn Daniels GS1 South Africa

Antoinette Bosman GS1 South Africa

Owen Dance GS1 New Zealand

Rich Richardson GS1 US

Ray Delnicki GS1 US

James Chronowski GS1 US

Naoko Mori GS1 Japan

Chuck Biss GS1 Global Office

Frank Sharkey GS1 Global Office

Mark Frey GS1 Global Office

Greg Rowe GS1 Global Office

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

Log of Changes
Release Date of Change Changed By Summary of Change

1.0 Sept 2011 Mark Frey, Adele Paris & Updated per final comment resolutions. Guide
Greg Rowe was approved

1.1 Sep 2015 Alex Johnson Re-Branding

1.2 Apr 2018 Yoshihiko Iwasaki WR18-036 updates to bring-up to date and fully
in line with the GS1 General Specifications

Disclaimer
GS1®, under its IP Policy, seeks to avoid uncertainty regarding intellectual property claims by requiring the participants in
the Work Group that developed this GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline to agree
to grant to GS1 members a royalty-free licence or a RAND licence to Necessary Claims, as that term is defined in the GS1
IP Policy. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the possibility that an implementation of one or more features of this
Specification may be the subject of a patent or other intellectual property right that does not involve a Necessary Claim.
Any such patent or other intellectual property right is not subject to the licencing obligations of GS1. Moreover, the
agreement to grant licences provided under the GS1 IP Policy does not include IP rights and any claims of third parties who
were not participants in the Work Group.
Accordingly, GS1 recommends that any organisation developing an implementation designed to be in conformance with this
Specification should determine whether there are any patents that may encompass a specific implementation that the
organisation is developing in compliance with the Specification and whether a licence under a patent or other intellectual
property right is needed. Such a determination of a need for licencing should be made in view of the details of the specific
system designed by the organisation in consultation with their own patent counsel.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHER WISE ARISING
OUT OF THIS SPECIFICATION. GS1 disclaims all liability for any damages arising from use or misuse of this document,
whether special, indirect, consequential, or compensatory damages, and including liability for infringement of any
intellectual property rights, relating to use of information in or reliance upon this document.
GS1 retains the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice. GS1 makes no warranty for the use of
this document and assumes no responsibility for any errors which may appear in the document, nor does it make a
commitment to update the information contained herein.
GS1 and the GS1 logo are registered trademarks of GS1 AISBL.

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

Table of Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 6
1.1 Purpose and scope .......................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Who can use this document? ............................................................................................ 6

2 GS1 barcodes ................................................................................................ 7

2.1 EAN/UPC ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.2 ITF-14 ........................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 GS1-128 ........................................................................................................................ 7
2.4 GS1 DataBar .................................................................................................................. 8
2.5 GS1 DataMatrix .............................................................................................................. 8
2.6 GS1 QR Code.................................................................................................................. 8
2.7 GS1 Composite Symbology .............................................................................................. 8

3 Human Readable Interpretation rules........................................................... 9

3.1 Where to print the HRI? ................................................................................................... 9
3.1.1 EAN/UPC symbology ............................................................................................... 9
3.1.2 Other symbologies .................................................................................................. 9
3.2 What to do if the HRI does not fit under the barcode? ........................................................ 10
3.2.1 Place the HRI above or to the side .......................................................................... 10
3.2.2 Use a combination of top, bottom, and side to place the HRI ...................................... 11
3.3 What to do if the Human Readable Interpretation line is too long? ....................................... 12
3.4 What to do if the barcode is printed in ladder orientation? .................................................. 12
3.5 What is the best font to use for printing the HRI? .............................................................. 13
3.6 How to represent the GS1 Application Identifiers in HRI? ................................................... 13
3.7 How to represent special characters in HRI? ..................................................................... 14
3.8 Do I always need to print the HRI? .................................................................................. 14

4 Glossary...................................................................................................... 15

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

1 Introduction
The objective of this guide is to explain in simple terms how to manage the Human Readable
Interpretation (HRI) associated with GS1 barcodes. Human Readable Interpretation refers to the
characters printed below, beside or above a barcode. HRI serves as a fall-back option in situations
where there is a need to manually interpret or process barcoded data.
The HRI rules enable industry to create consistent packaging designs that can be distributed to
multiple countries and used in the same way.

1.1 Purpose and scope

The purpose of this document is to provide an easy to follow guideline for the application of Human
Readable Interpretation as it relates to its use with barcodes. Each HRI Rule is explained in simple
terms along with examples or figures.

1.2 Who can use this document?

The intended audience of the document is:
■ Manufacturers
■ Retail and healthcare industry users such as retail checkout staff, nurses, warehouse staff
■ Printing and design companies such as package designers and barcode software design
companies.

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2 GS1 barcodes
This section provides an overview of all GS1 barcodes to which the HRI rules in this document apply.
All barcode examples follow the dimensional specifications as specified in the symbol specification
tables (GS1 General Specifications, section 5).

2.1 EAN/UPC
UPC-A EAN-13 UPC-E EAN-8

2.2 ITF-14

2.3 GS1-128

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2.4 GS1 DataBar

Omnidirectional Expanded

Stacked Omnidirectional Expanded Stacked

Truncated Limited Stacked

2.5 GS1 DataMatrix

2.6 GS1 QR Code

2.7 GS1 Composite Symbology

Example of GS1 DataBar Limited Composite symbol with CC-A:

(01)13112345678906(17)010615(10)A123456

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

3 Human Readable Interpretation rules

Note: The rules in this section are based on the GS1 General Specifications [GENSPECS], in
particular sections 4 and 5. Rules and phrases that are direct quotes from the GS1 General
Specifications rules are shown in italics.

3.1 Where to print the HRI?

3.1.1 EAN/UPC symbology

For EAN/UPC symbologies the following rule applies: The human readable digits SHALL be printed
underneath the main symbol and above the add-on symbol. [GENSPECS – section 5.2.5].
Some correct examples of EAN/UPC symbols, the HRI is placed at the bottom:
EAN-13 EAN-8 UPC-A UPC-E

Some examples of EAN/UPC symbols with an add-on symbol. The HRI of the add-on symbol is
placed above it:
EAN-13 EAN-13
(with two-digit add-on symbol) (with five-digit add-on symbol)

3.1.2 Other symbologies

For symbologies other than EAN/UPC, including symbologies that support multiple element strings,
the following rules apply.
Whether a GS1 AIDC data carrier encodes a GS1 identification key, GS1 key attributes, or a
combination of both, the HRI SHOULD be placed below the barcode and grouped together wherever
physically possible while maintaining the HRI legibility and minimum barcode height (as specified in
the appropriate symbol specification table). [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 1].
When HRI is grouped together (for example, all HRI data is grouped below the barcode or all HRI
data is grouped above the barcode), HRI shall always follow the encoding sequencing of the GS1
AIDC data carrier. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 1 clause c]

Note: Encoding sequencing is the order in which the data encoded in the data carrier. For
example, if the order of the AIs encoded in the data carrier is 01, 17, 10, the HRI will appear
in the following order (01), (17), (10).

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Example of an ITF-14 symbol, HRI is placed at the bottom:

GS1-128 with multiple element strings, the HRI is grouped together and placed below the symbol:

A similar example, but now with a GS1 DataBar Expanded symbol:

The next two examples show the HRI grouped together under the symbol, but across multiple lines
of text:
GS1 DataMatrix GS1 QR Code

3.2 What to do if the HRI does not fit under the barcode?

3.2.1 Place the HRI above or to the side

For all symbologies, except for EAN/UPC barcodes, the HRI MAY be printed above, to the left, or to
the right of the symbol.
In such cases, the HRI SHALL always be printed adjacent to (obviously associated with) the GS1
AIDC data carrier while protecting Quiet Zones. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 1 clause a].

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 GS1 Human Readable Interpretation (HRI) Implementation Guideline

An example, the HRI is placed above the ITF-14 symbol:

A GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked symbol with HRI placed to the right:

A GS1 DataMatrix symbol with HRI placed to the left:

3.2.2 Use a combination of top, bottom, and side to place the HRI
For symbologies that can contain multiple element strings, the HRI for GS1 identification keys and
attributes MAY be separated (for example by placing the HRI for the GS1 identification key below
the barcode and the HRI of the attributes HRI above the barcode). In that case, the preference for
GS1 key HRI placement is always below the barcode [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 1 clause b].
In this example the HRI of the GTIN (AI (01) is placed under the GS1 DataBar Expanded symbol,
while the expiry date (AI (17) and the batch/lot number are placed above it:

The same example but now with a GS1-128 barcode:

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3.3 What to do if the Human Readable Interpretation line is too long?

A single data element shall not be broken into two lines of HRI, for example the data for a serial
number would appear on one line of HRI. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 2].
An example of correct HRI, all AIs and their corresponding values are placed on the same line:

The rule also implies that the AI should not be separated from its corresponding data. In cases
where space constraints do not permit all HRI to fit on one line, the AI and its corresponding data
should be moved to the next line.
A correct example, HRI is split across multiple lines but the AIs and corresponding data are kept
together:

The example below demonstrates how a single data element AI (17) is incorrectly broken into two
lines of HRI.


3.4 What to do if the barcode is printed in ladder orientation?
Barcodes can be printed in picket fence or ladder orientation:
Picket Fence Orientation Ladder Orientation

If the barcode is printed in ladder orientation on the product, the HRI SHOULD remain clearly
associated with the barcode and may appear below, to the left, or to the right of the symbol
respecting Quiet Zones. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 10].

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Note: The terms left, right and under are used relative to the symbol orientation, as
illustrated in the figure below:

[GENSPECS figure 4.15-3]

Example of correct HRI placement with a GS1-128 symbol printed in ladder orientation:

3.5 What is the best font to use for printing the HRI?
A clearly legible font SHALL be used (e.g., OCR-B as defined in ISO 1073-2) and the character set
as defined in [GENSPECS section 7.11]. Reasonable alternative type fonts and character sizes are
acceptable provided the interpretation is clearly legible. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 4]
Below is an example of OCR-B font:

3.6 How to represent the GS1 Application Identifiers in HRI?

GS1-128, GS1 DataBar Expanded, GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked, GS1 DataMatrix and GS1 QR
Code apply GS1 Application Identifiers (AIs) to encode the data in a barcode. The AI values must be
represented as HRI between parentheses.
Parentheses SHALL surround AIs in HRI but are not encoded in the GS1 AIDC data carrier.
[GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 3]

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The example below shows the correct representation of the AIs. The parentheses (brackets) around
the AIs are only present as HRI and not encoded in the symbol.

Note: The AIs as shown in HRI do not always fully match what is encoded in the symbol. For
example, in some of the GS1 DataBar symbols AI (01) is implied by the symbol type and the
‘01’ value is not encoded as such.

3.7 How to represent special characters in HRI?

HRI SHALL be limited to element strings and will not include GS1 AIDC data carrier overhead such
as separator characters. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 6]
All GS1 AIDC data carriers require the use of specific technical encoding characters. These special
characters allow scanning software to identify that the symbol conforms to GS1 encoding standards
and so enables the correct decoding of data elements.
Examples of such characters are Start and Stop Characters, FNC1 and data separators. These
characters are not represented in the HRI since they are intended only for use by automated
scanning software

3.8 Do I always need to print the HRI?

HRI SHALL appear except in rare circumstances for specific applications where there are extreme
space constraints (e.g., direct part marking). If the GS1 AIDC data carrier cannot be read or
scanned and the HRI does not appear on the label, package, or item, non-HRI text SHOULD be used
as backup information. [GENSPECS , section 4.15, rule 8]

Note: For Healthcare applications specific rules have been defined to address some of these
aspects. [see GENSPECS , sections 4.15 and 4.15.1]

Example of a GS1 DataMatrix directly marked on an item, space limitations inhibit full
representation of the HRI:

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4 Glossary
Please refer to the www.gs1.org/glossary for the latest version of the glossary.
Term Definition
attribute An element string that provides additional information about an entity identified with a GS1
identification key, such as batch number associated with a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
element string The combination of a GS1 Application Identifier and GS1 Application Identifier data field.

GS1 AIDC data carrier A means to represent data in a machine readable form; used to enable automatic reading of
the element strings as specified for use by GS1.

GS1 Application The field of two or more digits at the beginning of an element string that uniquely defines its
Identifier format and meaning.
GS1 identification key A unique identifier for a class of objects (e.g., a trade item) or an instance of an object (e.g.,
a logistic unit).
human readable Characters, such as letters and numbers, which can be read by persons and are encoded in
interpretation(HRI) GS1 AIDC data carriers confined to a GS1 standard structure and format. The human readable
interpretation is a one-to-one illustration of the encoded data. However start, stop, shift and
function characters, as well as the symbol check character, are not shown in the human
readable interpretation.

non-HRI text Characters such as letters and numbers that can be read by persons and may or may not be
encoded in GS1 AIDC data carriers and are not confined to a structure and format based on
GS1 standards (e.g., a date code expressed in a national format that could be used to encode
a date field in a GS1 AIDC data carrier, brand owner name, consumer declarations).
Quiet Zone A clear space which precedes the start character of a barcode and follows the stop character.
Formerly referred to as “clear area” or “light margin”.

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